To run a successful tournament, directors should check out the Pretournament Prep and Managing a Live Tournament sections.
RoundA group of matches, such as "Round One," "Final Round," etc. Go here for more information on additional terminology.
If there are no preliminaries, all teams will participate in the full bracket.
If preliminaries are enabled, all teams will be divided into groups of 3-10 for preliminary rounds. Only top-ranked teams will advance to the final bracket.
If there are fewer than six participating teams, or the teams do not exceed the Number of Teams per Group setting, preliminaries will be disabled by default.
Preliminary league setting: Automatic Progression
In Simple tournaments, all director actions besides the Start Tournament button are automated. The tournament progresses without communication between the director and participants.
The following actions are unavailable:
In order to automate progression in Simple tournaments, deadlines are set for before battles and ending them.
Teams where members have not gathered by the deadline for determining members will be automatically withdrawn. If a member leaves before a scheduled battle, the battle will start with the current members, even if the member left due to circumstances such as a communication error. It is not possible to force an end to battles and restart them. In the event of an excessively prolonged match, both teams will be withdrawn.
The director can choose whether the tournament displays in search results. If Display is selected when creating the tournament, other users can find the tournament in the search results. Tournaments will not display in search results for at least an hour after creation. In some cases, tournaments from directors not using Tournament Manager for its intended purpose may not display in the search results, even if they set the tournaments to Display.
If you do not want people you do not know to participate in your tournament, select "Do not display."
Tournaments with the following conditions cannot be displayed in search results.
Remember that the higher you set the number of battle wins required to win a match, the longer the tournament will be overall. Be sure to check the Tournament Length Estimate and adjust as needed.
After a battle on a randomly chosen stage, that stage will be removed from the pool of random stages.
Will not be removed if the battle is interrupted without a victor.
If all stages are removed, the next battle will randomly select a stage from the entire pool designated for use in the tournament.
You can change tournament settings up until the participating teams are confirmed.
Participants will only be notified if the tournament schedule changes. View notification details here.
The following settings cannot be changed after a tournament is created.
You can cancel or delete a tournament from the overview screen.
Tournaments that run for 12 hours past the start time without ending will be automatically canceled.
Before registration begins:
You can delete a tournament.
After registration has started:
You can cancel a tournament, but you can't delete one after registration has started. If the tournament is canceled, participants will receive a notification.
Before registration begins:
You can delete a tournament, but you cannot delete a single division. If you want to change the number of divisions, please remake the tournament.
After registration has started:
You can cancel individual divisions, but you can't delete a tournament after registration has started. If a division is canceled, participants will be notified.
The optimal settings for a tournament may vary depending on its size.
In all cases, preparing announcements, setting rules, and other tasks can take a significant amount of time. Consider leaving yourself some buffer time by setting a long registration period, and be sure that your schedule will accommodate your duties as a tournament director.
Elimination Tournament(Preliminaries On)
3
1
128-1,024 teams
Best of 3
Elimination Tournament(Preliminaries Off)
16-64 teams
Best of 3
Swiss-Style Tournament
10-32 teams
Best of 3
League
4-8 teams
Best of 5
After creating a tournament, the director can add codirectors.
Adding codirectors is a great way to make the workload of directing a tournament more manageable.
Codirectors have the same level of control as the director, with the exception of the ability to cancel or delete tournaments.
You can add codirectors from your friend list. You can also remove codirectors who have been added.
Notifications will be sent to any codirectors who have been added.
Friends who are unable to direct tournaments cannot be added as codirectors.
About Tournament-Director Restrictions
You can designate codirectors to have specific roles other than the default "staff," such as "streamer" or "commentator."
Each codirector's role will be displayed in the tournament outline and in the Management section after the tournament concludes.
Share the URL or QR Code from Share Tournament on social media to recruit participants.
Clicking or tapping the URL will open Tournament Manager via SplatNet 3. People hoping to participate can register for the tournament there.
After registration is complete, the button to confirm participating teams will display. Before confirming, please configure Invited-Teams Window Settings and Disqualification Settings as necessary. Then open Participating Teams, and click or tap the button to confirm participating teams.
Please note that it is also possible to confirm participating teams before registration ends. However, confirming participating teams while registration is still open will automatically end the registration period, and it is not possible to undo the action.
The participation history for a player's five most recent battle tournaments is shown under their icon. The color of the ● indicates their team rank color at the time of participation (for "Only ranked teams can participate" tournaments only). A - mark indicates withdrawal or disqualification.
To assign invited teams, be sure to select Set as Invited Team from each team's menu.
Invited Team Not Registered?
You can still host a tournament if some or all of the teams that you invited did not register. In that case, teams on the wait list will automatically be registered in the order they signed up.
Tournament directors have the ability to disqualify teams before or during a tournament.
You can disqualify a team before a tournament begins or after it is underway.
To disqualify a team, select Disqualify from that team's menu.
Selecting Disqualify from a team's menu will remove them from the tournament and send a notification to all members that they have been disqualified. Disqualified teams will still be visible to directors but not to tournament participants.
Players from any disqualified teams will not be able to reenter the same tournament—even on a different team.
If you're using Tournament Manager in a web browser, you can download team info—including team names, player names, and more—in CSV format, which can be reviewed in a spreadsheet editor. The following information is available.
If a team substitutes players after the end of the registration period, you can see the details in Edit History.
Once all participating teams are confirmed, a tournament bracket will be created automatically. You'll be able to manually edit the bracket, and once it's ready, publish it. Be sure to not forget this step, as the tournament cannot begin without a bracket!
You can use the By Division feature to split a tournament into multiple divisions.
The number of divisions you can set depends upon the number of participating teams.
In preliminaries, the number of divisions is based on the number of teams advancing to the tournament.
Number of Participating Teams | Number of Divisions |
---|---|
2-15 teams | None (Can't separate into divisions) |
16-31 teams | None / 2 divisions |
32-63 teams | None / 2 / 4 divisions |
64-127 teams | None / 2 / 4 / 8 divisions |
128-255 teams | None / 2 / 4 / 8 / 16 divisions |
256-511 teams | None / 2 / 4 / 8 / 16 / 32 divisions |
512-1,024 teams | None / 2 / 4 / 8 / 16 / 32 / 64 divisions |
When a matchup between two opponents is set for the next round and automatic round progression is enabled, the match will begin as soon as both teams are prepared. In tournaments with preliminaries, automatic progression is required regardless of whether automatic-progression settings are enabled. Please see the link below for more details.
When your tournament bracket is complete, select Publish to release it to all participants for review.
Once published, a bracket cannot be taken down.
All participants will receive a notification when the bracket is published.
The tournament director and any codirectors can join the Tournament Manager room as spectators. You can select who will spectate via Spectator Settings in the bracket. Up to two spectators are allowed per match.
If you select Become Room Host, you'll assume responsibility for starting the battle and will have a Check-In button just like competing players. Only one player can host each Tournament Manager room per match.
In Simple tournaments, it is not possible to use the Become Room Host setting.
Each match in the round will start at the same time.
If there are multiple matches in a round where the director is set as the room's host, competing teams will stand by until the director arrives.
If you want to be sure that you're able to spectate both matches, please use the Become Room Host feature.
You can't set spectator settings while you are still participating in matches as a player.
Be sure to progress the tournament as needed using the bracket and the navigation in the purple area as a guide. You'll find additional information under Navigation that can help you troubleshoot any concerns.
If there are multiple divisions, the director can check each division's progress from Navigation.
When you reach the scheduled start time for a tournament, a Start Tournament button will display under Navigation. The director can select this button to begin the tournament when ready.
You can also start a tournament before its scheduled start time by choosing "Starting a tournament before the scheduled start time." Be aware that once you start the tournament, it cannot be undone.
For Team-Rank Tournaments with Multiple Divisions
If there are multiple divisions, selecting the Start Tournament button for any one division will start the tournament for all divisions.
You cannot start the tournament if there are divisions where the bracket has not been published. Please publish the bracket for all divisions.
You can see details about how each match is going within the tournament bracket itself.
You can view the tournament bracket for details on specific matches. You can also download match-result edits, battle replays, and other info from the Splatoon 3 lobby terminal.
If necessary, a tournament director can edit the results of a match. However, you cannot edit the results for the final game in a preliminary or tournament round (including the final round).
In Simple tournaments, it is not possible to edit match results.
Once set, the results cannot be edited unless the next opponent has not been decided yet. In those cases, results can be edited up until the point at which the next opponent is decided.
You can edit results as much as needed until you press the button to start the next round.
The tournament director can enter a Tournament Manager room as a spectating player.
In Simple tournaments, the Become Room Host setting cannot be used.
If you select Become Room Host in the spectator settings, you'll also need to check in.
As soon as a matchup is set and both teams are prepared, the next round will begin immediately. Check out the Navigation section to see how many matches remain for each round.
In Simple tournaments, Automatic Progression is enabled for all rounds.
When all matches in the current round are decided, a button to begin the next round will appear in Navigation. The director may then start the next round as soon as they're ready.
If any participants have filed an inquiry, an alert will be displayed in Navigation. A tournament director or codirector will need to review the details and resolve the issue. Select Resolved when the issue has been resolved, and the alert will be removed.
In Simple tournaments, the Contact the Director button will not display to participants, so the director will not receive inquiries.
An alert will also be triggered if a specific match is taking significantly longer than expected.
If teams break the rules or intentionally make it difficult to progress the tournament, you can disqualify them.
View Procedure for Disqualifications
When the last match of the final round of the tournament is complete, the tournament results will be displayed.