Organising players into pairs is of vital importance and, after the first round, the organiser of a matched play event should endeavour to pair together players who have been enjoying similar levels of success. Whilst the organiser of a matched play event is free to use any pairing system they wish, the methods detailed on the following pages are recommended.

The First Round

For the first round, players can be paired together randomly. If there is an odd number of players, then one player will either need to be paired with the spare player or be given a 'Bye' (see below).

Spare Player

If a player has been paired up with the spare player, they will play a game as normal and record the results as they would for any other game. When pairing subsequent rounds, the spare player should be left out and should always play the player at the bottom of the standings. If this player has already played against the spare player, simply pair the next lowest ranked player against the spare player instead.

Byes

Sometimes it may not be possible to provide a spare player for your event. In this case, the player that would normally be paired with the spare player (as described above) will instead receive a Bye. A Bye counts as having won a Crushing Victory, and the player counts as having won a number of VP equal to the size of the games being played.

Concession

Should a player ever have to concede a game, their opponent is considered to have won a Crushing Victory, and the player counts as having won a number of VP equal to the size of the games being played.

Subsequent Rounds

In subsequent rounds, the player who is highest in the standings will be matched against the player who is second in the rankings, whilst the player in third place will be matched against the player in fourth place. From there, the player who is fifth in the standings will be matched against the player who is sixth in the standings, and so on until all players have an opponent. If drawing a round in this way results in two players that have already faced one another being drawn to face one another again, the lowest ranked of the two players will swap places with the highest ranked player on the table below them.

This system should be used for all rounds after the first, including the final round with but one exception - in the final round, players on the top tables (as determined by the organiser, but usually the tables on which the top 10% of the players are playing) should not swap opponents if they draw someone they have already played against; the two are clearly so equally matched that destiny has set them across from one another one last time!

In this example draw, Dave and Danny have already played one another in a previous round and therefore cannot play again. As Danny is the lower ranked of the two, he will swap with the highest ranked player on the table shown here - which in this case, is Becky.