How it works
Guide for organizers and participants
For organizers
1. Create a tournament
Go to the home page and tap New Tournament.
Enter a tournament name and date.
Add each participant by name. Rank is optional — if you enter it (e.g. 5D, 3K), it will appear next to the player's name throughout the app.
Tap Create Tournament. The app determines the format automatically based on how many players you entered.
2. Enter scores during pool play
You will land on the manage page. Each match card shows the two players and four possible outcomes. Tap the correct result — standings update immediately.
If you make a mistake, tap Edit on any completed match to correct it. There is no lock — you can edit scores at any time.
3. Generate the elimination bracket
When all pool matches are complete, a green button appears: Generate Elimination Bracket. Tap it once. The bracket is created automatically, seeded by pool finish position, with byes added as needed.
Byes are assigned to the highest seeds, so the players who worked hardest in pools face the weakest opponents first.
4. Run the bracket
Elimination matches work the same as pool matches — tap the result on each match card. The winner is automatically placed into the next round. When the final is scored, the tournament moves to Complete status and the final report appears.
For participants
Reading the standings
During pool play, each pool shows a live standings table ranked by total flags. The player at the top of each pool at the end advances to the elimination bracket.
The view page refreshes automatically every few seconds — no need to reload.
Why did that player advance and not me?
If two or more players finish a pool with the same number of flags, the app breaks the tie in order:
Head-to-head flags. Who scored more flags in the match directly between the tied players?
Flag differential. Across all their pool matches, who has the bigger gap between flags scored and flags conceded?
Run-off match. If a circular 3-way tie remains (A beat B, B beat C, C beat A, all with equal margins), those players play a fresh mini round-robin to break it. The bracket waits until the run-off is complete.
Virtual rock-paper-scissors (backstop only). If the run-off itself produces another circular tie, a simulated janken bout decides. This is deterministic — the same players in the same tournament always get the same result.
Finding your next match
In the elimination bracket section, each match card shows the two players and the current score (if played). Your name will appear as soon as the previous round's result is entered. If it shows TBD, the previous match has not been scored yet.
Jodo match basics
Background — for those new to the format
How a match is scored
A Jodo match is judged by a panel. Judges award flags (旗, hata) to indicate which player performed the technique more correctly. The player who collects more flags wins the match.
Matches in this system are scored as either a 3–0 (clean sweep — all judges agreed) or 2–1 (one judge sided with the other player).
What the flag counts mean
In the standings, the Flags column shows total flags a player has collected across all their matches — not the number of wins. A player who wins two matches 3–0 has 6 flags; one who wins two matches 2–1 has 4 flags. Both have two wins, but the first ranks higher.