HORSESHOE PITCHING "ROUND ROBIN" SCHEDULING CONCEPT Ever wonder how a horseshoe pitching tournament ROUND ROBIN schedule was made? Basically, they match each opponent against every opponent in the same class. In an 8-man class, everyone plays 7 opponents or 'seven rounds'. Since an 8-man class would have 4 pairs playing at the same time, they need 4 courts. Similarly, a 6-man class would have 5 rounds and use 3 courts. If there is a "BYE" because of an uneven number of opponents in a class, then there would be one less court needed but still the same number of rounds. Whomever is scheduled against the BYE sits out the round while all others continue play. Play against a BYE can be recorded as a non-game with no stats and everyone in the class will have one BYE game. BYE's differ from FORFEIT games in that forfeits only occur in games not played against a scheduled opponent. If a person forfeited some but not all games in a round robin schedule, the stats for both opponents in the games completed are to be recorded, including wins and losses, shoes pitched, ringers pitched. FORFEITS are recorded as a win.ROUND ROBIN schedules usually anticipate the use of "seeded" class lineups, with contestants listed from highest to lowest ringer average. Pairing for each round start out with the top half of the contestants pitching against the bottom half and end up at the last round with the top half pitching among themselves and the bottom half doing the same thing. Ideally, the final round would have pairings like 1 vs. 2; 3 vs. 4; and 5 vs. 6.To design a 6-man round robin schedule, imagine 6 people sitting around a table with 3 on one side and 3 on the other. 1 2 3 4 5 6 In this scenerio, pair off the people sitting opposite (1 vs 4, 2 vs 5 and 3 vs 6). Freeze number 1 in place and rotate everyone else clockwise around the table,jumping over No. 1. 1 4 2 5 6 3 and pair them off again (1 vs 5; 4 vs 6; and 2 vs 3). Continue rotating and pairing until No. 1 has been paired against each of the other people and you will have a listing similar to the following: 1-4 2-5 3-6 (ORIGINAL MATRIX) 1-5 4-6 2-3 1-6 3-5 2-4 1-3 2-6 4-5 1-2 3-4 5-6 The last line anticipates "seeded" opponents according to their entry ringer averages. We can use the above matrix for a scheduling format, with each column of pairs to represent court numbers (Court 1, Court 2 and Court 3), and each row to represent a round (Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4 and Round 5).We need to rearrange the pairing on each row so people do not remain on the same court in consecutive rounds. Ideally, everyone would play at least one game on each court. (trial and error will show that the bottom line needs to be adjusted as shown). 1 2 3 1 2-5 3-6 1-4 (FIRST PRACTICAL MATRIX ) 2 4-6 1-5 2-3 (showing Courts 1, 2 & 3) 3 3-5 2-4 1-6 (and rounds 1 thru 5... ) 4 4-6 1-3 2-5 5 1-2 5-6 3-4 The above schedule is similar to many round robin schedules now in use. However, to pursue the premise that player number one should meet the others in reverse numerical order, working from last round of "1-2 3-4 5-6" up to the first round and arranging to have player number one play 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 in reverse order; first rearrange the rows of the ORIGINAL matrix as follows: 1-6 3-5 2-4 1-5 4-6 2-3 1-4 2-5 3-6 1-3 2-6 4-5 1-2 3-4 5-6 Next, rearrange each row to avoid scheduling people on the same court in consecutive rounds and attempting to have everyone play at least once on each court. Start with the next to last row and work up to the top row. 1 2 3 1 2-4 1-6 3-5 (SECOND PRACTICAL MATRIX) 2 1-5 2-3 4-6 (showing Courts 1, 2 & 3) 3 3-6 1-4 2-5 (and rounds 1 thru 5... ) 4 4-5 2-6 1-3 5 1-2 3-4 5-6 Checking each column, you will find everyone plays at least once on each court EXCEPT player number five (who does not play on Court 2). You can rearrange the bottom row (i.e.- "1-2 5-6 3-4" or "3-4 1-2 5-6") and player number five still misses playing on one court. But this schedule arrangement works pretty good. If there is a BYE, the first round will have player number 1 drawing the first BYE and thereafter playing everyone in reverse order to meet player 2 in the final game. When a "BYE" is used, is is sometimes practical to use one less court (and thus one less scorekeeper) and direct the contestants scheduled to play on the last numbered court to move to the court on which the BYE is scheduled. In the SECOND PRACTICAL MATRIX above, if player 6 is a BYE, then Court 3 would not be used and the following changes would be made: Round 1, 3-5 move to Court 2; Round 3, 2-5 move to Court 1; and Round 4, 1-3 move to Court 2. Obviously no changes are necessary in Rounds 2 & 5 because the BYE was already scheduled on Court 3. Such changes may cause too many consecutive rounds on the same court, so adjusted schedules for odd numbered classes might be prepared to minimize consecutive rounds on the same court. Here is how a 6-man class using BYE for player 6 might look using only courts 1 & 2 and moving those scheduled for court 3....AND the same matrix only it is adjusted to reduce consecutive rounds on the same courts. 2-4 3-5 1 sits out 3-5 2-4 1 sits out 1-5 2-3 4 sits out 2-3 1-5 4 sits out 2-5 1-4 3 sits out 1-4 2-5 3 sits out 4-5 1-3 2 sits out 4-5 1-3 2 sits out 1-2 3-4 5 sits out 1-2 3-4 5 sits out Use these same guidelines to construct a round robin matrix for any even numbered class size higher than 6-man. For a 4-man class, simply have player 1 pitch three games on the same court against players 4, 3 and 2 (in that order) and in each round, the remaining two opponents should meet on the other court. If they play a double 4-man round robin, then move player 1 to the second court for all three games. ---------------NOTE: Another favorable concept starts out by seating people around a table with odd numbers on one side and even numbers on the other side. 1 3 5 2 4 6 Use this pairing (1-2, 3-4 & 5-6) for the last round of your matrix. Freeze 1 in place and move the others around the table for the other round pairings.Then continue, using steps developed above.An 8-man class might look like the following, with 1 playing all others in reverse order: 1-8 4-7 3-6 2-5 and adjusted to: 1-8 4-7 3-6 2-5 1-7 6-8 4-5 2-3 2-3 6-8 4-5 1-7 1-6 5-7 2-8 3-4 5-7 3-4 1-6 2-8 1-5 2-6 3-7 4-8 2-6 1-5 4-8 3-7 1-4 3-8 2-7 5-6 1-4 3-8 2-7 5-6 1-3 2-4 5-8 6-7 5-8 6-7 1-3 2-4 1-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 1-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 The last matrix for an 8-man class has no consecutive rounds on the same court and everyone pitches on each court at least once except player 2 does not play on court 2. A pretty good schedule! Duane Goodrich (KS)