18 Team Round Robin Schedule: how it works
An 18 team round robin is 153 games. Each team plays the other 17 once, nine games to a round, and with an even field nobody sits out. The example runs it in a day, which takes nine courts. With fewer, read each round as a week.
Which court counts matter for 153 games
The example opens on nine courts with 25-minute slots from 8:30: one slot per round, 17 slots, finished at 3:35. Drop to eight, seven or six courts and the day doubles, because nine games no longer fit one slot. Five courts do the same job as eight: two slots a round, 34 in all, ending at 10:40 pm. Four courts are no quicker than three, at three slots a round.
An 18-team league: 17 weeks, or 34 home and away
Clear First match starts and the rounds print without clock times, one per week. Press Double for home and away: 34 rounds and 306 games, the shape of a Bundesliga season, where 18 clubs meet twice over 34 matchdays. Only ten weeks? Stop after round 10. Every team has played every week and no pair has met twice, though nobody has faced the whole field.
Tips
- On five courts each round splits into five games, then four, so the eight teams waiting out the first slot can referee it. On nine courts nobody is free, so book scorers.
- Lost a team before week 1? Delete its line: 17 teams still need 17 rounds, with one bye each.
- 153 games are hard to read on a phone. Give each captain a filtered sheet: Show only, their team, then Print, or save as PDF from your browser's print window.
Questions and answers
How do you work out 153 games for 18 teams?
Nine games in each of 17 rounds is 153, 17 games a team. That is 33 more than 16 teams need and 17 more than 17 teams, because each new team must play everyone already there. A double round robin is 306.
Why do some teams get nine home games and others eight?
Seventeen games cannot split evenly. The team listed first is at home. Untick Random draw, press Make schedule, and the odd lines of your list get nine home games and the even lines eight; with it ticked, luck decides. A double round robin gives everyone 17 home and 17 away.
What if 17 weeks is too long for 18 teams?
Split the field. Two divisions of nine play 36 games each over nine weeks, with one week off per team. Three pools of six play 15 games each in five weeks, 45 in all, with no byes. Then send each group's leaders to a playoff bracket.