8, 16 or 32 titles: which bracket size to pick

How many duels each bracket size costs you, how long it really takes, and which size fits solo play, a couple or a group.

The arithmetic

A knockout bracket with N titles always takes exactly N−1 duels: every duel eliminates one title, and you stop when one remains. The number of rounds is log₂(N).

8 titles — 3 rounds, 7 duels, roughly 45 seconds.
16 titles — 4 rounds, 15 duels, roughly 90 seconds.
24 titles — 5 rounds with byes, 23 duels, roughly 2 minutes.
32 titles — 5 rounds, 31 duels, roughly 3 minutes.

Those timings assume three to five seconds per duel, which is what unforced answering actually looks like. In a group, add time for the slowest voter on every duel — a room of six people runs at the pace of its most deliberative member.

Which to choose

8 — you already have a shortlist. Use it when the real work is done and you just need to break a tie between candidates you have already selected. It is too small for discovery: with three rounds, one unlucky pairing removes a title before it can prove anything.

16 — the default. Enough room for variety, short enough that the last round is answered as carefully as the first. This is the right size for almost every solo session.

24 — awkward but useful. Not a power of two, so some titles get a bye through the first round. Slightly unfair, and worth it when you have exactly that many candidates and do not want to cut four arbitrarily.

32 — for groups and for discovery. Thirty-one duels is a lot alone, but in a group it is genuinely entertaining, and the extra breadth is what surfaces titles nobody would have suggested. Use it when the evening is partly about the picking.

Byes, and why they matter less than you would think

When the count is not a power of two, some titles skip the first round. That is a real advantage — one fewer chance to be eliminated. In a sporting context it would be a problem. Here it is minor, because the bracket is not determining objective strength, and because your preferences are stable enough that a title winning “for free” in round one still has to beat something real in round two.

Timers change the result

A per-duel countdown does more than pace the game: it suppresses deliberation, and deliberation is where second-guessing lives. Five seconds per duel produces noticeably more instinctive answers than no timer at all — and instinctive answers are the ones you actually want here.

In a group the timer serves a second purpose: it prevents one slow voter from holding up eleven others, and it guarantees the evening ends.

Rule of thumb

Alone and decisive: 8. Alone and open to surprise: 16. Two people: 16. A group, or a night where the picking is part of the fun: 32.

Sizes are set when you build a tournament; the ready-made ones are fixed at 16 or 32 so everyone plays the same duels.