SmartDartSwiss system in darts: how the tournament format works
Few rounds, fair match-ups: players with the same record meet each other.
In short
In a Swiss system everyone plays every round, but not everyone plays everyone. The first round is drawn at random. From round two, players with a similar record meet, and wherever possible nobody plays the same opponent twice. After a handful of rounds you have a fair ranking — even with lots of players and without anyone being knocked out early.
How it is played
Set the number of rounds. As a rule of thumb, play as many rounds as it takes to halve the field down to one player: 8 players 3 rounds, 16 players 4, 32 players 5.
Draw the first round at random. With an odd number of players, one gets a bye, which counts as a win.
After each round, sort the table by wins, then by leg difference.
Pair the next round from the top down: first place plays the highest-placed player they have not met yet, and so on.
After the last round the table decides. On equal wins, leg difference counts first, then the head-to-head result.
Common house rules
Chess commonly uses the Buchholz tie-break: on equal points, whoever faced the stronger opponents wins. Darts usually uses leg difference because it is quicker to work out. Some events finish the Swiss rounds with a short knockout for the top four or eight.
Where it usually goes wrong
Playing too many rounds: with eight players, five or six rounds run out of sensible pairings and rematches creep in. And always give the bye to the lowest-placed player who has not had one yet — otherwise the table gets skewed.
Playable in SmartDart?
Yes — the Swiss system is one of the nine tournament formats in SmartDart (from PRO). The app draws round one, pairs every following round by the current table avoiding rematches wherever possible, hands out byes and sets the number of rounds to suit the field.
Frequently asked questions
How many rounds are played in a Swiss system?
As many as it takes to halve the field down to one — mathematically the base-2 logarithm, rounded up: up to 4 players 2 rounds, up to 8 players 3, up to 16 players 4, up to 32 players 5, up to 64 players 6.
How is it different from round robin?
In a round robin everyone plays everyone — with 16 players that is 15 rounds. A Swiss system needs 4 rounds and still gives a reliable ranking, because the match-ups get closer each round.
Is anyone knocked out in a Swiss system?
No. Everyone plays every round, so nobody goes home early after one bad match. That is why the format is popular for club nights.
What else SmartDart can do
Beyond Quick Match and Training, SmartDart is a complete darts platform for pubs, clubs and leagues.