Tournament Lifecycle

The lifecycle of a tournament in the BBX platform is designed to handle everything from initial setup and player registration to Swiss-style qualifying rounds and a final single-elimination "Top Cut."

1. Creation and Configuration

Every tournament begins with the Host a Tournament interface. Organizers define the identity and basic structure of the event before it goes live.

• Tournament Name: The public-facing title of your event.
• Custom URL Slug: An optional human-readable identifier (e.g., /t/summer-clash-2024). If left blank, the system generates a unique UUID.
• Top Cut Size: Defined during setup to determine how many players will advance from the Swiss stage into the final bracket (e.g., Top 8 or Top 16).

2. Registration Management

Once created, the tournament enters the Registration phase. This is managed via the Admin Console.

• Participant Entry: Administrators can add participants manually. Each participant is assigned a unique ID used for match tracking.
• Locking Registration: Before starting the tournament, organizers can toggle the registration status. Locking registration prevents new players from being added, ensuring the Swiss pairings are generated from a stable player pool.

3. The Swiss Stage

The Swiss stage serves as the qualifying phase where all participants play a set number of rounds.

Scoring and Standings

Matches are reported by administrators through the Admin Console or the Bracket view. The system tracks:

• Match Wins: The primary metric for ranking.
• Buchholz Score: A tie-breaking metric calculated based on the strength of a player's opponents.
• Point Differential: A secondary tie-breaker based on match scores.

Advancing Rounds

Administrators must ensure all matches in the current Swiss round are marked as complete before advancing. The "Advance" action generates pairings for the next round based on current standings, ensuring players with similar win-loss records face each other.

4. Transitioning to Top Cut

After the designated number of Swiss rounds (typically 5 or more), the tournament proceeds to the Top Cut.

• Qualifying: The system uses the cut_size configuration to identify the top-ranked players from the Swiss standings.
• Bracket Generation: Upon triggering the Top Cut, the system generates a single-elimination bracket. Qualifying players are seeded based on their Swiss performance (e.g., 1st Seed vs. 16th Seed).

5. The Bracket Stage

The Top Cut is a high-stakes, single-elimination phase.

• Match Progression: Winners of each match automatically advance to the next bracket round (e.g., Quarterfinals → Semifinals → Finals).
• Visualizing Progress: The Bracket View provides a real-time tree visualization of the tournament's progress, highlighting winners and pending matches.
• Match Reporting: Just like Swiss rounds, Top Cut matches require score entry. Once a score is reported, the winner is determined, and the bracket updates to reflect the new state.

6. Conclusion and Championship

The lifecycle ends when the final match of the bracket is completed.

• Champion Identification: The winner of the final match (Match 1 of the highest bracket round) is officially declared the Champion.
• Ending the Tournament: Administrators can use the "End Tournament" action to finalize all results.
• Archiving: Once completed, the tournament moves from "Active" to "Past Tournaments" on the landing page. All results, standings, and the final bracket remain accessible for historical reference.

Presentation Mode (The Projector)

Throughout the lifecycle, administrators can launch the Projector View. This is a dedicated, high-visibility interface designed for public displays at venues. It automatically cycles through:

• Current pairings and table assignments.
• Live Swiss standings.
• The Top Cut bracket status.