Balanced Round Robin Pooled Play

[CurlCoach]

I don't see this question elsewhere, but here goes.

I am trying to implement round robin play for Curling where there isn't enough time for every team to play every other team, so instead the teams are pooled, there are a number of possible pool arrangements, generally in order to satisfy a minimum game requirement, for example..

16 teams - 4 pools of 4 teams. Minimum 4 games, each team plays every team in their adjacent pool once (A1vB1, A1vB2, A1vB3, A1vB4, etc.)
15 teams - 3 pools of 5 teams, Minimum 4 games, each team plays every other team in their own pool once.

The curling facility ill have at least 4 sheets, but may also have 5, 6, 8, or 10 sheets, it is acceptable to have an empty sheet, and this may be required from time to time.

I can work out all of the match-ups easily enough, but scheduling is a huge problem.

These games are typically played on Friday and Saturday of a weekend, with Sunday set aside for tie-breakers and QF, SF, and finals. The schedule needs to be as balanced as possible, and spread out "evenly" in time, teams might have back-to-back games, but should play 2 games on the Friday and 2 on the Saturday.

I have been wrestling with how to approach the scheduling for several days, and haven't really come up with a strong start....

Any ideas?

Stephen Orr
CurlCoach & LiveScores.

[Ian Wakeling]

I may have some options that you could use for 15 teams and 3 pools.

For example 4 sheets with pools  A to E,  F to J and K to O, and the top half on Friday and the bottom half on Saturday.  Columns are sheets and the rows are rounds.

(K O) (B D) (A C) (---)
(M N) (F J) (D E) (G I)
(A B) (K L) (M O) (F H)
(C E) (H I) (L N) (G J)
------------------------
(---) (N O) (K M) (C D)
(A D) (G H) (F I) (B E)
(I J) (L M) (B C) (K N)
(F G) (A E) (H J) (L O)

Alternatively this could be played on 5 sheets as follows with the added advantage that a team's 4 games are all played on different sheets.

(H I) (B C) (M O) (F G) (K L)
(A E) (F I) (L N) (B D) (G J)
(K M) (D E) (H J) (A C) (N O)
------------------------------
(L O) (G H) (A D) (M N) (C E)
(C D) (K N) (B E) (I J) (F H)
(F J) (L M) (G I) (K O) (A B)

In case you are not aware, there is a resource specifically for curling.  I particularly like the schedule for 14 teams and 2 divisions!

[CurlCoach]

Thanks for this - and I will use it - but I was hoping to develop the SW to do this "arbitrarily", based on the inputs rather than just having "canned" templates.

I was not aware of Curl Manitoba's resources.

Stephen