Swiss Night

A Swiss tournament pairer for game night

Everyone plays. Nobody plays twice.

Swiss Night pairs your board game tournament round by round: no rematches, a fair bye, standings with proper tie-breaks and slips you can print and cut. It runs in your browser, with no sign-up.

Open Swiss Night See how it pairs

Free. Works offline once loaded. Your tournament stays on your device.

Round 3 of 4, all 4 results in: Ada beat Kofi at table 1, Mei drew with Rafael at table 2, Tom beat Priya at table 3, Lena beat Sam at table 4. Bye: Jonah, 1 point, first bye of the night.

Three steps, then you just play.

  1. Write down who's here.

    Type a name, press Enter, next. Three to sixty-four players. Swiss Night suggests how many rounds fit, and you can change it.

  2. Start, and seat them.

    Round 1 is paired the moment you start: the seating shuffled, top half against bottom half, a numbered table for every pair. Odd number? Someone gets the bye, and it rotates fairly.

  3. Tap the results in.

    One tap per table: a win either way, or a draw. Standings update as you go. When every result is in, pair the next round. Swiss Night matches people on the same score and never repeats a pairing.

Paired by score. Never a rematch.

Ten players, one round played. Scroll, and watch Swiss Night pair round 2.

  1. Step 1

    After round 1, everyone is ranked.

    Points first, then Buchholz, then Sonneborn–Berger, then seed.

  2. Step 2

    The top player takes the next one down.

    Ada meets Mei, Lena meets Tom: people on the same score play each other.

  3. Step 3

    Jonah and Nell have already played.

    So Swiss Night skips her and gives Jonah the next player down. If no rematch-free round exists at all, it tells you and offers to end the tournament there.

  4. Step 4

    Five tables. No rematches.

    With an odd count, the bye goes to whoever has had the fewest. Then you print the slips.

Round 2: Table 1, Ada v Mei. Table 2, Lena v Tom. Table 3, Jonah v Kofi. Table 4, Nell v Rafael. Table 5, Sam v Priya. Jonah and Nell were not paired again because they played in round 1.

The fiddly parts, handled.

  • Example standings
    # Player Pts Buch SB
    1 Ada 3 5½ 4.50
    2 Lena 3 5 4.00
    3 Mei 2½ 6 4.25
    3 Tom 2½ 6 4.25

    Tie-breaks everyone accepts.

    Points first, then Buchholz, then Sonneborn–Berger. Players level on all three share a place, so the table never invents a winner the rules don't support.

  • A fair bye.

    With an odd count, the bye goes to whoever has had the fewest, lowest-ranked first. It's worth a point, and nobody sits out twice while someone else hasn't.

  • Slips you can cut.

    Print one slip per table, eight to a page, two across, with cut lines. Players write the result and sign it.

  • Mid-night changes.

    Fix a typo in a name, withdraw someone who has to leave, bring them back. Their past games keep counting, so nobody's tie-breaks shift.

  • Saved as you go.

    Every tap is saved in your browser. Close the tab, come back, carry on. Download a backup file to move the night to another device.

This is the actual app. Try it.

Add a few names, start a round and tap some results. It's running right here, and nothing you type leaves this page.

  • Try Add Ada, Kofi and Mei, then start.
  • Then Open Rounds and tap a result.
  • Notice Three players means a bye.
Open it full screen →

Set up the tables.

Your next game night has a bracket in about a minute.

Open Swiss Night

Runs in any modern browser, on a laptop or a phone. No account, no server, nothing to install.