Ping Pong Tournament Bracket

Table tennis scoring in one minute

• Games go to 11, win by 2. At 10–10 the game continues until someone leads by two.
• Serve changes every 2 points, and every point once the score reaches 10–10.
• A legal serve is tossed up from an open palm, struck from behind the end of the table, and bounces once on each side. A serve that clips the net and lands in is a let and is replayed.
• Matches are best of 3, 5 or 7 games. Players switch ends after each game, and in the deciding game when the first player reaches 5.

Games to 21 are the old rule; official play switched to 11 in 2001. Best of 3 keeps an office event moving, best of 5 is the club standard, and a best of 7 final makes a good show.

Bracket or groups?

It depends on how many players you have and how much table time:

• Up to 6 players: a round robin. Six players make 15 matches over 5 rounds, and everyone plays 5.
• 8 to 32 players: double elimination, the preset default. Sixteen players need 30 or 31 matches, and everyone plays at least twice.
• Groups, then a knockout: the club tournament classic. Twelve players in 4 groups of 3 play 12 group matches; the top two of each group make an 8-player knockout of 7 matches, 19 in total.
• Lunch-break blitz: single elimination. Sixteen players finish in 15 matches.

Running an office tournament on one table

Most workplaces have one table, so time is the limit. A best of 3 match takes about 15 to 20 minutes, which means three matches fit in a lunch hour. Sixteen players in double elimination need 30 or 31 matches: about two weeks of lunch hours. Single elimination takes 15 matches, about a week.

• Set a deadline per round. “Round one by Wednesday” keeps things moving, and players arrange their own times.
• Agree on forfeits. A match not played by the deadline is a walkover for whoever showed up. Mark it as a forfeit and the bracket moves on.
• Tape the QR code to the table. Players check their next opponent between points, and anyone can follow from their desk with the view link.
• Make the final an event. Play it best of 5 on a Friday afternoon, put the bracket on a TV in TV mode, and give the winner a trophy that stays on their desk until next year.

Breaking ties in round robin groups

Three-way ties happen all the time in groups of three or four: A beats B, B beats C, C beats A. The preset settles them the way table tennis rules do, looking first at the matches among the tied players, then at game difference, then at point difference. Official rules use ratios (games won divided by games lost) rather than differences, but they almost always produce the same order. Whatever you use, tell players before the groups start.

Doubles and rotating partners

In doubles, partners must hit in turn, and the serve goes diagonally from the right half of the server’s side to the right half of the receiver’s. Enter each pair as one name, like “Lee & Priya”, and run the bracket as usual.

For a social with no fixed pairs, rotate partners every round instead: everyone plays with and against different people, and the standings rank individuals. The rotating-partners round robin handles the pairings and the sit-outs.

Setting up a fair table

A regulation table is 9 feet long and 5 feet wide, with the net 6 inches high. Leave room behind each end; players back up a lot farther than you’d think. Use the same balls for every match, give each match a two-minute warm-up, and keep a spare ball nearby, because someone will step on one. If you have two tables, number them so the bracket’s “Table 1” and “Table 2” match what players see, and print a copy for the wall.