24 team single elimination bracket with 8 byes

A 24 team bracket is drawn on 32 lines, the next power of two, so it has 32 − 24 = 8 byes. The byes go to the top: seeds 1–8 skip round 1. The bracket takes 5 rounds and 23 games, because every game knocks out one team until only the champion is left.

Write your top team on the line marked 1, the next on 2 and so on (or draw names from a hat for a random bracket). A line marked Bye stays empty: the seed next to it moves straight on. Games are numbered in playing order, so you can call "game 3, court 2" on the day.

The same bracket as a list, with the round names Bracket Maker uses.

Only seeds 9–24 play in round 1: 16 teams in 8 games (16 vs 17, 9 vs 24, 13 vs 20, 12 vs 21, 15 vs 18, 10 vs 23, 14 vs 19 and 11 vs 22). In the round of 16, the 8 seeded teams join: seed 1 vs the winner of game 1, seed 8 vs the winner of game 2, seed 4 vs the winner of game 3, seed 5 vs the winner of game 4, seed 2 vs the winner of game 5, seed 7 vs the winner of game 6, seed 3 vs the winner of game 7 and seed 6 vs the winner of game 8.

Round of 32: 8 games; round of 16: 8 games; quarterfinals: 4 games; semifinals: 2 games; final: 1 game. With 8 courts or fields every round is played at once and the bracket takes 5 time slots; each round has to wait for the one before it.

Bracket Maker uses the standard seeding order, so seeds 1 and 2 can only meet in the final and seeds 1–4 not before the semifinals. On the 32-line bracket the two seeds on each first-round line add up to 33; where the partner seed would be above 24, the line is a bye. Seed 1's first game is against the winner of game 1.

A third-place game between the two semifinal losers adds one game, 24 in all. To give every team a second chance, double elimination with 24 teams plays 46 games, or 47 if the grand final is reset.