What is a Round Robin Tournament (2024)

When it comes to esports, teams can compete in many types of tournaments and an infinite number of variations of those tournaments. In this article, you can learn about the basics of round robin tournaments, including:

  • What is Round Robin, and How Does Round Robin Work?
  • Round Robin Pros and Cons
  • How LeagueSpot Can Get You Started

What You Need to Know About Round Robin Tournaments

What is a Round Robin Tournament?

What is a Round Robin Tournament (3)

A round robin styled tournament is where teams play one another an equal number of times, accumulating points as they win (or none if they lose).

In a round robin tournament, the team with the best record is the winner. Depending on the tournament rules, there are a few different ways a winner can be determined in the event of a tie:

  1. The top players or teams are seeded into an elimination or “knockout” bracket.
  2. The winner is decided by a point differential. In single round robin, ties are broken with even records based on “head to head” record. Games with draws (like chess) are the exception to this.
  3. If both teams hold an equal record against each other in a double round robin, a final head-to-head game may be used to determine the winner or top seed.

One of the most well-known round robin tournaments is the annual League of Legends World Championship, where each qualifying team takes to the stage to compete for the crown of the world’s best League of Legends team, a title earning the winning team a 70-pound Summoner’s Cup and a multi-million-dollar grand prize.

What is a Round Robin Tournament (4)

A typical round robin tournament can host a minimum of three teams. The more teams that compete, the longer (and more time-consuming) the tournament will be since each team must play every other team.

Typical round robin scheduling is more straightforward than the League of Legends World Championship, which features double round robin tournaments to determine the best two teams, followed by a single-elimination match to crown the top team.

Here are a few examples of games and tournaments that use round robin:

  • The International Dota 2 Championship
  • Overwatch League Regular Season
  • Rainbow Six Siege Regular Season
  • Valorant Regular Season
  • ESL Pro League
What is a Round Robin Tournament (5)

How is Round Robin Different Than Double Elimination or Swiss?

Unlike double elimination or swiss, round robin scheduling and opponents are clearly defined from the start. While double elimination tournaments guarantee players two matches (and players must lose two matches before being eliminated), round robin and swiss system tournaments operate in a similar way by recording wins and losses over a set number of rounds.

Swiss system tournaments match up teams with relatively similar records or points, where round robin tournaments focus on each qualifying team playing against each other, not according to skills or success level in an event.

Round Robin Tournament Pros

For competitors, round robin tournaments are a chance to compete in more matches before elimination, and every player or team gets the opportunity to compete against all other participating competitors. This also means that even if a team has a bad match, they have multiple opportunities to redeem themselves.

Round robin tournaments are also a great choice for competitions where you would want the option to see your opponents in advance. This would allow flexible scheduling in situations where the tournament rules allow players or teams to play matches in advance.

Round Robin Tournament Cons

Round robin tournaments may not always be the best option. Some reasons why include:

  • Round robin tournaments can be lengthy.
  • An extended tournament, while exciting for the fans, means more player fatigue and cost overruns related to tournament production. For grassroots tournaments, this could mean operating past closing time and being viewed negatively by the community for a timely event. For larger tournaments, this could mean paying penalties to the venue or risk being shut down for operating outside the permit hours.
  • Winners may be determined by tiebreakers rather than single-elimination competition.
  • If one team forfeits or drops out, the rest of the group may be affected.

Join LeagueSpot Today!

Whether you’re just starting out in the world of esports or dream of hosting a big-league round robin tournament of your own, LeagueSpot offers the simple interface and straightforward management tools to help you hit the ground running.

In just five minutes, you can unlock a world of program design, tournament management, marketing resources, and the potential for limitless monetization. Contact LeagueSpot today to learn more about our esport gaming services and how we can help you promote your passion into something more. After you do, be sure to join us on our Discord and stay up to date on the latest and greatest esport happenings!

What is a Round Robin Tournament (6)

What is a Round Robin Tournament (7)

Written by Amanda DeMizio

Published on October 15, 2021

What is a Round Robin Tournament (2024)

FAQs

How do you explain round robin tournament? ›

A round robin styled tournament is where teams play one another an equal number of times, accumulating points as they win (or none if they lose). In a round robin tournament, the team with the best record is the winner.

How do you solve a round robin tournament? ›

To determine the number of games for a single round robin tournament, as seen above, use the following formula, N x (N-1)/2. With a tournament of 6 teams, the calculation would be: 6 x (6-1)/2 = 6 x 5/2 = 30/2 = 15 games.

How many matches is a 4 team round-robin? ›

For example: With 4 participants, your bracket will have 6 matches to play.

How many games are in a round robin tournament? ›

Each group competes in round-robin play for a total of 3 games per team. After this stage, the highest seeded team from each group will proceed to the finals. At the completion of the final, the involved teams should proceed to site headquarters for their trophies.

What is a round robin bet example? ›

However, in a round-robin wager, you are actually betting three two-team parlays involving your three selections: A two-team parlay where teams A and B must win, a two-team parlay where teams B and C must win and a two-team parlay where teams A and C must win.

How many games are in a 5 teams in round-robin *? ›

Five-team round-robin. The following is a straight five-team round-robin, which takes five rounds. Should circ*mstances require, you can split the round-robin over two days and six rounds. Each team will get exactly one bye and two games each day.

How many matches is a 7 team round-robin? ›

How many matches will be played in a league format consisting 7 teams? To determine the number of games for a single round robin tournament, use the following formula: N x (N - 1)/2. Thus, a total number of 21 matches will be played.

How many games in a round-robin with 5 teams? ›

From 5 teams we choose 2 to form combinations (need combinations of 2 different teams to play a match). 5C2 = = 10 games.

What is a 5 game round robin? ›

A round robin is a series of concurrent parlays on the same ticket. Instead of creating a five-team parlay where one loss would cause the ticket to lose, betting a round robin would break those five teams into smaller parlays.

What is a 6 team round-robin? ›

A round-robin of six teams must be spread out over two days. Play four rounds the first day, and the fifth game as the first round on the second day. Because no team has a bye during the round-robin, no team has an unfair advantage for the games that follow the round-robin.

How many games are in a round-robin of 8? ›

A round-robin of eight teams takes seven rounds.

How many games are in a 10 team round-robin? ›

10 teams in two equal pools of 5. Round robin gives 4 games per team. Games are 50 mins long or to 13 points.

How many parlays are in a 5 team round robin? ›

ROUND ROBIN PARLAYS TABLE
Picks in Round RobinNumber of Ways (Events in each Parlay)Total Number of Parlays in Round Robin
103120
104210
105252
106210
87 more rows

How many games is a 9 team round robin? ›

Option One - Nine Team Round-Robin: This is a great format if you have the time for five rounds per day. (And, if you are in daylight savings time, this should be no problem). Each team plays four games per day, with one bye per day.

What are the 10 bets in a round robin? ›

The 'Round Robin' bet contains 3 selections which amounts to 10 individual bets within this bet type. These bets are as follows; 3 doubles, 1 treble and 3 single-stakes-about bets (which contain 2 bets within each), all of which amounts to 10 individual bets.

Do you have to win every game in a round robin? ›

This type of wager works like a parlay, where the odds of several outcomes are combined into one wager. To place a round robin parlay, you choose 3-14 different selections and cover all win doubles. Therefore only two of your selections need to win to guarantee a payout.

How does a 4 team round robin work? ›

In sports betting, a round robins differ from a traditional parlay by taking those four bets and breaking them into smaller parlays. A round robin creates smaller parlay combinations and thus better odds of winning compared to a traditional four team parlay where each individual bet has to win.

What is a 3 team round robin? ›

A round robin bet allows you to create a series of smaller parlays from a larger list of teams or players. Say you pick three teams for your round robin: You'd get one parlay with Team A and Team B, one with Team A and Team C, and one with Team B and Team C. So why would you want to bet a round robin, anyway?

What is a round robin meeting format? ›

In a round robin, each member of the body is given an opportunity to speak once before anyone may speak a second time, commonly by calling on the members around the table in turn. Sometimes, however, it's harder to employ this method than it seems. These are our tips for successful use of the round robin. 1.

How is a round robin structured? ›

Round Robin scheduling: Even number of teams.

Let N = number of teams in the tournament. There will be N -1 rounds (each team will play N-1 games). Since each team will play every other team once, no team will be idle during any of the rounds.

Why is it called a round robin? ›

Originally in sense of signing petitions in circular order so that the leaders could not be identified. Originated in 17th century France, where government officials signed petitions of grievances on ribbons, which were attached to the petition in a circle.

How does a 3 team round robin tournament work? ›

A round robin bet allows you to create a series of smaller parlays from a larger list of teams or players. Say you pick three teams for your round robin: You'd get one parlay with Team A and Team B, one with Team A and Team C, and one with Team B and Team C.

How does a 6 team round robin tournament work? ›

A round-robin of six teams must be spread out over two days. Play four rounds the first day, and the fifth game as the first round on the second day. Because no team has a bye during the round-robin, no team has an unfair advantage for the games that follow the round-robin.

How many bets are in a 6 team round robin? ›

ROUND ROBIN PARLAYS TABLE
Picks in Round RobinNumber of Ways (Events in each Parlay)Total Number of Parlays in Round Robin
6415
656
7221
7335
87 more rows

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