So, I was researching how the heck a double elimination bracket was run, and it's actually quite simple. Round 1, all 8 players play, 4 of which win, 4 of which lose. From here on, there are two brackets, the winners and the losers.

In the winners bracket, there are the 4 that won the first round, they play round 2 like normal. If you lose a match in the winners bracket, you drop down to the losers bracket. In the losers bracket, there are the 4 that lost the first round. They play like normal as well. But if you lose a match in the losers bracket, you are then eliminated from competition.

So after round 2, there will be 2 people in the winners bracket, 4 people in the losers, and 2 people eliminated. Round 3 would pit the two undefeated against each other in the winners bracket, while in the losers bracket, the two that won in round 2 in the losers bracket play against the two that lost in round 2 in the winners bracket.

Round 3 then has one person undefeated, and 3 people in the losers bracket. The two participants in the winners bracket game go on a bye, that's their prize for going 2-0. Meanwhile, the two other remaining people (winners of round 2 in the loser bracket) duke it out.

Round 4, the winner of the winners bracket gets yet another bye (reward for going 3-0) while the winner of the round 3 match plays the other guy on a bye.

Round 5, the two remaining folks square off against each other. If the underdog wins, then there is a round 6 rematch.

Which means it's potentially possible for the same two people to play each other 3 times before a winner is determined. It also means that it's possible to play 5 games after the cut to the top 8.

I suppose it's a good thing that they're starting the Saturday competition at 10am... They say prepare to return for the swiss finals, which would indicate to me that they're going to run 6 rounds of swiss, plus a cut to top 8 double elimination.

So, if we give 90min per round of swiss (75 play, 15 organization), that puts the swiss over at 7pm. 1hr for a break before the top 8 start means that they'll start at 8pm. Then 4 75min rounds (ignore the minimal down time between rounds) means that the final match(es) won't start until 1am. Then, figure another 90 min for the first round puts the earliest a champion is crowned at 2:30am. If it takes two matches, it could be 4am before a winner is decided!

And all of this is after 7 rounds on Thurs/Fri (Which goes until 10:30pm if there's no break)... So, the minimum number of games it can take to win the title would be 16 games... (6 on Thurs + Regional Bye, 6 Swiss on Sat, 3 in the top 8, championship match)... The maximum number of games it can take to win the title would be 27 games...(7 on Thurs, 7 on Fri, 6 Swiss on Sat, 5 in the top 8, championship game #1, championship game #2)... Wow that's a lot of X wing!

I haven't looked, but i'll assume this is how it's going to be done @ GenCon this year?

I haven't looked, but i'll assume this is how it's going to be done @ GenCon this year?

Yup.

If you watch the movie, "Over the Top," you'll understand precisely how double elimination works... until they randomly throw it out in the final match.

Crazy. I may try doing Top 4 double elimination next time we have exactly 4 people. That works out to 4 rounds + possibly 1 more for the final two.

But I'll have a new CR-90 to play with soon..... shiny....

If you watch the movie, "Over the Top," you'll understand precisely how double elimination works... until they randomly throw it out in the final match.

Ya, or google college baseball world series (assuming they still do that, but they did years ago).

They do. The Junior College World Series is in my town starting next week, and its double elimination.

Going to be tough going to all those games and still practicing for Imdaar Alpha.

If anyone prefers pictures to words: http://ipsedixit.net/croquet/articles/formats/

I doubt FFG will do a "standard" double elimination (with the "if necessary" game).

Having a single match as the final is much more exciting!

I actually like double elimination brackets.

Crazy. I may try doing Top 4 double elimination next time we have exactly 4 people. That works out to 4 rounds + possibly 1 more for the final two.

But I'll have a new CR-90 to play with soon..... shiny....

If you were going to run a double elimination with 4 parties just have everyone play everyone else. Oh wait, isn't that almost how swiss already works?

Except for the desire to have the final game actually determine the championship I'd rather see something close to a double elimination bracket used to determine the standings going back. That's to say the winner from a top 8 only needs to go 3-0 to win but 2nd place and later are determined in the loser's bracket.

While I like the idea of a double elimination format I see the issue in how many more rounds need to be played. Looking at the diagrams Klutz so kindly posted we'd need to take all of those loser brackets and kick them over one spot. Essentially this will mean the "winner of the winners" needs to sit for two rounds while the losers figure out who gets back in to face the winner. Now if you run it over a couple days so the Championship is determined at the start of the next day I could see it otherwise you are really putting a strain on the losers while letting the winner cool off for two rounds before playing the final game(s).

Most Double Elimination Events I have been in or helped run. After 3 rounds First and Fourth are locked. The only question is has the Third place finisher ever fought the Second. If the answer is no then Second and Third only fight a forth round for Second Place.