Curling Bonspiel Draw Formats: Choosing a Format and Planning Progression

The right curling bonspiel draw format depends on three numbers: how many teams you have, how many ice sheets you can use, and how many hours of ice time you have booked. For most friendly events of 6 to 16 teams, pool play followed by a short playoff works best. Every team gets several games, the schedule is predictable, and the event still ends with a final. Use a knockout draw when you have many teams and little ice time. Use a full round robin only when the group is small enough that every team can play every other team.

The rest of this guide explains each format, shows how to check what your ice can handle, and walks through building a bracket. It also covers how to publish a schedule that tells every team where and when it plays next.

What are curling bonspiel draw formats?

A curling bonspiel draw format is the set of rules that decides which teams play each other, in what order, and how teams advance or are eliminated. In curling, a draw is one time slot in which a game is played on each available sheet. The draw schedule is the full timetable of those slots. If your club has 4 sheets, each draw can host at most 4 games, so 8 teams can play at the same time.

Most bonspiel formats are built from a few basic structures:

• Round robin: every team plays every other team once. The final standings decide the winner or the playoff qualifiers.
• Pool play: teams are split into smaller groups (pools). Each pool plays its own round robin, and the top teams move on to playoffs.
• Single knockout: a team that loses once is eliminated.
• Double knockout: a team is eliminated after its second loss.
• Triple knockout: a team is eliminated after its third loss. Losing teams drop from the A event to the B event and then to the C event.
• Playoffs: a short knockout among qualified teams, usually semifinals and a final.

Which bonspiel draw format should you choose?

Choose the format that gives every team a satisfying number of games within the ice time you actually have. For a social event, a guaranteed number of games usually matters more than a perfectly fair ranking of every team. The table compares the common formats for a field of n teams.

Quick decision guide by number of teams

• 4 to 5 teams: a full round robin, optionally followed by a final between the top two.
• 6 to 8 teams: two pools of 3 or 4, then semifinals and a final. Add consolation games so eliminated teams keep playing.
• 9 to 16 teams: three or four pools, then a playoff. A double knockout also works if you have enough draws.
• 16 or more teams over several days: a triple knockout or a larger pool system, with A, B and C prize events.

How do you work out how many games your ice can handle?

Your capacity in games equals the number of ice sheets multiplied by the number of draws you can fit into your booked hours. Work this out before you choose a format, because it is the hardest limit you have.

1. Count the sheets. Confirm how many sheets the club will give you. One sheet hosts one game per draw.
2. Decide the game length. Many friendly bonspiels play 6 or 8 ends instead of a full 10. Ask your club how long an 8-end game usually takes there, and use that figure.
3. Set a draw slot length. Add time for warm-up, ice maintenance between draws and late finishes. Ask the ice technician how long the ice needs between draws.
4. Count the draws. Divide the available hours by the slot length, then subtract slots for meals and social time.
5. Multiply. Sheets × draws = the maximum number of games. Compare this with the total games your chosen format needs.

Example: 8 teams on 4 sheets

Suppose 8 teams have 4 sheets for a weekend and can fit 5 draws. Capacity is 4 × 5 = 20 games.

• A full round robin needs 28 games across 7 draws. That does not fit.
• A single knockout needs only 7 games, but four teams would play just once.
• Two pools of 4 need 6 games each, or 12 games in total, across 3 draws. That leaves 2 draws for playoffs and consolation games, and every sheet is used in every draw.

In this case, pool play is the clear choice.

How do you build a round robin or pool play schedule?

The simplest way to create round robin team matchups is the circle method. Number the teams, keep team 1 fixed, and rotate the others one position each round. This guarantees that every pair meets exactly once.

Example: a pool of 4 teams

• Round 1: Team 1 vs Team 4, Team 2 vs Team 3
• Round 2: Team 1 vs Team 3, Team 4 vs Team 2
• Round 3: Team 1 vs Team 2, Team 3 vs Team 4

With two pools of 4 on 4 sheets, both pools play their rounds at the same time. Pool A uses sheets A and B, and Pool B uses sheets C and D. If you can, rotate sheet assignments so no team plays on the same sheet every game, because sheets can play slightly differently.

What if you have an odd number of teams?

With an odd number of teams, add an imaginary team called Bye. Whoever is drawn against Bye sits out that round. A 5-team round robin needs 10 games over 5 rounds, with 2 games per round and one team resting each round. Make sure the bye rotates so no team rests twice.

How do you build a knockout bracket?

A knockout bracket is a tree in which winners move forward and losers are eliminated or, in multiple-knockout formats, drop into a lower event. Build it in four steps.

1. Find the bracket size. Round the number of teams up to the next power of two: 4, 8, 16 or 32.
2. Calculate byes. Byes = bracket size − number of teams. With 10 teams, the bracket size is 16 and there are 6 byes. A simpler way to see this: you need to get from 10 teams down to 8, so 2 first-round games (4 teams) are played and 6 teams skip straight to the round of 8.
3. Seed or draw. Either place teams randomly or seed them so the strongest teams cannot meet early. Give byes to the top seeds or to teams drawn by lot, and announce the method in advance.
4. Number every game. Label each game (Game 1, Game 2, and so on) and write where the winner goes, for example: Winner of Game 3 plays Winner of Game 4 in Game 7.

How do double and triple knockout draws work?

In a double or triple knockout, a loss moves a team into a lower bracket instead of ending its event. In a triple knockout, every team starts in the A event. A team that loses in the A event drops to the B event, and a team that loses in the B event drops to the C event. A team is out after its third loss. Each event can produce its own winner or its own playoff qualifiers. This is why triple knockout bonspiels often award A, B and C prizes.

For organizers, the key task is to write the loss path on the bracket. For example: Loser of Game 5 goes to B event Game 12. Without these labels, teams will not know where they are going after a loss. A double knockout works the same way with only an A event and a B event. Because each team needs several losses to be eliminated, these formats need far more games than a single knockout. A 16-team triple knockout needs around 40 games.

How should playoff qualification work after pool play?

Playoff qualification should be decided by a rule that every team can read before the first stone is thrown. Common choices:

• Two pools: the top two in each pool advance to cross-over semifinals (A1 vs B2, B1 vs A2), so teams from the same pool cannot meet again until the final.
• Three or four pools: pool winners advance. With three pools, the best second-place team takes the fourth semifinal spot.
• Ranking within a pool: wins first, then a tiebreaker.

Which tiebreakers are practical for a friendly bonspiel?

Choose tiebreakers that do not need extra games, because extra draws rarely fit into the schedule. A typical order is:

1. Number of wins
2. Head-to-head result between the tied teams
3. A draw shot challenge, where teams throw stones to the button before or during their games and the smallest total distance ranks higher. If you use it, plan when the stones are thrown and who measures.
4. A coin toss or a draw by lot as the last resort

Some clubs also use ends won or points scored. These can reward running up the score, so use them only if your group is comfortable with that.

How do you plan a realistic draw schedule?

A realistic draw schedule leaves room for warm-up, ice maintenance, meals and games that run long. A schedule built only from game times will run late. Follow these principles:

• Limit games per day. Curling is physically tiring. Most recreational players are comfortable with two or three games in one day, not more.
• Avoid back-to-back draws for the same team. Give every team at least one free slot between games where possible.
• Schedule meals and social time as fixed blocks. Do not squeeze them into gaps between draws.
• Leave time before playoffs. You need a gap after the last pool draw to confirm results, apply tiebreakers and announce the playoff matchups.
• Set an end-of-game rule. Agree on a fixed number of ends or a time limit, and say how a game is finished when time runs out. That rule is what keeps the schedule on track.

Sample weekend schedule: 8 teams, 4 sheets, 5 draws

This example uses two pools of 4 and gives every team 5 games. All 4 sheets are used in every draw. The times assume slots of roughly two and a half to three hours for 8-end games. Adjust them to your club.

Each team plays no more than three games on Saturday. There is also a natural pause after Draw 3 to finalize the pool standings before the semifinals.

How do you make the next round clear to every team?

Teams should be able to answer three questions at any moment: whom they play next, on which sheet, and at what time. These steps make that possible:

1. Publish the full draw before the event. Share a printed or digital version listing every game number, draw time, sheet and matchup. For later rounds, use placeholders such as A1, B2 or Winner of Game 5.
2. Write both paths for every game. In knockout draws, state where the winner goes and, if relevant, where the loser goes.
3. Post a large bracket or standings board at the rink. A whiteboard or printed poster near the sheets works well. Update it as soon as each game ends.
4. Make one person responsible for results. Skips report scores to this person, who updates the board and confirms the next matchups.
5. Announce each new round. After pool play ends, read out the playoff matchups. Post them in the event's group chat with sheet and time.
6. Explain the rules once, at the start. At the opening, briefly cover the format, the tiebreakers and the end-of-game rule so there are no surprises later.

How do you handle changes during a bonspiel?

Decide in advance how you will handle withdrawals, late arrivals and delays, and include the rules in the published draw. Common situations:

• A team withdraws before the event: in round robin or pool play, replace the team with a bye. In a knockout, give its first opponent a bye and redraw only if the event has not started.
• A team withdraws during pool play: decide whether its played games still count or are removed from the standings. Removing them is usually fairest, because every remaining team then has the same number of games.
• A team is short a player: agree whether teams may play with three players or bring a substitute, and announce this beforehand.
• Games run late: enforce the end-of-game rule and shift later draws only as a last resort. Tell all teams at once if times change.
• Unexpected teams join late: fill an existing bye slot if there is one. Otherwise, keep the published draw unchanged rather than rebuilding it.

Checklist before you publish the draw

• Number of teams and sheets confirmed with the club
• Total games in the format fit within sheets × draws
• No team plays more games in one day than the group is comfortable with
• Every game has a number, sheet, time and matchup or placeholder
• Winner and loser paths written for every knockout game
• Playoff qualification and tiebreaker rules written down
• End-of-game and time-limit rule agreed
• Breaks for meals, ice maintenance and social time included
• One person named as results keeper

With the format chosen to fit your ice, a bracket in which every game has a number and a path, and a schedule that allows for real-world delays, a group of friends can run a bonspiel that feels organized from the first draw to the final.