Preference Tournament Maker
Enter your own candidates and pick a winner from each pair until one champion remains. Optional images help identify candidates while names and numbers keep the choices clear. Seeded ordering, explicit first-round byes and undo let you run and review the complete tournament in this page.
Key features
- Register 2–64 names and optional local PNG, JPEG or WebP images
- Keep same-name candidates distinct with separate IDs and visible numbers
- Use a reproducible random seed or the original input order
- Fill a power-of-two bracket with explicit first-round byes
- Choose each matchup, undo decisions and see the champion’s path
- Restart the same bracket or return to candidate editing
How to use
- Enter one candidate per line and replace the candidate list, or load the five-candidate example.
- Edit individual names and optionally attach an image to each candidate.
- Choose seeded ordering or input order and review the bracket size and bye count.
- Start the tournament and choose one candidate in each head-to-head matchup.
- Use undo if needed, inspect the final champion and review the full bracket.
Use cases
- Choose a favorite snack or drink with friends
- Compare a shortlist of hobby or outing ideas
- Run a small preference game with your own pictures
- Replay the same bracket with different choices to compare outcomes
Frequently asked questions
How does this differ from a balance game or random picker?
You supply all the candidates. Each chosen winner advances to another matchup until one champion remains. A balance game uses independent two-option questions, while a random picker selects items without your round-by-round preference choices.
What happens with 3, 5, 6 or another non-power-of-two count?
The bracket uses the next power of two and gives the missing slots as first-round byes. Five candidates use eight slots with three byes; six use eight slots with two byes. Every candidate remains included, a bye is shown as automatic advancement, and the total number of actual choices is always one less than the candidate count.
What does the seed reproduce?
The same 32-digit hexadecimal seed and same candidate input order reproduce the initial bracket, including bye recipients. An empty seed is generated with the browser’s cryptographic random API when starting. The seed controls ordering, not your choices or the champion. Input-order mode does not shuffle candidates.
How do undo, restart, cancel and editing differ?
Undo removes the last real choice, including the final, while automatic byes remain. Restart clears all choices and keeps the same bracket. Cancel stops further choices and preserves the visible record until restart or editing. Returning to editing discards tournament progress but keeps the candidate names and images for reuse.
Which images can I use and where are they kept?
Each candidate can have one static PNG, JPEG or WebP up to 5 MiB, 4 million pixels and 4,096px per side. The retained candidate images together are limited to 20 MiB and 12 million pixels. Animated PNG and WebP are rejected. Images stay in page memory and are not uploaded. Removing or replacing them releases their local preview URLs.
Can I resume after refreshing or publish a shared tournament link?
This version keeps candidates, images, seed and choices only in the current page’s memory. Refreshing or closing the page clears them. It does not publish a shared tournament or save to localStorage. You can manually keep your name list and seed to rebuild the initial bracket later; the choices and images must be supplied again.
Privacy
Candidate names, local images, the seed and your choices stay in this page’s memory. This tool does not upload, automatically save or publish them. Refreshing or closing the page clears the session. Only attach images you choose to use for this tournament.
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