In a round robin tournament, also known as an all-play-all tournament, each competitor faces off against the other competitors in the field at some point during the competition.
In a round-robin format, each player faces off against the other players in the tournament once.
Commonly known as a “double round robin,” this format has everyone play everyone else twice.
Pros
A round robin tournament is the most equitable technique to crown a winner when the number of competing teams is predetermined. The odds of winning are the same for every group in the competition.
With this format, a competitor’s prospects of winning are not drastically lowered after a few poor showings, as they would be in a knockout format.
Cons
Time is the biggest detriment in a round robin competition. If there were 30 teams in the event and they were split into three groups of 10.
Each of those groups would have to play each other three times, for a total of 27 rounds.
Another drawback is that many teams are likely to finish with the same number of points following the round robin format.
This can be resolved by playing a “tie-break” game, in which the winner of the game between the tied teams determines the outcome.
However, even in this latter scenario, it is possible that three or more teams will finish up with the same number of points, necessitating tiebreaks.
Here’s What Round Robin Actually Means In Olympic Curling
For many people, especially in the United States, the Olympics are a great introduction to sports that aren’t typically covered in the media.
Curling, for example, is a sport that often employs a “round robin” tournament format. Every Olympic team plays every other Olympic squad once during the preliminary stages.
To the contrary of a round robin event, the elimination style tournament is the norm in American sports.
In an elimination tournament, as opposed to a round robin tournament, the winners of each round play each other in the next round.
Example: in a tennis competition, the winners of each round play each other until there is only one player left standing.
Conclusion
The original French word for “ribbon” is ruban, from which we get the English word “round robin.” Over time, the word became tainted by idiom and corruption, and eventually became robin.
In a round-robin format, each player faces off against the other players in the tournament once. Commonly known as a “double round robin,” this format has everyone play everyone else twice.
When all teams play each other more than twice, and when one team plays a significantly higher number of games against other teams than the others.
The word is rarely used; in practically all of the major professional sports leagues in the United States, this is the case.
