I'd like to add a few notes from my own limited experience in trying to use these programs for brackets.
Although I've tried many of them over the years, I was never happy with the actual results. In most cases, I ended up using a paper bracket either as a backup or as a supplementary tool, ultimately doubling the work anyway.
In this post, I'll do a quick review of the three examples listed in this thread.
Brackelope
- Cool little iPhone app, but it is missing some flexibility that make it unusable for many tournaments. Free for Single Elim, $10 for Double Elim.
- No manual table assignment (i.e. TV Table). To assign a match to a specific table (TV table, for example), you would need to assign all matches (randomly), find the match that is on the TV table, put that match on hold, find the match you want on the TV table, assign it to the TV table, then manually find another open table, and finally assign the unwanted match to that other table. Something like that - you get the point. It simply wouldn't work in a production environment.
- There is no way to customize entry fees or payouts. You can choose between $0, $5, $7, $10, and $20 entry fees. There is no option to customize payout ratios.
- You can't report the score of a match; you can only indicate who won and lost.
- Also lacking are options for, handicaps (even simple ones like "ladies get one on the wire"), seeding (if desired), and several other major items.
- There are some other minor things, but the above is enough to eliminate this from my list.
Challonge.com
- A pretty cool free web app, but again lacks important features.
- No options for table assignments of any kind.
- The brackets are built in order of player entry. Although you can randomize the initial rounds, the bracket is available for people to view live from the moment it is created. This means you can't give out the link ahead of time, or people will jump to the brackets and see the matchups before they are randomized. Big problem.
- As some have no doubt already noticed, the brackets are drawn in a unique style that can be confusing to anyone who is accustomed to a regular bracket. If you don't know what I mean, go check out some sample double elimination tournaments on their site.
- Challonge does have a lot of cool features, like allowing multiple users to manage the scores, brackets, etc. Players can even get emailed match alerts and report their own scores if they have a Challonge account. However, this also opens the door for massive mistakes that could be ruinous to a tournament.
BudTour.com (IngenPool)
- This one comes the closest, but still has a few quirks that would make me revert to paper.
- No automatic live updates. You can link it to a website, but updates will only happen when the TD remembers to click the Update button.
- Somewhat limited handicap system. Although it can easily handle full APA-style handicaps (i.e. certain levels play to specific games), there is no way to simply adjust games on the wire. There are workarounds for this, but it would be tedious at best.
- While the capabilities of this program are pretty impressive, the user interface looks like something written for Windows 95. If they revamped the interface and added a few features, this could be a real possibility for the future.
- While Brackelope and Challonge are too simple, this one is too complex. There is a HUGE variety of options for adjusting payouts etc, but they miss out on some basic common aspects, for example, no option to take out greens fees.
- Some of the really cool features in BudTour include a great match scheduler, including a simple way to reschedule or move matches, edit mistakes, send text messages when matches are called, display the brackets on an external screen or projector, print scorecards, print brackets, and even manage the calcutta.
- However, the tournament information is NOT stored online. If something happens to the computer hosting the software, your tournament is GONE and you'll have to start from scratch using the online PDF as a historical record.
SUMMARY:
BudTour is a really great program for weekly tournaments and such, but I would ultimately not trust it for regional events, big tournaments, etc. Challonge and Brackelope simply aren't advanced enough.
One final problem with online brackets is this: Having the brackets online does NOT solve the problem of people asking where the brackets are! You still have to provide a link (and tell people where to find the link). And the participants and spectators in the tournament, will also need the link. They aren't on their computer, in a chat room, or on AZB where they could "just look at the top of the screen". You would essentially to print banners with the link for each tournament, and hang them all around the room.
A paper (or plastic) bracket board allows infinite customizability - TD's can mark table assignments, have a quick reference to the overall progress of the tournament, call whatever matches make sense at the time, select certain matches for certain tables, and allow players, spectators, and live streamers to walk over and view the bracket without asking questions.
And finally, like it or not, some tournament directors just don't like online brackets or software. Maybe they don't trust computers. Maybe they feel that with the sometimes large amounts of money at stake, they want to have one and only one record of the tournament. Maybe they just like to be able to write notes on the side of the brackets. Maybe they just don't care about people who are not involved at all with the tournament.
If we, as viewers, don't like the way they run their tournament, well... you know the rest.
It would be nice if every tournament had online brackets like CSI, and the technology is definitely available, but the products that are out there right now just aren't ready to be the workhorse tournament management systems that they should be.
When I was in college, I wrote a program to handle almost all of these tasks. It took me YEARS of programming to get it to what I thought was a high enough level of functionality that it could completely replace paper brackets for pool tournaments. I compiled it, copyrighted it, formed the LLC and registered my DBA. I went to big tournaments all over Texas showing off this software, demonstrating its features, and integrating new feature requests into it. And guess what. I never sold a single copy. Would I get back into that project and try to sell it to tournament directors across the nation? Heck no. That's money that ultimately comes out of the players' and pool halls' bank accounts, and they would rather keep that money in the prize fund.
I hope my perspective was helpful.
-Blake
