How to use Bracket Maker: build a bracket and crown a champion

Building a bracket

1. Pick a size. Brackets come in 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 or 64 seats.
2. Add contenders. Type a name, or add a picture: search Wikipedia images from inside the app, upload a file, paste an image or link, or drop an image on the page. Contenders without a picture get a coloured tile with their initials.
3. Seat them. Drag contenders from the pool into first-round seats. Dropping onto a filled seat swaps the two. Or use Auto-fill to seat everyone at once, or Shuffle for a random draw.
4. Add details, if you like. Click a contender to rename them or give them a short description, which shows up on the versus screen.

The bracket is a board you can pan and zoom: scroll or pinch to zoom, drag the background to move around, and use the fit button to see the whole thing.

Odd numbers and byes

You don't need exactly 8 or 16 contenders. Any number from 2 to 64 works. Pick the next size up and leave the extra seats empty: an empty first-round seat is a bye, and its opponent goes straight through to round two. Six contenders fit an 8-seat bracket with two byes.

Seeding: who plays who

Seeding decides the first-round matches. Auto-fill seats contenders in the order they're waiting in the pool, using standard tournament seeding: 1 plays 8, 4 plays 5, 2 plays 7 and 3 plays 6 in an 8-seat bracket. The top two seeds can only meet in the final, and if there are byes, they go to the top seeds.

So put your favourites first in the pool if you want a fair tournament. If you want chaos, hit Shuffle and let the big names knock each other out early.

Running the bracket

Press Run bracket and the matches play one at a time on a fighting-game style versus screen, with the round shown at the top. Click a contender to send them through (or use the left and right arrow keys). Can't decide? Let fate decide flips a coin for you.

When the last match is done, the champion gets their moment on the champion screen.

Changed your mind? Click VS on any match in the bracket to replay it. Changing an earlier result clears the later matches it affected, so the bracket always makes sense.

Sharing a bracket

Share gives you a link that holds the whole bracket, with or without your picks. Whoever opens it gets their own copy to play, so friends can run the same bracket and see if they'd crown the same champion. No account or server is involved: the bracket is packed into the link itself.

Pictures from search or a web link come through at full quality. Uploaded pictures come through as small thumbnails, or as initials if there are too many to fit in the link.

Bracket night with friends

• Big screen, one driver. Put the bracket on a TV or share your screen on a call. The driver clicks; the room decides.
• Vote every match. A show of hands keeps things moving. The driver breaks ties, or Let fate decide does.
• Give each contender a champion. Assign every player a contender or two to argue for. It turns a ranking into a debate.
• Run it twice. Share the link before the night, have everyone run it on their own, then run it together and compare champions.

Good bracket topics: the best snack, the greatest film in a series, the best song by a band you all love, animals, fast-food chains, holidays, or the best thing that happened to your group this year.

Want to rank everything at once instead of match by match? Try Tier Ranker.

Questions