NAQT provides questions for 16 rounds of play at SCT tournaments. SCT hosts should be prepared to provide a two-day weekend tournament (typically Friday evening and Saturday, though it could be Saturday-Sunday), but depending on field sizes SCTs may also be held as single day tournaments.

SCT hosts are free to structure their tournaments in any of a number of ways, so long as a few required criteria are met:

• Division I and Division II teams must have separate divisions whenever 4 or more teams are entered in each division.
• Every team must be guaranteed the opportunity to play a minimum of 10 games.
• No team is eliminated from contention for any of the titles awarded (division championships or Division I undergraduate title) on the basis of tiebreakers other than additional play. That is, tiebreakers based on previous head-to-head results or points-based tiebreakers should not be used to determine titles, nor for determination of playoff advancement, nor to break teams into upper or lower divisions for further play, but rather tiebreaker games (full or partial) should be played to make needed tiebreaks. Ties as to won-loss records that have no bearing on titles need not be broken, but may be left as ties. This requirement may be overlooked only if a host is using all 16 packets provided, and therefore no additional NAQT questions are available for use in tiebreaker play.

Listed below are a number of pre-approved SCT formats for any number of teams in a division from 4 to 24. For each format the number of rounds scheduled is exclusive of any tiebreaker games needed, either at the end to determine titles or in the middle to determine field splits based on prior play. Other formats may be equally acceptable, but hosts who wish to use a different format for their tournament than one shown here should email sct@naqt.com about their plans in advance.

Key:

• g = games for each team
• r = rounds scheduled [g and r differ when an odd number of teams require byes]
• RR = Round Robin.
• RRx2 = Double Round Robin (and RRx3 = Triple Round Robin, etc.)
• 1/2 RR = After one or more RR, field splits into top and bottom halves for partial RRs.
• 1/3 RR = After one or more RR, field splits into thirds for partial RRs.
• 1/4 RR = After one or more RR, field splits into fourths for partial RRs.
• SFRR = Split Field Round Robins. Entire field is split into two or more groups for initial RR play.
• w/o rpts = in a split RR after initial SFRR, matches not repeated versus teams already played.

4 TEAMS
RRx4 (12g/12r), OR
RRx5 (15g/15r)

5 TEAMS
RRx3 (12g/15r)

6 TEAMS
RRx2 + 1/2 RR (12g/13r), OR
RRx3 (15g/15r)

7 TEAMS
RRx2 (12g/14r)

8 TEAMS
RRx2 (14g/14r)

9 TEAMS
RR + 1/2 RR (11 or 12g*/14r)

10 TEAMS
RR + 1/2 RR (13g/14r)

11 TEAMS
RR + 1/3 RR (12 or 13g*/14r)

12 TEAMS
RR (11g/11r), OR
RR + 1/3 RR (14g/14r)

13 TEAMS
RR (12g/13r)

14 TEAMS
RR (13g/13r)

15 TEAMS
RR (14g/15r), OR
SFRR(8/7 split) + 1/2 RR (12-14g*/14r)

16 TEAMS
RR (15g/15r), OR
SFRR(8/8 split) + 1/2 RR (14g/14r), OR
SFRR(8/8 split) + 1/2 RR w/o rpts (11g/11r)
Top 4 from each SFRR plays top 4 from other. Likewise for bottom 4.

17 TEAMS
SFRR (9/8 split) + 1/2 RR w/o rpts (11-13g*/14r)
Top 5 from each SFRR plays top 5 from other. Likewise for bottom 3/4.

18 TEAMS
SFRR (9/9 split) + 1/2 RR w/o rpts (12 or 13g/14r)
Top 5 from each SFRR plays top 5 from other. Likewise for bottom 4. OR
SFRR (9/9 split) + 1/3 RR w/o rpts (11g/12 or 13r)
Top 3 from each SFRR plays top 3 from other. Likewise for middle 3 and bottom 3.

19 TEAMS
SFRR (10/9 split) + 1/2 RR w/o rpts (13 or 14g*/14r)
Top 5 from each SFRR plays top 5 from other. Likewise for bottom 4/5.

20 TEAMS
SFRR (10/10 split) + 1/2 RR w/o rpts (14g/14r)
Top 5 from each SFRR plays top 5 from other. Likewise for bottom 5.

21 TEAMS
SFRR (7/7/7 split) + 1/2 RR w/o rpts (12 or 14g**/15r)
Top 4 from each SFRR plays top 4 from others. Likewise for bottom 3.

22 TEAMS
SFRR (11/11 split) + 1/3 RR w/o rpts (13 or 14g*/15r)
Top 4 from each SFRR plays top 4 from other. Likewise for middle 4 and bottom 3. OR
SFRR (8/7/7 split) + 1/2 RR w/o rpts (13-15g*/15r)
Top 4 from each SFRR plays top 4 from others. Likewise for bottom 3/4.

23 TEAMS
SFRR (8/8/7 split) + 1/2 RR w/o rpts (14 or 15g*/15r)
Top 4 from each SFRR plays top 4 from others. Likewise for bottom 3/4. OR
SFRR (12/11 split) + 1/3 RR w/o rpts (14 or 15g*/15r)
Top 4 from each SFRR plays top 4 from other. Likewise for middle 4 and bottom 3/4.

24 TEAMS
SFRR (8/8/8 split) + 1/2 RR w/o rpts (15g/15r)
Top 4 from each SFRR plays top 4 from others. Likewise for bottom 4. OR
FRR (12/12 split) + 1/3 RR w/o rpts (15g/15r)
Top 4 from each SFRR plays top 4 from other. Likewise for middle 4 and bottom 4.

*Uneven split gives some teams one more game than others

**The bottom bracket teams play two fewer games than the top bracket teams