This is the setup half of running an event: everything between deciding to hold a tournament and the moment players can sign up. The build wizard walks you through it in a few minutes, and you can come back and adjust any of it before the doors open.
Start the build wizard
From the dashboard, Create tournament (or Tournaments → New tournament). The wizard walks Details → Format → Sections → Pricing → Registration → Prizes → Review, and you can step backward at any point. Details comes first — the tournament name and start/end dates, which unlock the rest.
Choose the format
The Format step sets the defaults the whole event runs on:
- Rated or casual — turn Rated on for a USCF- or FIDE-rated event, off for a casual one. A rated event needs a USCF affiliate ID (required to upload results later), so have it handy.
- Pairing method and rounds — USCF Swiss, Round Robin, or Quads, plus the default number of rounds. Individual sections can override these.
- Time control — base minutes, an optional move count, and an increment or delay. It shows to players and rides along on the rating report (you can also change it later in Settings).
- Half-point byes — how many a player may request across the event.
Add your sections
This is where a tournament takes its shape. Each section has its own pairings, rounds, and standings, and you can add as many as you need — an Open and a U1500 are simply two sections. For each one:
- Individual or team — an individual Swiss, or a team section where players group into teams that pair against each other over a fixed number of boards (4 is typical) and standings rank teams by combined board points. (The team-event guide covers the team side in full.)
- Pairing method and rounds — set per section, defaulting to what you chose in Format.
- Rating & eligibility — a rating floor and ceiling, grade and age windows, and an optional gender restriction. These define who the section is for: a ceiling shows publicly as “Rating up to 1600,” and players outside the window can still register — they’re flagged for your review, not blocked. Keep Allow unrated players on to welcome players without a rating.
- Capacity & logistics — an optional entry cap, a room label, whether players must check in before they’re paired, and accelerated pairings (a virtual point for the top half in the early rounds, which helps a large section settle faster).
- Overrides — a section can keep its own time control or tiebreak order instead of inheriting the tournament’s.
The remaining steps — Pricing (next), Registration windows, optional Prizes (easier once you know who’s playing; the close-out guide covers them), and a final Review — wrap up the wizard. Finishing lands you in the Tournament Director workspace, your home base for the event.
Set your entry fee — and how players pay
Two separate decisions live here.
The price is a set of tiers under Settings → Pricing. Each tier has a label, an amount, and an opens/closes window — which is how you do early-bird pricing: an “Early Bird” tier at $45 that closes on a date, and a “Regular” tier at $60 that takes over. Drag to reorder them. A $0 tier makes the event free and skips checkout entirely.
How players pay is a separate choice under Settings → General → Payments. You’re not locked into one processor:
- Online card payment (Stripe) — players pay by card at checkout and are marked paid automatically.
- Offline — pay at the door / by check — players register now and pay you in person; you mark them paid on the roster.
- External payment link — point players at your own payment page; you mark them paid once it clears.
Add the directors who’ll help you run it
You’re the chief TD by default. To let someone else pair rounds and enter results without making them a club admin, go to Settings → Directors, search for the member, and add them as an assistant. You can scope an assistant to a single section or give them the whole tournament.
Assistants can pair rounds and record results; publishing a round and changing tournament settings stay with the chief TD.
Open registration
When the details are right, open registration (the Registration step, or the status control on Settings → General). Players can now find the event and sign up — share the registration link from the workspace to get the word out.
What’s next
- Run your event, round by round — pair, post, score, and handle the curveballs.
- What players see when they enter — the other side of the registration you just opened.
- Running a team event — if you added a team section, free agents and board order work a little differently.
Questions? The FAQ has answers, and support@rookready.com is always open.
Updated June 11, 2026