How to use BRACKETZ to host your own personal bracket tournament (for FREE) for your office, friends, and family in 4 easy steps: 

General FAQs: 

What is a Bracket Tournament?

A bracket tournament is visual tool frequently used in sports during playoff season where each Round of elimination (of the losers) leads to the final determination of an overall Winner.  Bracketz.com has expanded on this frequently used sports tool to allow you to customize your own bracket tournaments so that you can use it as a decision-making tool for any of your interests, hobbies, or practical needs!

Bracket Tournaments have 4 main stages:

·         Create - We have several settings and privacy options to allow you to customize a bracket tournament for all of your needs and interests.  Be sure to clarify the objectives of the tournament in your Bracket Description so that your audience is clear on the rules and settings of your game.

·         Compete - Using March Madness as an example: "Compete Items" are analogous to the 64 qualifying College Basketball teams entered into the NCAA National Championships.  The Compete stage is the time for entering all participants of the bracket tournament.  Upload all of the Compete Items yourself, or adjust the settings to allow friends to enter items into the tournament too!

·         Predict - Move your predicted winners for each round until you have selected the Winner.  (Don't forget to Submit your Predictions at the end!)  Each registered user is allowed only One prediction (unless otherwise restricted by the Bracket Creator) so make your choices wisely.

·         Vote - Share your opinions by voting for your favorite Items entered in a Bracket Tournament.  Winning Items will move onto the next round while losers will be eliminated until a Winner is declared.  We have set up the Voting option to have several layers of privacy settings to restrict voting access (to be determined by the bracket creator), or no voting at all - in which case, the bracket creator will manually enter scores to advance a winning item (this feature allows for users to create brackets for following real-life competitions) 

What is hMD?

hMD stands for "Help Me Decide" and it's just the kind of "doctor" you need when you're struck with I'm-indecisive-itis. (Symptoms: you can't seem to make a decision between two things).  Okay, so maybe our made up word doesn't make sense - we know that you can't have inflammation of your "indecisiveness." But, excessive indecisiveness can lead to an inflammatory response (from your friends, significant other, parents, boss…). 

Use hMD polls to compare friendly competition (ex: Rival Teams), or use them to help you decide when you really need some help (ex: which outfit looks better to wear to that job interview tomorrow!).  

I can’t seem to actively participate in anything on Bracketz.com.

Only registered users are allowed to perform any kind of “action” on Bracketz.com.  This includes creating, competing, predicting, voting, and using the hMD polls.  Unregistered users may freely roam the website to browse unrestricted content, but may not participate in any activity on Bracketz.com.  Registration is fast and easy, to register please click here. 

I haven’t received a confirmation email to Register for Bracketz.com.  How do I start playing?

Sometimes there is a lag in time for the delivery of the confirmation email.  Also, check your spam folder.  If you haven’t received a confirmation email in 24-48 hours, let us know.

How do I upload/change my profile picture?

Go to your Profile page and click on "Edit Your Profile".  Upload a new profile picture using the Browse button.  Please note, uploading times vary depending on your internet connection and we do not advise using photos larger than 1MB.  A quick way to decrease the size of a photo is to open with Microsoft Paint (or any photo editing software) and resizing your image (using Paint à click on "Image" à click on "Resize" à then adjust the size percentages for the horizontal and vertical dimensions) or by cropping your photo.   

The photos/videos are too small!  

The photos in the hMD poll are click-expandable to the full size of the photo.  Click on the photo in the hMD polls to enlarge.  Or, view the hMD polls in its Full Page form by clicking on the "Full Page" button.   Photo thumbnails in the bracket view are not click expandable (they are click and drag-able though!).  To view a larger version of the photo from a bracket page, click on the Item's name link under the thumbnail to reach the larger, head-to-head view of the photos.  

We're sorry but videos are currently not expandable.  Please play the videos from its head-to-head page by clicking on the Item name link underneath the vido thumbnails.  Or, clicking on the video itself will open a new window with the video's original source.   

How do I create a new Bracket Tournament?  What do all the setting options mean? 

(Please see the bottom of this FAQ section for a detailed description of all 12 Create-a-Bracket settings)

What is the largest bracket tournament that I can host on Bracketz.com?

Visually, a bracket can only hold a maximum of 64 Compete Items.  However, we are equipped to handle a maximum of 4096 (64 * 64)Compete Items through the use of "sub-brackets" for tournaments with greater than 64 Competition Entries.  Seeding, however, is not a function for "Unlimited" sized brackets.

What happens if there are more than 64 bracket entries?

In the event that there are more than 64 entries, "sub-brackets" will be created to accommodate for the extra entries.  Sub-brackets will be split evenly (except in the case of an odd number of total entries) and played simultaneously just like a regular-sized bracket tournament. 

A winner’s Bracket will be generated from all the winners from each of the sub-brackets created.  The winner's Bracket will be played to determine the final winner of the overall Tournament.

How do I edit/make changes to a Bracket Tournament that I created?

Go to your Profile page and click on the "Create" Tab located under the "My Bracketz Action Feed" section.  All of your created Bracketz can be accessed on this Tab.  Click on the bracket you would like to access.  There will be a "Manage Your Bracket" button on the bracket page (shown below):

Note: You will only be able to make changes to current and future stages.  Completed stages/rounds that have already ended cannot be changed.

How do I extend a stage of my created Bracketz activity?

Click on the "Manage Your Bracket button" from the main bracket page and enter more time in the correct timer for the stage that you would like to extend.  Changes for the time clock can only be made for a current or future stage that has not already run out of time. If a stage has already run to completion, you cannot extend the time of a previous stage/round. 

How do I control who can play in or view a Bracket?

The Bracket creator is the only person who can control the level of exclusivity of the bracket tournament through the privacy settings when creating the bracket.  Similarly, changes to the exclusivity of the bracket tournament can only be made by the Creator who controls the bracket settings. 

Why can't I Compete (or Predict, Vote) in someone's bracket? 

Some Bracket Creators set restrictions on their tournaments to serve their own needs/purposes.  So, there will be times that a bracket tournament will be exclusive to the Bracket Creator's specific group of Friends or Invited members only.  If you are supposed to be part of a tournament and cannot access it, please message the Bracket Creator to let them know that you need to be either added as a "Friend" or as an "Invited Member" to access the Bracket.

I'm trying to set up a bracket to follow a real-life tournament.  What settings should I select?

Create Stage:

1. Select a Bracket Category from the drop down menu, Name Your Bracket in 50 characters or less, & Describe your Bracket Tournament. (ex: Entertainment and Sports, 2010 NCAA Men's Basketball National Championships, It's March Madness Time!)

2. Bracket Size: Choose any size except for "Unlimited." (ex: size 64)

3. Generating the Bracket: Choose "Seeded"

4. Who may compete: Choose "Myself Only."

5.  Choose: "I end the [Compete] stage manually"

6. Who may make Predictions:  Choose any desired restrictions/ending of the Prediction Stage.

7. Who may vote: Choose "No Voting"

8. Select your Privacy Options, Turn the Emulate function on/off, & enter Security Code

9. Click on "Launch My Bracket!"

Compete Stage:

10. Click on "Enter a Compete Item."  Enter, Name, and Describe a Compete Item to model every real-life competitor (ex: Georgetown, Hoya Saxa baby!) and a photo to represent the Item (optional) and the click "Join this Bracket Now!"  Repeat #10 until all spots are filled (ex: after all 64 College Team have been entered)

11. Click on the "Manage Your Bracket" button.  Select the red, "End this Stage Now" Link.

Seeding:

12. You should see an empty bracket (in our example, you will see an empty 64 slot bracket).  Click on the first empty box, select the first team to appear in that box using the drop down menu with all the Compete Items listed.  Do this for every box until you have filled your Bracket to model the real-life tournament.

13. Click on "Launch Next Stage Now!"

Predict Stage: 

14a. Your fully seeded bracket will appear.  If there is a Prediction stage, click on "Make Your Predictions Now!" to click and drag your predicted winner for each Round.  Share this stage with your friends!

Vote Stage:

14b. Your fully seeded bracket will appear in the Voting Stage.

15. Record scores to follow the real-life tournament by selecting the winners yourself and inputting scores to advance Items to the next Round.  Only one Round may be active at a time, and Rounds will end after every winner for each matchup in that round has been recorded by the Bracket Creator (ex: select Georgetown as the winner and enter the score Georgetown: 103, Villanova: 90).  Repeat this step until the Winner of the entire tournament has been declared. 

How do I seed players (or assign the correct starting positions/matchups) to model my competition in reality?

Click on the first empty box and a drop down menu will appear.  Select the correct Item for each empty box in the bracket to assign starting positions.  Leave boxes empty for a first round "BYE."   

What is a "BYE?"

Brackets are set up to work as factors of 2 (4,8,16,32,64).  If there is an odd or a non-factor of 2 total number of Compete Items entered into a bracket, there will be a "BYE" assigned for those Items who will not have a competitor during the First Round of competition.  Items receiving a "BYE" will automatically advance to the Second Round.      

How do I follow a real-life tournament to show not only who won, but to record the scores for people to see too?

Make sure that you choose "No Voting" as the setting for the Voting stage of your bracket.  Then, during the Voting stage, the Bracket Creator is responsible for recording the winner of each matchup by entering the final scores for each Competitor to advance the Rounds.  Scores are shown from the head-to-head pages next to the "Win/Lose" status. 

How do I edit/delete an uploaded Compete Item?

You may edit or delete your uploaded Compete Items via your Profile Page by clicking on My Items.  No editing changes may be made once a bracket has launched into post-Prediction stage and you may only choose to Delete your Compete Item from the Bracket all together at this point. Keep in mind that once you delete a Compete Item at any time after the completion of the Compete Stage of that Bracket, you will not be allowed to enter a new Compete Item into the same Bracket and an empty spot will be left in your Item’s place.        

What does the "Emulate" button do?  What does it mean when I see "(emulated)" as part of the Bracket title?   

If you see a fun, already existing bracket that was created by someone else, you can copy that Bracket to play from the very start so that you and your friends can determine the outcome yourselves.  The emulate option will launch the exact same bracket, (unless a Compete Item is removed by its user, in which case an empty spot will appear), without the option to add additional Compete Items.  The Emulate function only allows you to repeat/control the Predict and Vote stages of that bracket. 

All emulated brackets will show "(emulated)" at the end of the Bracket title so that people are aware that a bracket has been copied and was someone else's originally created game.    

I entered my Compete Item in a Bracket Tournament that has already finished, but I still see my Item in new, emulated brackets!  What’s going on??

It is likely that someone liked the bracket that you entered so much that they decided to emulate the game and replay the Prediction and/or Vote stages of the bracket again with a different group of people to see if they get a different outcome than the original game. 

If you would like to remove your Compete Item from further play (like in emulated bracket tournaments), you may delete the Item from your Compete Items list from your Profile page and a blank spot will appear in any Emulated games.   

How are ties broken?

In a tie situation, our site is programmed to randomly and objectively cast its own vote to break the tie.  If you find yourself in a tie situation (btw, congratulations for running such a tight race!), it's a 50-50 chance that the site will choose you as the winner!         

How do I demand a recount?  

Sorry, we don’t accommodate recounts (this isn't Florida).  It’s all just for fun.  If you don’t like the results, create another bracket tournament and try again.

I see some of my stuff on Bracketz.com but I didn’t put it there.  How do I remove it and report the violation of copyright?

See our "Copyright" link (under the Contact Us section) for more information about notice and take down of copyrighted content.

I uploaded something really funny/great/obscene/dirty/wonderful/(insert adjective here) as a  picture/video/graphic/comment (insert type of media here) on Bracketz.com but I don’t see it anymore.  Where’d it go? 

We understand that judging user-generated materials can be a gray issue at times.  Our team reserves the right to remove any material on Bracketz.com without reason.  Some examples of items that we try our best to control on our website are pornography, hate material, solicitations, suggestive nudity, poor quality images/videos, abuse, etc.   

I’ve been getting a lot of spam mail after signing up for your website, is that because of Bracketz.com? 

No.  We do not sell your email address to third parties, so your spam mail is not because of us.

How do I stop email notifications from being sent?

Go to your Profile page and click on "Edit Your Profile".  Check the box to disable the email notifications being sent to your email. 

How do I remove cookies?

Cookies either expire on their own or you may remove them yourselves by going to your computer’s Internet Options section to delete any or all cookies from your temporary files.   

How do I delete my account?

Go to your Profile page and click on "Edit Your Profile".  Please let us know how we can improve ourselves before you go and then click on Deactivate my Account.  

What are credits?

Credits can be purchased (by credit card via Google Checkout) and used towards activating special access and/or privileges on Bracketz.com.  For example, credits may be used towards the entry fee for certain sponsored Bracketz Tournaments that require a certain number of credits in order to participate.  We may periodically choose to charge an entrance fee in order to weed out excessive entries leaving only the serious contestants left to compete.  Credits may also be used to purchase User Ads that allow you to post internal ads within the Bracketz.com website to get people to vote for you or just to send a fun message for all your friends in the form of an ad banner.       

Can I get a refund?

All credit purchases are final and no monetary refunds will be given.  If you believe that an error was made on behalf of our team at Bracketz.com, please contact us.      

What is a Paid Message?  Who will see it?

User Ads will show as ad banners throughout the website at random for a selected period of time until the entire quantity of ad banners purchased is shown.  If you wish to target your ads to a specific group, please choose from the drop down menu of available ad targeting options.  Some options will require extra credits for specific ad targeting.   

How do I contact Bracketz.com?

You may email us at info@bracketz.com.  Generally expect between 1-3 business days for someone to get back to you.  We will do our best to respond to your message depending on the volume of requests.   

I would like to launch a promotional bracket for marketing purposes.  How do I advertise with Bracketz.com? 

Yes!  The use of bracket tournaments is a very effective interactive marketing tool.  We can work with most budgets and campaigns.  Please contact us at admin@bracketz.com. 

I've received an error message/I can't get a certain function to work on your site, what's wrong? 

Please bear with us.  The current site is still only in its beta stage, and will be undergoing continuous testing during this time.  It would help greatly if you can send us an email (to admin@bracketz.com) describing the issue to us in detail.  Our users are our best testers and we appreciate your help and patience.   

-----------------------------------

 To Create a Bracket go to: http://bracketz.com/create_bracket.php (you will be asked to login first, only registered users may create custom brackets)