Tournament Manager

Tournament Manager

Tournament Manager Logo

Release Date	16 November 2023
'

The Splatoon 3 Tournament Manager is a feature of Splatoon 3 that is available through SplatNet 3 and a dedicated website. It enables the creation of private tournaments using the Private Battle mode and links both the Splatoon 3 game and the SplatNet 3 service together to help players create and manage tournaments on demand.^[1]

The feature was announced through a July 2023 update to an article on the Splatoon 3 website that was originally posted on 10 August 2022 and released on 16 November 2023.

It can be found by clicking the yellow Tournament Manager button on the home screen of SplatNet 3.

Features

Tournament Creation

When creating a tournament, players can customize almost any aspect of gameplay to create a unique tournament.

Basic Information

One of the required sections in Tournament Manager is the basic information section. This section asks for things such as:

Tournament Name - This is the name of the Tournament. It can be up to 32 characters long and must comply with the Community Tournament Guidelines.
Tournament Icon - Select one icon from a selection of ten.
Date and Time - This is when the tournament will start. Once ready, the creator can press the start tournament button under navigation. Alternatively, a tournament can be started before its scheduled start time by pressing "Starting a tournament before the scheduled start time." Depending on the format and amount of teams, the end time will vary.
Registration Window - This is the period where registrations are accepted. The registration window can end any time before the tournament starts.
Tournament Format - There are three types of format: League, Elimination format and Swiss-style tournament. More info can be found below.
Participating-Team Limit - This is the maximum amount of teams allowed to partake in the tournament. For league tournaments, the amount of teams ranges from 2 - 10. For Swiss-style tournaments, the limit ranges from 2 - 512. For Elimination tournaments with preliminaries off, the limit ranges from 2 - 512 however with preliminaries on, it ranges from 8 - 512.

Battle Settings

This is the second required section in Tournament Manager. It asks for things such as:

Victory Conditions - The amount of battles required to decide one match.
Modes and stages:
- Mode - Choose between Turf War, Splat Zones, Tower Control, Rainmaker and Clam Blitz to be played in the tournament.
- Stages - Choose between having a pool of all available stages for the tournament or choosing select stages.
  - Prevent Stage Reuse - This option removes a stage from the pool of available stages once it has been played in the tournament.
Semifinal settings:
- If the tournament format is Elimination or Swiss-style (with Playoffs on) then semifinal settings can be set.
- Victory conditions - In a semifinal, victory conditions can range from a single battle to a best of 19 sets.
Final settings:
- If the tournament format is Elimination or Swiss-style (with Playoffs on) then final settings can be set.
- Victory conditions - In a final, victory conditions can range from a single battle to a best of 19 sets.

Other Settings

This is an optional section to fill out when creating a tournament in Tournament Manager. This section asks for things like:

Abilities:
- Primary Gear Abilities Only - This option when toggled only allows players to use their primary gear abilities and not secondary abilities.
Team format - This is the amount of players on each team. The creator can choose from 1 vs. 1, 2 vs. 2, 3 vs. 3 and 4 vs. 4.
Number of Players Per Team - This is how many players will be on each team. The options change depending on what format has been chosen. For example:
- If the chosen team format is 1 vs. 1, the available players per team range from 1 - 3.
- If the chosen team format is 2 vs. 2, the available players per team range from 2 - 4.
- If the chosen team format is 3 vs. 3, the available players per team range from 3 - 5.
- If the chosen team format is 4 vs. 4, the available players per team range from 4 - 6.
Invited-Teams Window - This setting allows for a separate registration window for teams that have been invited to the tournament. This prioritizes these teams over others.
Special Tournament Rules - This option (if checked) marks the tournament as having "Special rules" that can't be enforced by Tournament Manager. These rules should be stated on public sites such as a tournament website or social media.

Tournament Formats

In Tournament Manager, there are three formats: League, Elimination and Swiss-Style.

League

A type of tournament in which teams play each other in turn.
The order is determined by the following rules:
- Matches Won > Battles Won > Battles Lost > Head-to-Head Matchup > Registration Date (Entry Number)

Elimination tournament

A type of tournament in which the teams that win get to keep playing.
In elimination tournaments, preliminary rounds can be turned off or on.
- Preliminaries Off If there are no preliminaries, all teams participate in the full bracket.
- Preliminaries On If preliminaries are enabled, all teams are divided into groups of three or four for preliminary rounds. Only top-ranked teams advance to the final bracket. If there are fewer than six participating teams, preliminaries are disabled by default.
Number of Teams per Group
- This setting is only available when preliminary rounds are enabled.
- The creator can set the number of teams in a preliminary group.
- If the number of participating teams cannot be divided by the number of teams per group, the number of teams per group is revised automatically.
Number of Teams Advancing
- This setting is only available when preliminary rounds are enabled.
- The creator can set how many teams advance to the main tournament from the preliminary round.
- The creator can select either one or two teams.
By Division
- A tournament bracket can be split into multiple divisions.
- After the participating teams are confirmed, divisions can be set up by editing the bracket.

Swiss-Style Tournament

Swiss-style is a format where teams with similar win-loss records battle each other. All teams play until the end of the tournament.
Round 1 opponents are determined randomly.
Rankings are decided by comparing factors according to the following priority:
- Points > OMW% > GW% > OGW% > # (entry number)
Results are displayed on Swiss-Style Rankings, which update at the end of each round.
In Swiss-style tournaments, playoffs can be turned on or off. Playoffs are a deciding tournament that only the top teams in the Rankings participate in.
- Playoffs Off
  - The winning team is decided based on the Swiss-Style Rankings.
- Playoffs On
  - The winning team is decided in playoffs after the Swiss-style tournament.
  - The director can specify how many teams advance to the playoffs.

Official Nintendo material

Nintendo has released two main pieces of information for Tournament Manager. One of these is the Tournament Help Page which gives detailed information on all the features of Tournament Manager and covers every aspect of it. The other piece is the Community Tournament Guidelines which document the rules that Nintendo enforces for each tournament in Splatoon 3.

Tournament Manager Help

The official Tournament Manager Help page can be found at https://c.nintendo.com/splatoon3-tournament/help

Inkipedia has an archived version of the help page here.

Community Tournament Guidelines

The official Community Tournament Guidelines page can be found at https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Legal-information/Community-Tournament-Guidelines-2467744.html

Inkipedia has an archived version of the guidelines here.

Gallery

Promotional

Rewards available from using the Tournament Manager. Participants get a food ticket, and organizers can earn badges.
An example of a Tournament Image shown when creating one
A help image that is shown at the top of Tournament Manager
Official image highlighting the Tournament Manager button on the SplatNet 3 home screen