Tournament brackets, double elimination

3 team double elimination bracket printable, every game numbered

Winners' bracket on top, losers' bracket below, every game numbered and every drop marked, through to the grand final, and game 5 if it's needed.

3 teams4 or 5 gamesOut after two lossesByes: seed 1

Double Elimination

3 teams · 4 or 5 games

Out after two losses

Game 5 only if game 4's winner had lost before

Winners' bracket

Round 1Game 1

Winners' finalGame 2

Grand finalGame 4

If necessaryGame 5

Losers' bracket

Losers' finalGame 3

Only if the game 4 winner came from the losers' bracket

Loser of game 1

Loser of game 2

Loser of game 4

1 2 3 4 5

Champion

Tournament

Date

Place

Game	Round	Teams	Score
1	Winners' round 1	Seed 2 v Seed 3	–
2	Winners' final	Seed 1 v Winner of 1	–
3	Losers' final	Loser of 1 v Loser of 2	–
4	Grand final	Winner of 2 v Winner of 3	–
5	If necessary	Winner of 4 v Loser of 4	–

3 team double elimination bracket, blank, every game numbered, on one printable page — The printed page, as the PDF prints it. Save to Pinterest

How a 3 team double elimination bracket works

A 3 team double elimination bracket takes 4 games, or 5 if the final goes to a second game. A team is out after its second loss, so every team plays at least twice.

The winners' bracket is 2 games over 2 rounds, run like a single elimination bracket. 3 teams don't fill a bracket of 4, so 1 team gets a bye: seed 1 skips the first round and starts in round 2. The first round is one game: 2 v 3.

Lose in the winners' bracket and you drop to the losers' bracket, onto the line that names your game: “Loser of game 1.” Its 1 games run over 1 rounds. From its second round, each round's winners meet the teams just dropped from the winners' bracket, set in reverse order every other round so two teams that just played don't meet again at once.

The winners' bracket champion, still unbeaten, meets the losers' bracket champion in the grand final, game 4. If the winners' champion wins, the tournament is over. If not, both teams have lost once, so they play again: game 5, the “if necessary” game.

Running the tournament

One sheet from the first game to the champion.

Seed the teamsBest first: seed 1 on the top line. Type them beside the sheet to print them, or shuffle the list for a random draw.
Print and post itOne copy on the wall for everyone, or one each for a bracket pool. The PDF is always blank.
Play the games in orderThe numbers are an order that works: each game's teams are known before it starts. Two courts can run a winners' and a losers' game at once.
Write in each winnerOn the line the game leads to, and each loser on the line in the losers' bracket that names their game.

Good to know

How many games are in a 3 team double elimination bracket?

4, or 5 with the if-necessary game. Every team but the champion loses twice, and the champion loses once at most.

Who gets a bye?

The top seed. 3 teams fill a 4 line bracket only with 1 bye, and each goes to the best seed left, so no bye meets another and every first-round game is real.

How do you seed a bracket?

Best team first, by last season, a ranking or pool play: seed 1 on the top line, then down the list. Seed 1 and seed 2 are placed so they can meet only in the final. No ranking? Shuffle the list for a random draw.

What does “if necessary” mean?

The winners' bracket champion reaches the grand final unbeaten. If they lose it, it's their first loss, so they get a second game against the same team: game 5. If they win the grand final, game 5 isn't played.

Can I fill it in on screen?

Type the teams beside the sheet and they print on it, shrunk to fit their lines; the tournament's name goes on the sheet too. They stay on this device for next time. “Print blank” prints it without them, and the PDF is always blank.