Have you ever wondered who thumb wrestles the best? Run a tournament to find out. Even better, you could run two!
A lot of sports are played between two individuals or two teams. But usually there are more than two competitors playing that sport. If you want to find the best player, you need to run a tournament.
In a knockout tournament, losers are eliminated from the tournament each round. The winner of the tournament is the only person or team who has not lost a game. This method of finding a champion is very easy to understand, and doesn’t require many rounds – a six round championship can find a single winner from 64 different players. The problem is that even the best player gets eliminated if they lose one match, so often the tournament winner is not the best player.
A round robin tournament has every person (or team) playing every other person (or team). This means a lot more games must be played: there must be 63 rounds in a 64-player tournament. This sort of tournament is often used in football competitions, because every team gets to play a full season of games. Because there are so many games, players and teams can lose matches and still win the tournament. They just need to get more wins than everyone else. The winner of a round robin tournament is more likely to be the strongest competitor.
Not all sports need tournaments. A sport like marathon running, for example, does not need a tournament because all the competitors can run in the same race. Tournaments are not necessarily needed in sports like long jump either. In long jump, your score is based on the distance you jump, not on who you beat.
If you’re after more science news for kids, subscribe to Double Helix magazine!
28 September, 2018 at 4:32 am
Cool
29 November, 2019 at 11:24 am
Not really helpful.
29 November, 2019 at 11:25 am
I’m sorry you didn’t like it!
Is there anything we could do to help you?
1 December, 2021 at 12:46 pm
yesh