About PlayAllTimes

A comprehensive tournament management platform designed specifically for competitive card games. We combine sophisticated algorithms with intuitive design to create the most reliable tournament experience for organizers and players alike.

What is PlayAllTimes?

PlayAllTimes is a complete tournament management ecosystem built from the ground up for competitive card games like Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon, and other TCG/CCG formats. Our platform handles everything from player registration to final standings, using industry-standard algorithms and best practices.

Our Philosophy

Tournament management should be transparent, reliable, and accessible. We believe great software should handle complexity behind the scenes while presenting simple, intuitive interfaces to users.

For Tournament Organizers

Complete tournament lifecycle management from player registration to results reporting. Advanced features like multi-phase tournaments, custom cut criteria, and detailed analytics.

For Players

Join tournaments with simple codes, track your progress in real-time, submit match results, and view comprehensive statistics across all your tournaments.

For Organizations

Multi-organizer support, branded tournaments, member management, and analytics to help gaming communities grow and thrive.

Tournament Types & Formats

PlayAllTimes supports a comprehensive range of tournament formats, each with specialized algorithms and management tools:

Head-to-Head Tournaments (1v1)

Swiss System

Industry-standard Swiss pairing with MTR-compliant tiebreakers: Opponents' Match Win %, Player Game Win %, and Opponents' Game Win %.

Single Elimination

Traditional bracket-style elimination with optimal seeding based on Swiss standings. Supports 4, 8, 16, 32+ player brackets.

Double Elimination (Under development)

Advanced bracket system with winners and losers brackets, giving players a second chance while maintaining competitive integrity.

Multiplayer Tournaments

Pod-Based Swiss

Specialized for formats like Commander/EDH. Intelligent pod creation with rematch avoidance and balanced point distribution.

Multiplayer Elimination

Top 4, Top 10, and Top 16 elimination formats with carefully balanced seating arrangements for maximum competitive fairness.

Draft Tournaments

Booster Draft

Complete draft pod management with seat assignments, deck building phases, and optimal bracket construction based on draft positions. Pod numbers have been thouroughly developed to avoid weird pod structure.

Table Draft

Support for custom formats with flexible pod sizes and specialized pairing algorithms designed for casual draft play (cross table pairing for round 1, then swiss pairing for the remaining rounds).

Advanced Tournament Algorithms

Our algorithms are the heart of PlayAllTimes, implementing official tournament rules and best practices from competitive card gaming:

Swiss Pairing Algorithm

1. Player Sorting Sort by match points, then tiebreakers
2. Score Groups Create groups of similar-scoring players
3. Optimal Pairing Pair within groups avoiding rematches
4. Fold Down Handle unpaired players across groups

Swiss System Features

  • MTR-compliant tiebreaker calculations (1/3 used instead of 0.33, hidden tiebreakers consisting in alphabetical order when all tiebreakers are the same, etc)
  • Intelligent bye assignment (lowest-ranked eligible players)
  • Anti-rematch protection with fallback handling
  • Fixed table assignment support
  • Real-time standings with live tiebreaker updates

Multiplayer Pairing System

Our multiplayer algorithm is specifically designed for pod-based formats, addressing unique challenges like:

Point Balance

Creates pods with similar total points for competitive balance

Rematch Avoidance

Sophisticated tracking prevents players from facing each other repeatedly

Cascade Pairing

Advanced algorithm handles complex scenarios with multiple fallback strategies

Tiebreaker System

Adapted Swiss tiebreakers for multiplayer formats with opponent strength calculations

Draft Tournament Management

Specialized handling for draft formats with unique requirements:

Draft Features

  • Optimal pod size calculation
  • Random seating with adjacent player tracking
  • Deck building phase management with table assignments
  • Elimination bracket creation based on draft seating
  • Advanced bracket structures (quarterfinals, semifinals, finals)

Platform Features

Tournament Management

Tournament Codes

Simple 6-character codes and QR Codes allow players to join tournaments instantly. No complex registration processes.

Multi-Phase Support

Create complex tournament structures with Swiss + Top 8, multiple cuts, and different formats per phase.

Team Tournaments (Under development)

Full team tournament support with team standings, member management, and specialized pairing options.

Integrated Timer

Built-in round timer with warnings and automatic notifications. Helps maintain tournament pace.

Live Standings

Real-time standings updates with complete tiebreaker calculations visible to players and spectators.

Data Export

Export tournament data in multiple formats. Full backup and restore capabilities for tournament organizers. This powerful feature is still under development and would allow to download the whole tournament and to be able to upload it or to manage it with a third-based tool (excel, gsheet, etc)

Player Experience

Player Dashboard

Comprehensive dashboard showing active tournaments, match history, statistics, and pending matches.

Mobile Optimized

Fully responsive design works perfectly on phones and tablets. Submit results and check pairings anywhere.

Match Notifications

With the upcoming application: Automatic notifications for new pairings, match assignments, and tournament updates.

Decklist Management

Store and manage decklists with tournament association. Share lists with organizers when required.

Advanced Organizer Tools

Flexible Cut Criteria

Top X players, minimum points, or percentage-based cuts. Preview cuts before applying them.

Table Management

Assign specific tables to matches, handle VIP sections, and manage table availability during tournaments.

Player Penalties (Under development)

Full penalty system with match losses, game losses, and disqualifications. Maintains tournament integrity.

Tournament History (Under development)

Complete audit trail of all tournament actions. Track changes, penalties, and manual adjustments.

Time Zone Information

PlayAllTimes operates on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+0) for all tournament scheduling and timestamps. This ensures consistency across all international tournaments and provides a reliable reference point for players worldwide.

For Players in Paris (France)

Paris operates on Central European Time (CET/CEST). To convert tournament times to your local time:

  • Winter Time (CET): Add 1 hour to UTC (UTC+1)
  • Summer Time (CEST): Add 2 hours to UTC (UTC+2)

Example: A tournament starting at 14:00 UTC would begin at 15:00 in winter or 16:00 in summer in Paris.

Tournament Scheduling

All tournament start times, round timers, and deadlines are displayed in UTC. Make sure to convert to your local time zone before participating.

Match Timestamps

Match results and tournament history are recorded with UTC timestamps for accurate record-keeping across different time zones.

Notifications

All automated notifications and reminders are sent based on UTC time. Configure your device's time zone settings for accurate local notifications.

Organizer Tools

Tournament organizers can specify their preferred time zone in tournament descriptions to help local players, while the system maintains UTC for consistency.

Common Time Zone Conversions from UTC

  • Paris, France: UTC+1 (winter) / UTC+2 (summer)
  • London, UK: UTC+0 (winter) / UTC+1 (summer)
  • New York, USA: UTC-5 (winter) / UTC-4 (summer)
  • Los Angeles, USA: UTC-8 (winter) / UTC-7 (summer)
  • Tokyo, Japan: UTC+9 (year-round)
  • Sydney, Australia: UTC+10 (winter) / UTC+11 (summer)

Pro Tip

Most modern browsers and devices automatically handle time zone conversions. Consider bookmarking a world clock or using your device's built-in world clock feature to quickly check tournament times in UTC.

How PlayAllTimes Works

For Tournament Organizers

Create Tournament Set format, phases, and rules
Player Registration Share tournament code
Generate Pairings One-click pairing generation
Manage Results Track matches and standings
Tournament Complete Final results and export

For Players

Join Tournament Enter 6-character code or scan the QR one
Check Pairings View table assignments
Play Matches Submit results
Track Progress Monitor standings

Data Security & Privacy

All tournament data is securely stored with regular backups. Player information is protected and only shared within tournament contexts. Organizers maintain full control over their tournament data.

Technical Excellence

PlayAllTimes is built with reliability, scalability, and performance in mind:

Architecture & Stack

  • Modern PHP backend with object-oriented design patterns
  • MySQL database with optimized queries and proper indexing
  • Responsive HTML5/CSS3 frontend with progressive enhancement
  • Real-time updates using efficient polling and WebSocket connections
  • RESTful API design for future mobile app integration

Security & Reliability

  • Secure user authentication with Argon2ID password hashing
  • SQL injection prevention through prepared statements
  • Cross-site scripting (XSS) protection
  • Session management with automatic timeout
  • Regular automated backups with point-in-time recovery
  • Email verification system for account security

Performance & Scalability

  • Optimized database queries with proper indexing strategies
  • Efficient algorithms with O(n log n) complexity for pairing generation
  • Caching layers for frequently accessed data
  • Mobile-first responsive design for optimal performance
  • Graceful degradation for low-bandwidth connections

Platform Scale & Capabilities

PlayAllTimes is designed to handle tournaments of any size, from local game store events to major competitive gatherings:

5k+ Players Tournament Size
15+ Game Formats
Real-time Updates
99.9% Uptime
Multi-phase Tournaments
Global Access

Supported Game Formats

Magic: The Gathering

Standard, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Pioneer, Commander, Draft, Sealed, and all other official formats.

Pokémon

Standard, Expanded, Legacy formats for both TCG and VGC tournaments with specialized rules support.

Yu-Gi-Oh!

Advanced and Traditional formats with specialized match structures and tournament rules.

Other TCGs

Flexible system adapts to any competitive card game format with customizable rules and scoring.

Community & Philosophy

PlayAllTimes exists to serve the competitive gaming community. Our development is guided by feedback from tournament organizers, judges, and players worldwide.

Our Commitment

Community First

Every feature is designed with real tournament scenarios in mind, based on feedback from active organizers and players.

Tournament Integrity

Strict adherence to official tournament rules and best practices ensures fair, competitive environments.

Continuous Innovation

Regular updates with new features, algorithm improvements, and support for emerging game formats.

Accessibility

Tournament management should be accessible to everyone, regardless of technical expertise or tournament size.

From the Development Team

"We're players and organizers too. PlayAllTimes is built by people who understand the challenges of running tournaments because we face them ourselves. Every algorithm, every feature, every design decision comes from real experience in competitive gaming."

Contributing to PlayAllTimes

We welcome feedback, suggestions, and contributions from the community:

  • Feature Requests: Share ideas for new tournament formats or management tools
  • Bug Reports: Help us maintain the highest quality standards
  • Algorithm Feedback: Tournament organizers and judges help us refine our pairing systems
  • Community Guidelines: Help shape best practices for online tournament management

Get In Touch

Ready to run better tournaments? Have questions about our algorithms? Want to suggest a feature? We're here to help build the future of competitive gaming together.

Contact Our Team