Volleyball tournament generator
Pools then a playoff, scores entered set by set from the side of the court, and a projector view the whole hall can read. Built for the one-day tournament in a sports hall, which is what most volleyball tournaments are.
- Groups
- 3
- 3 groups of 4
- Matches
- 24
- Group matches plus the playoff they feed.
- Guaranteed matches
- 3
- Before anybody can be knocked out.
- Roughly how long
- 5 h on 2 courts
- Allowing 25 minutes a match, courts running in parallel.
Free, and there is no account to make first. About a minute to the QR code.
Sets, not just a match score
Under the match score are the points, set by set. They are optional and plenty of days are run without them, but they are not decoration: the points sum into the table as the tiebreak that separates two teams level on match points and on sets won.
They are written as they are entered rather than saved at the end, because somebody standing at the net tapping a point per rally will not press Save between rallies. Every screen showing the tournament is nudged, so a tap at the court is a scoreline on the wall a moment later.
The match score is counted from the sets, not typed beside them
Once a set exists the match-score steppers become a read-out. A screen that accepts 2–1 over three sets reading 25–20, 22–25, 19–25 is a screen that will eventually put a scoreline on a wall the hall can see is wrong.
And a set is won when it is over: 18–14 in the third is not a two-set lead, it is a third set somebody is ahead in, so the wall says 1–1 while it is being played.
The wall is the point
A volleyball hall has a lot of people in it who are not playing, and a projector is how they find out what is happening without asking the organiser. The screen rotates itself — live matches, the pool tables, the bracket, what is on which court next — and is sized to be read from the far end of a hall.
Light is the default rather than dark. A projector has no black; an unlit pixel is the lamp's grey floor, so under sports-hall lighting a dark scoreboard washes out and takes its text with it.
Common questions
What format works best for a one-day volleyball tournament?
Pools then a playoff, almost always. It guarantees every team three or four matches and still finishes with a final. Twelve teams draws as three pools of four.
Can I record individual set scores?
Yes, and they feed the tiebreak. They are optional — a day run on match scores alone works fine.
How do I show the tables in the hall?
Every tournament gets a projector link and a QR code. Point a laptop or a smart TV at the link and leave it alone; it updates itself.