Staging and the Line-up: Calling Divisions to the Tatami
Staging is the area where competitors wait before they walk onto the tatami. Taikai App gives your staging crew three screens, all fed by the live schedule and brackets:
- The Staging view in the Tournament Manager: who to call next on every mat.
- The staging TV: the same picture on a big screen for competitors and coaches.
- The line-up screen (labelled Formación): a phone page that lines competitors up bout by bout, red side and blue side, and sends the whole division to the tatami.
None of these screens change the brackets. They only read them and record where each competitor is.
The Staging view
Open Staging in the Tournament Manager's menu. It updates every 5 seconds. For each mat you see:
- On the mat: the division running now, with its bout progress and an estimate like "≈ 8 min left", based on today's real pace on that mat.
- Next: the next division with a countdown ("in ≈ 12 min") and only the competitors who are still missing. When everyone is checked in it reads "All 8 here · ready".
- Later divisions: one line each, with their competitor count.
Colour only appears where there is work to do: amber for missing competitors, green for ready, red for live or running late. A small red or blue dot next to each name shows the colour of that competitor's first bout (grey means a bye whose opponent isn't known yet).
The mat's progress bar turns amber at 3 to 4 bouts left and red at 2 or fewer. That is the moment to send the next division. When a mat has nothing on it, a red "Waiting for the next division" box makes it obvious.
On multi-day tournaments the view shows one day at a time: today if it still has divisions, otherwise the next day with divisions. The header says which day it is showing, in green for today and amber for an upcoming day.
Absent competitors aren't called. In ranking-list and kata panel divisions, a competitor the operator marks absent drops off the staging list and isn't counted as missing.
Previewing a division
Click any division on the Staging view to open a preview: its time and length, how many competitors are entered, checked in and missing, and the roster with dojo, rank, age and weight (missing competitors first). Use the arrows to step through that mat's queue, or View bracket to open the bracket.
The staging TV
Click Open TV Display on the Staging view and put that window on a screen in the staging area. It shows every mat side by side with a clock and a legend; with more than 6 mats it pages through them. The legend tells competitors with an open circle next to their name that they still need to go to the check-in desk.
Tapping a division on the TV opens the same preview, without ages and weights because it is a public screen. Page rotation pauses while the preview is open and it closes by itself after a minute.
Set how the TV rotates under Staging Setup in the settings menu: the TV Rotation Interval (default 20 seconds) and how many divisions to show per mat.
The Staging view also has Live Brackets TV, which rotates through the live bracket of every active mat.
The line-up screen (Formación)
The line-up screen is built for a phone in the hand of a staging volunteer. Open it with the Formación button on the Staging view, or from the Staff Dashboard (see Who can use it). It refreshes every 5 seconds and keeps the phone's screen awake. Tap a tatami chip at the top to show only your mats; the choice is remembered on that phone.
For each tatami it shows the live division and the next ones of the same day. Each division is shown the way your crew needs to stand competitors:
- Bracket divisions are shown round by round as two lines, RED · AKA and BLUE · AO, in the order the operator will call the bouts. Bout numbers match the bracket. Later rounds fill in as results come in.
- Colour changes are flagged. A winner who moves to the other side in the next round shows "CHANGES TO RED (AKA) · was blue" (or the reverse), so they switch belts before walking on.
- Byes are listed separately, and team members are listed under their team.
- Ranking-list divisions (kata points) show a single Running order.
- Each competitor shows their dojo and a NOT CHECKED IN tag if they haven't been through check-in.
Lining up and sending a division
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1Tap each competitor as they line up They are marked as lined up. Everyone lined up marks the whole division at once, byes included. Clear all undoes it.
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2Tap Send the division to the mat Everyone is marked as sent and the division leaves the line-up. If it was a mis-tap, Undo is available until the first bout is fought.
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3The table sees it The operator's next-bout line shows "✓ 2/2 lined up" or "Sent to the mat", so the table knows the next pair is on the way.
Once bouts have been fought, the division reads "On the mat · under way" and can no longer be undone. Families following that competitor see each step live (see Following competitors live).
Two-bouts-left warning
When a saved result leaves a division with 2 bouts or fewer, the line-up screen shows a pulsing red banner on that tatami, for example "2 bouts left, send" followed by the next division. It stays until the next division is sent.
At the same moment, Taikai App sends one push notification per division to the staging crew's phones (staff signed up for the staging job), or to the director if there is no staging crew. If the next division was already sent, no warning is sent.
Who can use it
| Screen | Who |
|---|---|
| Staging view | The director, and staff with the Schedule permission. |
| Staging TV | Anyone with the link. It shows short public names only. |
| Line-up (Formación) | The director and any approved staff member or judge of the tournament, signed in with their own account. The Staff Dashboard shows a Formación (staging) button to staff with the Scoreboards or Check-in permission and to staging volunteers. That button unlocks once the staff member has been checked in. |
Tip: Give each staging volunteer two or three tatamis and have them pick only those chips. One person can keep a mat fed with a phone and a loud voice.