Running a Small Pokémon GO Tournament

This guide is for a first community event of a dozen or two players in a café or community room. It covers the decisions to settle before you announce anything, a planning timeline, a rules sheet and running pairings with a spreadsheet or paper. If some of your players are new to battling, the beginner guides on the Trainer Hub homepage are worth sharing before the day.

Make the big decisions first

Decision	A simple starting point	Why
League	Great League	Its 1,500 CP cap means many everyday Pokémon qualify without heavy investment, which widens your turnout among newer players
Team rules	Bring any three eligible Pokémon, or register six and bring three	Bring-three is easiest to check; register-six adds strategy but needs a sign-up form
Set format	Best of three	One bad lead doesn't decide a round
Structure	Swiss rounds, then a small top cut or none	Everyone plays all day, and the cut can match the turnout
Player cap	Set one from the venue size and your time	Protects your timetable
Tiebreakers	Announce them in advance	Avoids arguments at the end
Entry	Free, if you can	Keeps things simple (see money, below)

A planning timeline

When	Tasks
Four or more weeks before	Choose a date and venue and get the venue's permission. Settle the format and draft the rules sheet.
Two to three weeks before	Open registration and share the rules, covering the fields players look for in our guide to reading a tournament listing. Trainer Battles need a minimum Trainer level, so ask newer players to check they can battle before the day. Answer questions in one public place.
The week of the event	Close registration, confirm the venue and its power sockets, prepare pairing and results sheets, and send a reminder with the start time.
On the day	Follow the run sheet below.
Afterwards	Share final standings, thank the venue and ask players what to change.

Write a one-page rules sheet

Players forgive a lot, but not rules that change halfway through. Put these on one page and share it when registration opens:

The league and any extra house restrictions.
How many Pokémon are registered and brought, and whether Pokémon or moves may change after registration.
Whether registered teams are open (opponents see each other's six before the set) or closed, and how you'll check them, such as a screenshot of each registered Pokémon showing its CP and moves. The game only blocks Pokémon over the league's CP cap, so you or the opponent must check any house restriction.
Set format, round length and what happens if someone is late.
Your disconnection and crash policy.
How results are reported and who confirms them.
Tiebreakers, in order.
A short conduct and fair-play section. Our page on fair play and keeping your account in good standing explains why spoofing and account sharing have no place at any event.
A clear line saying this is an independent community event with no official status.

Decide your disconnection policy in advance

Connections drop and apps crash at every event. The simplest policy, and the easiest to rule on fairly, is to replay the affected game from the start with the same teams. If you want an alternative, make it objective: award the game only if both players agree, in front of you, that one side had more Pokémon remaining when it dropped. Whichever you pick, write it down, apply it the same way to everyone, and ask players to call you over straight away rather than agreeing something between themselves.

Run sheet for the day

Arrive well before the doors open. Set up a check-in table and find the power sockets.
Check players in against the registration list and confirm the trainer names they will battle under.
Give a two-minute briefing: format, round timing, how to report results and who to ask for help.
Post round-one pairings, drawn at random.
Collect each result with both players confirming it, and record it straight away.
Pair the next round by record, avoiding rematches, and announce it.
Build in a longer break halfway through so people can eat and charge their phones.
Play the top cut if you have one, then announce the final standings.

Number the tables and post each pairing with its table number, so opponents find each other quickly and phones are connected before the round clock starts.

Pairings and standings without special software

At this size a spreadsheet or a sheet of paper is enough. Keep one row per player listing opponents and results in order, so you can see who has already played whom. If the field is odd, one player gets a bye each round: give it to the lowest-placed player who hasn't had one yet, never the same player twice, and say on the rules sheet how a bye is scored. Our explainer on Swiss rounds, top cut and tiebreakers covers how many rounds to play and how opponents' win percentage works as a tiebreaker.

For round length, time a few best-of-three sets at a practice night and add a buffer for reconnections.

Prizes, fees and money

Prizes are optional, and a first event runs fine without them. If you do collect an entry fee, say exactly what it pays for, such as the room booking, and keep a simple record. Check the venue's own rules, and any local rules on prize competitions if prizes are involved. Never offer game accounts, account services or anything else that breaks the game's terms of service, and don't use official logos or wording that suggests the event is endorsed.

After the first one

Before planning the next one, review how it went. Did rounds overrun? Was the top cut the right size for the turnout? Did the disconnection rule get tested, and did it feel fair? If people want more, a regular battle night keeps the group playing between tournaments, and our page on local leagues and battle nights covers how to set one up.