With your competition setup, and your entry list completed, you can start setting up your rounds.
In RackEmApp, generally speaking each round is created sequentially. You start off with round 1, then when that is done you set up round 2. But there are some nuances, and you can progress, pre-draw the next round too. This is largely because the bread and butter of RackEmApp is pool leagues who generally run competitions over the course of a season.
Generally speakinng you can mix and match rounds in the same competition. For example, round 1 could be a group (round robin), round 2 could be a group, and then progress into a knockoout.
That said, we also support predetermined knockouts where bracketed or unbracketed competitions can be fully drawn out at the start of the competition, and this includes double elimination brackets.
Round Settings
Rounds can be setup to be run on a certain date, for example if you had one night that a round is executed on, or you can allow for a window of time for matches to be be played.
Round settings are generally copied to subsequent rounds, but can be overridden for each round too.
- Round Name – The name of the round, usually automatically generated but you can override it to whatever you like
- Round Type – The type of round you want to operate. Changing this affects the match setups described later.
- The Round Types section below takes you to detailed guides on each of these types of round and their specific functionalities
- On or By – Whether the round is supposed to be played ON a certain date, or if there is a window this should be BY a certain deadline.
- Date – Allows you to pick from an existing defined calendar date, or enter a new one.
Match Setup
This section varies a little depending on round type, but not significantly.
- Sets – The numbert of sets played. In most cases, this is 1 for a “normal” match but you can increase this also.
- In sets matches, the lag winner sets the breaker for the first frame of the first set and the first breaker of the set alternates between sets.
- Race To/Best Of – As is described – enter the number of frameswhich it is a race to or best of.
- Play All Frames – This insists that all frames are played in the digital scoreboards, this is useful if you are awarding points per frame, or frame difference is a key differentiator in a round robin.
- Match Time – This is only utilised if you are playing with an arena screen or a stream overlay with referee mode so that the audience can keep track of the remaining time in the match. Set this in minutes.
Round Types
There are 6 different types of round supported at the moment, each with their own special considerations. Click the name of the round type to find out all the details of how rounds of these types get utilised and operated
- Knockout (Draw Each Round) is a knockout elimination where the loser exits and the winner progresses, and you draw one round at a time. most common for pool leagues.
- Knockout (Predetermined) is a knockout elimination where the loser exits and the winner progresses, and the whole competition is pre drawn either bracketed or though another method.
- Group (Round Robin) is a round-robin style of matches, pairing home and away matches for each combination of teams in the group.
- Double Elimination is a round which tracks the number of defeats an entry has and allows for 2 defeats prior to elimination
- When choosing Double Elimination, you have to select a bracket template which is suggests for you based on the number of entries you have
- Mini Knockouts allow for diffferent tables to operate their own mini-knockout for a round, with one winner progressing from each table to the next round – a bit like sub-rounds
- Last Man Standing – Popularised by Ultimate Pool, this is effectively “Winner stays on” and will draw a single match per round consisting of the winning player from the previous round (if one exists) allowing you to randomize the draw or have a manual challenge system. This competition type also handles “Lola’s Pool Party” style of event. Currently this is only supported when played on a single table.