The problem check-in solves
Registration is cheap. Clicking a button on Tuesday costs nothing, and by Saturday evening a fair share of the people who clicked it have other plans, are stuck in a ranked game, or have simply forgotten. If the bracket is generated from the registration list, every one of those absences becomes a round-one match with one side missing. The opponent waits, pings the organizer, the organizer waits a bit longer to be fair, and the whole round runs late because two or three matches cannot start.
Check-in moves that problem to before the bracket exists. Shortly before the start, every participant has to confirm that they are actually here. Whoever does not confirm is removed, and the bracket is built only from people who are present. Round one then starts with every match playable.
How check-in works in Clutchat
A Clutchat tournament can have a check-in window that closes at a set deadline before the event starts. While it is open, registered players confirm with the Check in button on the tournament’s /tournament view page, or with the one the bot sends them by direct message. Checking in is per participant, and the bot tells a player if they are not registered, if check-in has already closed, or if they have already checked in.
When the deadline passes, anyone who has not checked in is forfeited from the tournament, the participant count is reduced to match, and the affected players are notified by DM so nobody is left wondering why they are not in the bracket. Only then should you start the event with /tournament-admin start, which builds the bracket from the people who are left.
Choosing the window
The window has two jobs that pull against each other: it should be long enough that everyone who intends to play can check in without rushing, and close enough to the start that checking in really does mean "I am here and ready".
- 30 minutes works for small, local events where most players are already active in the server.
- 45 to 60 minutes is a sensible default for an open community bracket.
- Longer than 90 minutes starts to defeat the purpose: people check in, then wander off.
Tip: publish the deadline
Make sure people know
Most missed check-ins are not people who changed their mind; they are people who did not notice the window had opened. A few habits help:
- Put the check-in time in the original announcement, next to the start time, in your server's time zone.
- Ask players to allow direct messages from server members, so the bot's check-in message reaches them. If your server uses channel-only notifications (set with
/config notifications), point players to the channel instead. - Post a reminder in the tournament thread with Announce in
/tournament-admin managewhen the window opens, and another fifteen minutes before it closes. - For team events, remind captains that the whole roster needs to be online, not just the captain.
What to do with the empty slots
After the deadline you will often have a field that is no longer a power of two: thirteen teams instead of sixteen, for example. You have three reasonable options.
Play with byes
Start the bracket with the field you have. In a single-elimination bracket the missing places become byes, and the teams that receive them advance to round two without playing. Byes normally go to the top seeds, which is another reason to seed carefully (see seeding a bracket by rating).
Fill from a waiting list
If more people wanted to play than you had places, keep a list of reserves in the announcement thread. When the window closes, invite reserves who are online with Invite player in /tournament-admin manage and start a few minutes late. This only works if reserves know they are reserves and are watching the channel.
Use substitutes
For team events, a missing player should not cost a whole team its place. Encourage captains to register substitutes in advance from /tournament team, and to use its Swap player button if a teammate cannot make it. The swap is confirmed by DM with the player being swapped in.
Late arrivals
Someone will always turn up five minutes after the deadline asking to be let back in. Decide your policy before the event and write it in the rules. The fairest policy is the simple one: the deadline is the deadline. Making exceptions for some players and not others causes more trouble than one disappointed latecomer, and every exception teaches the community that the window is a suggestion. If you want flexibility, build it into the window itself by making it slightly longer, rather than into your judgment on the night.
After round one
Check-in only protects the start. To stop later rounds stalling, set a per-round time limit with Round time limit in /tournament-admin manage; matches still unreported when it runs out are advanced automatically, with the higher-seeded side going through. Combined with a check-in window, that gives every round a predictable length. The sixteen-team bracket guide puts both into a full evening's timeline, and the tournament features page lists the rest of the organizer tools.
Checklist
- Check-in opens and closes at times stated in the announcement.
- Players know the bot will message them, and how to check in by command.
- A reminder goes out when the window opens and shortly before it closes.
- You know in advance whether you will use byes, reserves or substitutes.
- The late-arrival rule is written down.
- A round deadline is set before you start.