Hi! So, do you want to host a tournament? Here's a good place to start. Most tournaments on Smogon are within circuits, trophy/ribbon/unofficial, and such are managed by format leadership teams or the Tournament Director team. However, there is space for more unofficial or lower stakes tournaments on Smogon, and that's where the Unofficial Tournaments, Unofficial Team Tournaments, Live Tournaments, and Tournament Applications step in. These spaces will fill the void between official tournaments such as trophy or circuit tournaments, and community tournaments held in different subforums, such as a format's team tours or invitationals.
These steps assume you are hosting an individual tournament. Advice will not be provided for hosting a team tournament, as these are handled by experienced hosts and are approved case-by-case based on unique criteria.
Step 1: Come up with an idea!
You should have a fully fleshed out idea of what you want to host before you make an application. TDs will not guide ideas or provide you with concepts to run, please apply with a hostable concept. Some TDs and hosts may be willing to give feedback on a half-complete idea before it is posted, but you should have a full vision of what your tournament will be and why it should be hosted in one of our subforums before posting a thread.
Step 2: Check if this is the best place to host this.
There are a lot of spaces on Smogon that allow you to host tournaments in. For example, Randomized formats can be hosted in Random Battles, many old-gen tournaments can be hosted in a Ruins of Alph subforum, et cetra. Reach out to the subforum moderation team (check the banner at the top of the subforum!) with your idea. This doesn't mean they are assured to accept your idea, and it may be still that you are best served here, but one of the first questions that are going to come up in a TD's mind when considering your tournament is whether it'd be better somewhere else. Unofficial Tournaments does not get a lot of visitors or attention, so other spaces may get more eyes from folks likely to be more familiar with the relevant format(s).
Step 3: Explain your idea in a Tournament Applications thread.
At the very least, you should explain what kind of elimination your tournament is (single, double, swiss, ladder tour, etc), how many games players will play a round (best of 1, 3, 5, etc), whether it will be live or weekly, et cetra. If your tournament concept has a gimmick, explain the gimmick clearly. If your tournament is a pre-existing format, explain why it's best here and not in the format or parent format's forum. If there are any points relevant to the tournament that might run afoul of the Tournament Rules, explain that now! List any cohosts, and ideally, explain why you and your cohosts are capable of running a tournament if the TDs are unlikely to know your hosting ability already.
Step 3.5: Wait for approval.
Do not badger TDs for a response. If a week or more has passed with no response, you can message a tournament director to ask for consideration. Be selective and patient about who you ask, the TDs who tend to host tournaments themselves are more likely to be receptive to a request for a consideration, compared to TDs who primarily play and handle policy or community matters. If a TD posts asking questions, answer them.
Step 4: Host your tournament!
If you've been approved, wait for the next Sunday or Monday to post signups - do not just post them whenever you see you were approved. If you need help or have questions, read the hosting guide ask the TD who approved your tournament, or whoever they indicate you should reach out to. Coordinate with your cohost(s) if you have any. This almost certainly won't (or shouldn't) be your first tournament, so you should have some idea on how to run a tournament already. If it is, or you don't feel confident, there are plenty of hosts and TDs who are willing to answer questions in the Tournament Hosts Discord.
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These steps assume you are hosting an individual tournament. Advice will not be provided for hosting a team tournament, as these are handled by experienced hosts and are approved case-by-case based on unique criteria.
Step 1: Come up with an idea!
You should have a fully fleshed out idea of what you want to host before you make an application. TDs will not guide ideas or provide you with concepts to run, please apply with a hostable concept. Some TDs and hosts may be willing to give feedback on a half-complete idea before it is posted, but you should have a full vision of what your tournament will be and why it should be hosted in one of our subforums before posting a thread.
Step 2: Check if this is the best place to host this.
There are a lot of spaces on Smogon that allow you to host tournaments in. For example, Randomized formats can be hosted in Random Battles, many old-gen tournaments can be hosted in a Ruins of Alph subforum, et cetra. Reach out to the subforum moderation team (check the banner at the top of the subforum!) with your idea. This doesn't mean they are assured to accept your idea, and it may be still that you are best served here, but one of the first questions that are going to come up in a TD's mind when considering your tournament is whether it'd be better somewhere else. Unofficial Tournaments does not get a lot of visitors or attention, so other spaces may get more eyes from folks likely to be more familiar with the relevant format(s).
Step 3: Explain your idea in a Tournament Applications thread.
At the very least, you should explain what kind of elimination your tournament is (single, double, swiss, ladder tour, etc), how many games players will play a round (best of 1, 3, 5, etc), whether it will be live or weekly, et cetra. If your tournament concept has a gimmick, explain the gimmick clearly. If your tournament is a pre-existing format, explain why it's best here and not in the format or parent format's forum. If there are any points relevant to the tournament that might run afoul of the Tournament Rules, explain that now! List any cohosts, and ideally, explain why you and your cohosts are capable of running a tournament if the TDs are unlikely to know your hosting ability already.
Step 3.5: Wait for approval.
Do not badger TDs for a response. If a week or more has passed with no response, you can message a tournament director to ask for consideration. Be selective and patient about who you ask, the TDs who tend to host tournaments themselves are more likely to be receptive to a request for a consideration, compared to TDs who primarily play and handle policy or community matters. If a TD posts asking questions, answer them.
Step 4: Host your tournament!
If you've been approved, wait for the next Sunday or Monday to post signups - do not just post them whenever you see you were approved. If you need help or have questions, read the hosting guide ask the TD who approved your tournament, or whoever they indicate you should reach out to. Coordinate with your cohost(s) if you have any. This almost certainly won't (or shouldn't) be your first tournament, so you should have some idea on how to run a tournament already. If it is, or you don't feel confident, there are plenty of hosts and TDs who are willing to answer questions in the Tournament Hosts Discord.
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- Please be aware that TD attention is often elsewhere, and that Unofficial Tournaments are not usually high on our priority lists. This means it may take us some time to respond to your ideas, and that we are not particularly willing to take a chance on entirely unproven users who we may have to keep a close eye on. Your first hosted tournament likely shouldn't be here, there are many opportunities across the site.
- Please also be aware that unless you as the host are coming with a prize or award already confirmed from a reliable source (such as a PS admin-approved prize), these forums are low visibility and low interest. Do not overestimate interest in your idea, and do not be too disheartened if a large percentage of your tournament games go unplayed to do a lack of interest.
- We want your tournament to be possible to host more often than not. Work with us to make this possible - TDs are not here to be fun-killers or authoritarian, but we may have concerns about your concept that may need addressing before an approval. The quicker we can get to the same page, the better, but we don't raise concerns needlessly. If your idea already got rejected somewhere else, consider whether that reason would hold true for here as well.
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