Tournament-Day Runbook

This runbook is a condensed, time-ordered checklist for running a tournament day. It assumes the tournament is already set up. For setup instructions, start with the Organizer Guide. Keep this page open on competition day.

The week before

Confirm the case, witnesses, scorecard, awards, and roster fields are final. Changing them after coaches prepare makes the tournament harder to audit.
Confirm the standings and tiebreaker configuration matches the official rules, and preview a tie at each level.
Confirm every team has joined and built its roster. Follow up on pending invitations.
Build the scorer pool and record conflicts. Fix any BOUNCED email addresses.
Add every courtroom, including online meeting locations for remote trials.
Add any co-organizers who will help run the day.

The day before

Create the rounds and build pairings for at least the first round.
Check each pairing: two different teams, a courtroom that is not double-booked, and no team appearing twice in the round.
Publish the first round’s pairings so coaches can prepare roles and call orders.
Spot-check a few teams’ organizer views to confirm rosters and default assignments exist.
Confirm each pairing has the expected number of scorer positions and a presider.

Morning of — before the first round

Use the organizer Overview as your pre-round checklist, then confirm each pairing directly. Before locking the round, verify:

Every pairing has two different teams.
No team appears in more than one pairing in the round.
Every pairing has a courtroom, and no courtroom is double-booked.
Each pairing has the expected number of scorers.
Every pairing has a presider.
No scorer is assigned to a team on their conflict list.
Coaches have completed role assignments and call orders, or their saved defaults are ready to be copied.

Opening a round

Lock the round. This opens ballots and copies team defaults into any pairing left unset. It cannot be undone.
Select Send scoring links to email every assigned online scorer. This bulk action runs once per round.
For any scorer who cannot find the email or whose address was corrected, use the per-scorer Send or Resend control.
Paper scorers do not receive links — hand them a printed ballot. See Paper and Offline Ballots.

While a round is scored

Watch each pairing’s ballot counter, such as 2/3 ballots.
Enter paper or replacement scores as judges hand them in.
Handle any Conflict Reported: assign a replacement with no conflict and send their link.
Use Combined scoresheet to review a pairing’s ballots once scores arrive.

Between rounds

Build and publish the next round’s pairings (if not already done) so coaches can prepare.
Confirm scorer and presider assignments for the next round.
Resolve any outstanding missing ballots from the previous round before publishing its results.
Optionally review interim standings for the completed rounds.

Releasing results

Publish results appears for a round only when it has at least one pairing, at least one scorer assigned, and every expected ballot submitted.

Before publishing:

Confirm every expected ballot was submitted.
Review individual and combined scoresheets for anomalies.
Check standings and award nominations for the rounds the rules include.
Publish results to release scores and ballots to coaches.

After the final round

Select the exact rounds the tournament rules include for final standings.
Verify column labels and sort direction against the official rules.
Review any presider tiebreaker values used by the configuration.
Have a second organizer independently check the leading teams and any tied positions.
Export standings, raw results, award nominations, and rosters for your records. See Reviewing Standings and Awards.
Once the event is finished, Mark completed or Archive the tournament rather than deleting it.

Quick troubleshooting

A scorer sees “Scoring Not Open Yet.” The round is not locked, or they are looking at the wrong round. Lock the correct round and ask them to refresh.

The scoring-link button is missing. The round must be locked, and the bulk-send runs only once — use the per-scorer send or resend after that.

Publish results does not appear. A ballot is still missing or no scored assignment exists. Check the counters and enter any paper ballots.

A scorer’s link says it is no longer valid. A ballot was already submitted for that assignment, or an organizer entered it manually. Review the scoresheet instead of requesting another submission.