Side Pots

Side pots add extra competition and excitement to your tournaments. Director supports a full range of side-pot types with end-to-end management — create, sell entries, collect buy-ins, run the action, pay out, and share live standings.

Side Pot Types

High Game / High Handicap Game

The bowler with the single highest game wins — scratch, or the handicap variant that adds each bowler's handicap. Ties split the pot, and you can configure multiple payout positions (e.g., top 3).

High Series / High Handicap Series

The bowler with the highest total pinfall across all games wins, scratch or handicap. Works the same as High Game but uses the series total.

Brackets

Head-to-head bracket competition, single or double elimination. Large fields run as pools (typically 8 bowlers each), and a bowler can buy multiple brackets. The higher score advances each round. See the Brackets & Match Play guide for bracket-tree details.

Eliminator & Survivor

After each game the lowest-scoring bowler(s) are eliminated; the last bowler(s) standing win. Survivor works the same way with configurable paying positions. Great for adding drama game by game.

Doubles & Mystery Doubles

Pairs of bowlers compete on combined series. Assign the pairs yourself (Doubles) or have them drawn randomly after all games are bowled (Mystery Doubles) — in mystery, no one knows their partner until results are revealed.

Strikeout

A live strike-based mini-event: bowlers advance round by round on whether they strike, and you record each round as it happens. Last bowler(s) standing win.

Creating a Side Pot

Selling Entries & Collecting Buy-ins

Tap a side pot to open it. A collection summary at the top shows brackets sold, number of bowlers, money collected, and how many bowlers still owe — at a glance, even mid-rush.

• Search bowlers to jump straight to someone instead of scrolling a long field.
• For bracket pots, use the + / − stepper to set how many brackets each bowler buys (tap the count to type a large number for a big buyer).
• Tap the paid toggle when a bowler pays. Paid is tracked per bowler (one toggle covers their whole bundle).
• All Checked-In bulk-adds present bowlers. On standalone pots you can add walk-up bowlers by name.
• For non-bracket pots, tap Add (the picker is searchable) to add the bowlers who bought in.

The prize pool updates automatically as entries change.

Bracket Visualization

For bracket-type side pots, Director displays a visual bracket tree showing matchups, scores, and advancement. See the Brackets & Match Play guide for details.

Finalizing & Paying Out

For score-based pots (high game/series, eliminator, survivor, doubles), tap Calculate Winners and Director ranks the field and splits the payouts automatically, handling ties. Bracket pots determine winners as matches are played. Review the results, mark each winner paid, then tap Finalize to lock the pot.

Sharing Live Standings

Open a pot and tap the Share button to copy or send a public standings/brackets link. Bowlers and spectators can follow the pools, matches, and winners in real time without signing in.

Global Side Pots Dashboard

The Side Pots view shows all side pots across all your tournaments in one place. Active pots show an "N unpaid" badge so you can spot uncollected money without opening each one. Filter by tournament, type, or status (open/finalized) for a complete overview.