Creating an event
From an empty organisation to a tournament people can enter. You walk the screens in the order you meet them, and each field tells you what belongs in it.
The order
Eight steps. You do the first three once; every tournament after this one starts at step four. A new event is a draft and nobody can see it, not even with the link, so you can set everything up before anybody is looking.
- 1
Create your organisation
Your club or committee owns everything you create: events, venues, entries and the entry fees that come in. One organisation per sports club is enough, even if you run ten tournaments a year.
- 2
Invite your volunteers
Go to Members, enter an email address and pick the role the job calls for. They get a mail with a link to join. The scoring desk can then enter results without reaching the subscription.
- 3
Set up your venues
Under Venues you record the hall, the park or the room, with the courts, pitches, tables or boards in it. You do this once; every event after that picks from the list.
- 4
Create the event
Fill in the name, the address on PlayTour, the sport and the kind: everything on one day, over several days, or a series over weeks. The description is the first thing an entrant reads, so say what the tournament is about.
- 5
Fill in when and where
The first and the last playing day, and the main venue. That venue’s address is what appears on the announcement. Playing in a second hall as well? You simply tick those courts later.
- 6
Set up entries
Set when entries open and close, how many competitors can take part in total, and how many categories one person may enter. All of it may stay empty and all of it can be changed later.
- 7
Add contact, information and terms
A contact with an email address and a phone number, practical information about parking and changing rooms, a banner above the page, and the terms somebody agrees to while entering.
- 8
Publish and open entries
Add the categories first, because that is what people enter. The entry fee, the number of places, the closing date, the format and the scoring belong to the category and not to the event, so a published event without categories is a page nobody can enter. Then publish the event and open entries: two separate buttons, so you can announce the date well before the gates open.
What it looks like while you set it up
The screen you start on, and the one you end up on once the entries arrive.
Everything your club runs under one dashboard
Your organisation keeps your events, entries and venues together. The dashboard counts what is running and puts whatever needs attention at the top, so you do not have to walk through every tournament separately.
- The number of events and entries at your club
- A notice on anything that needs attention
- One organisation, even if you run ten tournaments a year
From draft to a tournament that fills up
Once the categories are in and entry is open, you see how full each one is and whether it has been drawn. This is the screen you keep coming back to in the weeks before the first playing day.
- How many places are taken, per category
- Whether a category has been drawn yet
- One look tells you which category is lagging behind
What goes into each screen
The fields as they appear in the organiser app, so you can keep this list beside the open form.
General
- The name of the event, for example Club Championships 2027.
- Address on PlayTour: the part of the link you choose. It follows the name until you pin it.
- Sport. Without one there are no disciplines to build categories from.
- Kind: everything on one day, over several days, or a series over weeks or months.
- Description: what this tournament is about, in your own words.
When and where
- First and last playing day. For a one day event they are the same.
- Main venue: the address that goes on the announcement.
- Extra venues: for each one you tick the courts you are allowed to use.
- Only ticked courts end up in the playing schedule.
Entries
- When entries open and close. Competitors can enter up to and including the closing day.
- The most competitors across the whole event. Per category you set that separately.
- Categories per competitor, so nobody enters five things played on the same day.
- Visibility: in the calendar, or only for whoever has the link or the invitation code.
- Publish the entry list, so competitors can see who else is taking part.
- Let competitors hand their place to somebody else. Whatever was paid goes with it.
Contact, media and terms
- Contact name, email address and telephone number.
- Practical information: parking, changing rooms, the clubhouse, and whatever people need once they arrive.
- Banner: the wide image above the event. Landscape works best, roughly 16:9.
- Gallery: pictures of the hall or of a previous edition, shown after the banner.
- Terms and conditions: write them here, or point at the page they already live on.
- Documents as PDF, such as the competitor rules or the directions.
A field you leave empty sets no limit. No maximum means no maximum.
Questions that come with this
Three subjects side by side, so you can go straight to yours.
Volunteers and roles
Which roles are there?+
Four. The owner can do everything, including the subscription and closing the organisation down. An administrator handles events, members and settings. An event manager creates and runs events but does not manage the organisation. A viewer looks and changes nothing.
Which role does the scoring desk need?+
Event manager. That covers the draw, the schedule, entering results and writing to competitors, without reaching the subscription or the invoicing. If somebody only needs to watch, give them viewer.
How do I invite somebody?+
Under Members you enter an email address and pick a role. They get a mail with a link to join. While the invitation is outstanding you can revoke it, and otherwise it expires on its own.
Can somebody promote themselves?+
No. You can only hand out roles below your own. So an administrator cannot create a second owner, and an event manager cannot invite anybody at all.
What happens when I remove a member?+
They can no longer do anything for the organisation. The events, the entries and the results entered all stay, and the log keeps showing who did what.
Publishing and visibility
What is the difference between publishing and opening entries?+
Publishing makes the event visible; opening entries is the step after that. It lets you announce the date early and then open the gates at a moment you choose, say Monday evening at eight.
What does link or code only mean?+
The event is not in the calendar and does not turn up in search. Anybody with the link sees all of it: the categories, the entry form, the draw and the playing schedule. So it is not secret, it is unfindable. Beside the link, every event carries an eight-character invitation code such as K7M4-P2XQ: you can read it out in the hall or put it in a newsletter, and a participant types it into the app under Events → Enter with an invitation. It opens exactly the page the link opens.
Can I switch that later?+
Yes, at any moment, including while entries are running or play is under way. Visibility is independent of the status of the event.
The event is off. Delete it or cancel it?+
Cancel it. Anybody who entered, or who still has the link in a mail, can then open it and read that it is not going ahead. It does leave the calendar. Deleting is only possible while nothing is attached to it yet.
Can I still change everything after the first entry?+
Most of it. Once the first entry arrives the playing days and the main venue are fixed, and once play starts the maximums are fixed too. Name, description, contact details, banner and practical information stay editable.
Banner, information and terms
What size should the banner be?+
Landscape, roughly 16:9, as JPEG, PNG or WebP. Upload nothing and PlayTour shows its own artwork instead, so an event without a banner does not look half finished.
Where does my practical information appear?+
On the event page, under the announcement. It is the place for parking, changing rooms and the clubhouse, and for everything that otherwise disappears into a group chat.
Do I have to set terms?+
You do not have to, but without them somebody enters while agreeing to nothing. You can write them in PlayTour or point at the page they already live on.
What if I change the terms?+
Publish a new version and competitors who had already agreed are asked again. What they agreed to before is kept, including which version they saw.
Can I add rules as a PDF?+
Yes, under Documents. Per document you choose whether anybody may read it or only people who have entered. That way the directions stay open and the competitor rules sit behind the entry.
Read on
Setting up categories
The entry fee, places, who may enter, the format and the scoring, explained per sport.
Assigning courts
Recording venues and courts, setting opening hours and booking them for your event.
The draw and the schedule
Seeding, drawing, setting match lengths and building and adjusting the playing schedule.
Help with running a tournament
The whole arc from start to finish, with the questions that come up most.
Set up your first event
The free plan gives you three tournaments at once and fifty participants per tournament. No card, no notice period.