Question 654404
  <pre><font face = "Tohoma" size = 3 color = "indigo"><b> 
Hi,
Re TY, Set UP should not result in any duplicate pairs.  See below:
"arrange it so that everybody gets to play with each other as equal as possible over the course of a year"
first: number people 1-8 and Make a List of Your {{{28}}} Possible Pairings:
1 with 2-8  7 pairings
2 with 3-8  6 pairings
3 with 4-8  5 pairings
4 with 5-8  4 pairings
5 with 6-8  3 pairings
6 with 7&8  2 pairings
7 with 8    <u>1</u> pairings
              28 Possible pairings  (Statisticallly, that would be 8C2)
1-2	1-3	1-4	1-5	1-6	1-7	1-8
2-3	2-4	2-5	2-6		2-8     2-7	
3-4	3-5	3-6	3-7	3-8		
4-5	4-6	4-7	4-8			
5-6	5-7	5-8				
6-7	6-8					
7-8						
As random drawing may result in 2 "1s", as You pointed out, rather than redrawing...
might be simpler to just go down the columns and choose the pairings, for ex: (1-2, 3-4) (2-3,4-5) etc
Might then recommend drawing 4 pairings(out of a box originally containing the 28)each month
(do not replace them in that box) and assign them to one of the two tables.
After 7 months, All of the 28 pairings could go back in a box for another round of drawings.