8 Team Double Elimination Tournament Bracket

Eight teams, no byes, two lives each: 14 games, a possible 15th, and both semifinal losers sent to the correct side of the losers bracket.

8 Team Double Elimination Tournament Bracket

Names: 0

The first name is Seed 1; empty lines are skipped. No names gives a blank bracket to fill in by hand. One name more than there are teams makes the bracket bigger. Random draw shuffles the names into the seeds.

8 teams, double elimination: 14 or 15 games. No byes.

Loser to Game 7
Loser to Game 7
Loser to Game 10
Loser to Game 8
Loser to Game 8
Loser to Game 9
Loser to Game 13
Loser out: 7th to 8th
Loser out: 5th to 6th
Loser out: 7th to 8th
Loser out: 5th to 6th
Loser out: 4th
Loser out: 3rd
If the losers bracket team wins Game 14
Champion

Tap a team to send it through; tap it again to take the result back. The bracket scrolls sideways.

Next step Only time for seven games? Single elimination for 8Want seven games for everyone? Round robin for 8

8 Team Double Elimination Tournament Bracket: how it works

An 8 team double elimination tournament bracket has no byes: all eight play in round one, and the sheet runs 14 games, or 15 if the losers bracket team wins Game 14. Type in your eight names or print it blank.

Round one and the first two exits

For a playoff, seed by final standings. Games 1 to 4 are Seed 1 against Seed 8, 4 against 5, 3 against 6 and 2 against 7. The four losers stay in their own half: the Game 1 and Game 2 losers meet in Game 7, the Game 3 and Game 4 losers in Game 8. Those two games send the first teams home, tied for seventh after two games each; the other six play at least three.

The semifinal losers swap sides

Check this line if you copy the sheet by hand. The Game 5 loser drops to Game 10, against the Game 8 winner, and the Game 6 loser to Game 9, against the Game 7 winner. Send them straight down instead and a semifinal loser can meet the team it beat in round one. Drawn correctly, no pairing can repeat before Game 12, which decides fourth place. The losers of Games 9 and 10 share fifth; Game 13 decides third.

Tips

  • On two courts, play in number order, two at a time, through Game 12, then Games 13 and 14 alone: 8 slots. Three courts need 7, four need 6.
  • The Game 12 winner goes straight into Game 13 and, if it keeps winning, Games 14 and 15: four in a row. Put a break before Game 14.
  • A champion plays four games if unbeaten, seven if its one loss comes in the first two rounds.

Questions and answers

8 team tournament bracket double elimination: how many games?

Fourteen, or fifteen if the final is replayed: seven in the winners bracket, six in the losers bracket and the championship. An 8 team double elimination bracket is twice the seven games of single elimination and half the 28 of a round robin.

Does anyone get a bye with eight teams?

No. Eight fills the winners bracket exactly, so every team or player, Seed 1 included, plays in round one. Type a ninth name and the sheet grows to nine teams with seven byes: names stay, results clear. The notes here still describe eight; the 9 team notes cover the new drops.

Do we have to play the if game?

Only if the losers bracket team wins Game 14. Skip it and the unbeaten team goes out on a single loss, which is no longer double elimination. If time is tight, agree on a one-game final before Game 1 and tell every team.

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Every game in the 8-team double-elimination bracket

8 teams, double elimination: 14 or 15 games. No byes.

Games of the 8-team double-elimination bracket, in playing order
GameRoundTeamsWinner goes toLoser goes toNotes
1Winners quarterfinalSeed 1 vs Seed 8Game 5Game 7Winners bracket quarterfinal, top of the sheet. With eight teams nobody has a bye, so even Seed 1 plays in the first round. The winner goes to Game 5 and the loser drops to Game 7, each to meet a team from Game 2.
2Winners quarterfinalSeed 4 vs Seed 5Game 5Game 7Winners bracket quarterfinal and, on seeding, the closest of the four. The winner goes to Game 5 to face the Game 1 winner. The loser drops to Game 7 to face the Game 1 loser.
3Winners quarterfinalSeed 3 vs Seed 6Game 6Game 8Winners bracket quarterfinal and the first game in the bottom half of the sheet. Its winner and the Game 4 winner meet in Game 6; the two losers meet in Game 8.
4Winners quarterfinalSeed 2 vs Seed 7Game 6Game 8Winners bracket quarterfinal. Seed 2 sits at the foot of the sheet, as far from Seed 1 as the bracket allows. The winner goes to Game 6 against the Game 3 winner, and the loser drops to Game 8 against the Game 3 loser.
5Winners semifinalWinner of Game 1 vs Winner of Game 2Game 11Game 10Winners bracket semifinal, top half. The winner reaches the winners bracket final, Game 11. The loser does not stay in its own half: it drops to Game 10 on the bottom side, where the Game 8 winner is a team it has not met.
6Winners semifinalWinner of Game 3 vs Winner of Game 4Game 11Game 9Winners bracket semifinal, bottom half. The winner takes the other place in Game 11. The loser crosses the other way, up to Game 9, to meet the Game 7 winner.
7Losers round 1Loser of Game 1 vs Loser of Game 2Game 9Out (7th to 8th)Losers bracket, round 1, and the first elimination game. Two quarterfinal losers from the top half meet for the first time. The loser is out after exactly two games and ties for seventh with the Game 8 loser. The winner goes to Game 9, where the Game 6 loser crosses over to meet it.
8Losers round 1Loser of Game 3 vs Loser of Game 4Game 10Out (7th to 8th)Losers bracket, round 1, for the two quarterfinal losers from the bottom half. The loser shares seventh place with the Game 7 loser. The winner goes to Game 10 against the Game 5 loser.
9Losers round 2Winner of Game 7 vs Loser of Game 6Game 12Out (5th to 6th)Losers bracket, round 2. The Game 7 winner started in the top half and the Game 6 loser in the bottom half, so this cannot be a rematch. The loser is out and ties for fifth with the Game 10 loser. The winner goes to Game 12, where the Game 10 winner is next.
10Losers round 2Winner of Game 8 vs Loser of Game 5Game 12Out (5th to 6th)Losers bracket, round 2, and the mirror of Game 9: a bottom-half survivor against the semifinal loser from the top half. The loser takes the other share of fifth place, and the winner joins the Game 9 winner in Game 12.
11Winners finalWinner of Game 5 vs Winner of Game 6Game 14Game 13Winners bracket final. Both teams are 2 and 0. The winner goes to Game 14, the championship, and can lose once there without losing the title. The loser drops to Game 13, the losers bracket final.
12Losers round 3Winner of Game 9 vs Winner of Game 10Game 13Out (4th)Losers bracket, round 3, and the first game that can be a rematch. It repeats Game 1 if the Game 1 loser has won Games 7 and 9 while the Game 1 winner lost Game 5 and then won Game 10; Games 2, 3 and 4 can come round again the same way. The loser is out and finishes fourth. The winner goes to Game 13 against the Game 11 loser.
13Losers finalWinner of Game 12 vs Loser of Game 11Game 14Out (3rd)Losers bracket final. The Game 12 winner is always playing its fifth game here; the Game 11 loser is playing its fourth. Any of Games 1 to 6 can be repeated. The loser is out and finishes third. The winner goes to Game 14 and has to beat the unbeaten team twice.
14ChampionshipWinner of Game 11 vs Winner of Game 13Champion, or Game 15 if the losers bracket team winsRunner-upChampionship. The Game 11 winner is 3 and 0 and playing its fourth game; the Game 13 winner is playing its fifth or sixth. If the unbeaten team wins, the tournament is over in 14 games. If it loses, both teams have one loss and Game 15 decides it.
15If necessaryWinner of Game 14 vs Loser of Game 14ChampionRunner-upThe if game, also called the bracket reset. It goes ahead only when the losers bracket team wins Game 14. Both teams now have one loss: the winner is champion and the loser finishes second. For a team whose first loss came before Game 11 it is a seventh game, the most anyone can play on this sheet.

How this list was compiled: Bracket layout worked out by Wheel of Teams. Eight teams fill the 8-slot double elimination bracket exactly, so there are no byes: the first round is seeded 1 v 8, 4 v 5, 3 v 6, 2 v 7 down the sheet, first-round losers meet inside their own half, and the two semifinal losers swap halves when they drop so that no quarterfinal or semifinal loser can meet a team it has already played in its first losers bracket game; no pairing can repeat before Game 12. All 16,384 possible sets of results for the 14 scheduled games were then played through the layout by two separately written scripts to confirm that every team is out after exactly two losses, that the games always number 14 or 15, which finishing places are shared, where a rematch can happen, how many games a champion can play and how few time slots each number of courts needs. The game count (2n - 2, or 2n - 1 when the winner is not undefeated; the article's own example is '8 teams would see 14 or 15 games'), the two-game final and the names 'if game' and 'bracket reset' were checked on 2026-09-18 against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-elimination_tournament. Licence: own work