How it works
From zero to champion in five steps.
Step 1: Create your organization
Community, store or league: logo, cover, your brand color and House rules. Invite judges by @; "Start here" shows what's still missing.
House rulesStep 2: Set up the tournament
Swiss, single elimination, double elimination, groups or team league. Set player caps, Bo1 or Bo3, team deadlines, restrictions and prizes, or start from a template.
Swiss + top cutStep 3: Publish and share
The link goes to your group chat. Each player registers, submits a team and sees right away whether it's legal in the and the restrictions.
Team checkedStep 4: Run the rounds
One click pairs the round. Players report from their phones, the opponent confirms and the standings recalculate on their own.
Result confirmedStep 5: Crown the champion
The or the league playoffs run all the way to the final. Then come the event report and the circuit points.
Champion card
How many Swiss rounds and what top cut
When the organizer leaves it on automatic, Caneko uses the Play! Pokémon reference table based on the number of players.
| Players | Swiss rounds | Top cut |
|---|---|---|
| 4–8 | 3 | No top cut |
| 9–12 | 4 | Top 2 |
| 13–20 | 5 | Top 4 |
| 21–32 | 5 | Top 8 |
| 33–64 | 6 | Top 8 |
| 65–128 | 7 | Top 8 |
| 129–226 | 8 | Top 16 |
| 227–409 | 9 | Top 16 |
| 410 or more | 10 | Top 16 |
The organizer can change the number of rounds and the top cut size, or switch from a placement cut to a points cut. Above 64 players, two-phase Swiss is available.
Rules the system applies
- Scoring
- Win 3, draw 1, loss 0, bye 3.
- Tiebreakers
- (average win % of your opponents, 25% floor, 75% cap for players who dropped), then .
- Bye
- Goes to the lowest-scoring player who hasn't had a bye yet.
- Rematches
- Pairings avoid rematches whenever mathematically possible.
- Late registration
- Players who join late take a loss for each round they missed.
- Rules tab
- Every tournament has a Rules tab: a summary of the setup (format, Bo, round time, open team sheet, check-in, tiebreakers, regulation), the organizer's rulebook and the House rules.
- Per-match check-in
- Optional, live tournaments only. Once paired, each player taps “I'm here” before the late tolerance runs out. Only one showed up: they win by . Neither: double loss (in the bracket, the organizer decides).
- Team restrictions
- The organizer can ban Pokémon, items, moves or abilities, disallow Mega, require monotype or allow only an approved list. Caneko checks every team on submission, on top of the regulation.
- League: matchup format
- King of the Table (the default), Duels by position, Round robin or Picked duels. Outside King of the Table, every series in the matchup is played.
- League: series and points
- Bo1, Bo3 or Bo5 series. The organizer sets table points, what counts if a matchup is tied and whether there are playoffs. In Round robin, a no-show counts for all 9 series of a 3v3.
- King of the Table
- Squads of 3 (up to 5 with 8+ squads, or the roster size the organizer sets), Bo3 series by default, and the loser is out. 1 point per player eliminated, capped at 4 (or 3/5).
- King of the Table: no-shows and loans
- A no-show is worth 3 (4 when the table adds the matchup win point). A loaned player gives +1 to the lending squad if the receiving squad wins; the organizer can limit loans to short-handed squads, or turn them off.
- Circuit
- Adds up placement points from the tournaments linked to the circuit, using the organizer's points table. Only finished, public, non-friendly individual tournaments count.
- Circuit: best N and tiebreakers
- With "best N", each player only adds up their N best results. Tiebreakers: best placement, then most tournaments played. Players who checked "Don't show me in public rankings" are left out.