16-team single elimination bracket
A blank 16-team single elimination bracket: 15 games, numbered in playing order. Print it, or add your team names and play it online.
- Teams
- 16
- Games
- 15
- Rounds
- 4
- Byes
- 0
- First-round games
- 8
- Most games, one team
- 4
About a 16-team bracket
Sixteen fills four rounds exactly: eight first-round games, eight quarterfinalists, four semifinalists and the final. It is the shape of one region of the NCAA basketball tournament, which is why 1 v 16, 8 v 9, 5 v 12 and 4 v 13 look familiar.
On one sheet of Letter or A4 the names are still easy to write in. With four courts the first round takes two time slots and the whole event five.
Byes and the first round
16 is a power of two, so there are no byes: all 16 teams play in the first round (1 v 16, 8 v 9, 4 v 13, 5 v 12, 2 v 15, 7 v 10, 3 v 14, 6 v 11). Each pairing adds up to 17, so seed 1 meets the lowest seed and seeds 1 and 2 can only meet in the final.
No seeding? Write the names in at random, or put the names into the bracket maker and choose Random draw for a reproducible draw you can print.
Round by round
| Round | Games | Game numbers |
|---|---|---|
| Round of 16 | 8 | M1–M8 |
| Quarterfinals | 4 | M9–M12 |
| Semifinals | 2 | M13–M14 |
| Final | 1 | M15 |
Every game, in order
The same numbers as on the printed bracket, so a scorer can call out “game 5” and everyone knows where to write.
- M1 (Round of 16): Seed 1 v Seed 16
- M2 (Round of 16): Seed 8 v Seed 9
- M3 (Round of 16): Seed 4 v Seed 13
- M4 (Round of 16): Seed 5 v Seed 12
- M5 (Round of 16): Seed 2 v Seed 15
- M6 (Round of 16): Seed 7 v Seed 10
- M7 (Round of 16): Seed 3 v Seed 14
- M8 (Round of 16): Seed 6 v Seed 11
- M9 (Quarterfinals): Winner of M1 v Winner of M2
- M10 (Quarterfinals): Winner of M3 v Winner of M4
- M11 (Quarterfinals): Winner of M5 v Winner of M6
- M12 (Quarterfinals): Winner of M7 v Winner of M8
- M13 (Semifinals): Winner of M9 v Winner of M10
- M14 (Semifinals): Winner of M11 v Winner of M12
- M15 (Final): Winner of M13 v Winner of M14
How long it takes
Time slots needed if each court or field plays one game per slot and a round must finish before the next starts:
| Courts or fields | Time slots | At 45 minutes a slot |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 | 11 h 15 min |
| 2 | 8 | 6 h |
| 4 | 5 | 3 h 45 min |
Single or double elimination?
In this bracket one loss ends a team’s day, and 8 of the 16 teams are out after the first round. A 16-team double elimination bracket gives every team at least two games, at a cost of 30 or 31 games instead of 15, with a losers’ bracket of 6 rounds. The 16-team double elimination bracket is ready to print.
Final placings
A finished bracket places every team. Teams knocked out in the same round share a place unless you play extra games to separate them.
- 1st: 1 team
- 2nd: 1 team
- 3rd–4th: 2 teams (or 3rd and 4th after a third-place game)
- 5th–8th: 4 teams
- 9th–16th: 8 teams
Printing it
The Print button prints only the bracket, landscape, scaled to one page, with a title and a date line. Smallest text on the page for each paper size (below about 6 pt it is hard to read; handwriting needs the line, not the text):
- Letter (11 × 8.5 in): about 6.9 pt
- A4 (297 × 210 mm): about 7.4 pt
- Legal (14 × 8.5 in): about 8.9 pt
- Tabloid (17 × 11 in): about 9 pt
Letter or A4 is plenty for this size. In the print dialog, choose “Fit to page” or 100% and switch off headers and footers for a clean sheet.
Page last reviewed 30 September 2026.
Sponsored
Common questions
How many games are in a 16-team single elimination bracket?
15. Every game knocks out one team and all but the champion are knocked out once, so it is always one fewer than the number of teams. A third-place game makes it 16.
How many rounds does a 16-team bracket have?
4: round of 16 (8 games), quarterfinals (4 games), semifinals (2 games), final (1 game).
Does a 16-team bracket need byes?
No. 16 is a power of two, so every team plays in the first round and every round halves the field.