The Page playoff system is a playoff format used primarily in softball and curling at the championship level. Teams are seeded using a round-robin tournament and the top four play a mix of a single-elimination and double-elimination tournament to determine the winner.
The system requires teams to be ranked in some way, as the top two teams have an advantage over the bottom two. This is usually accomplished through a round-robin tournament, which eliminates all but the top four teams.
The top four teams advance to the Page playoff. In what's sometimes called the quarter-finals, the first- and second-placed teams and the third- and fourth-placed teams play each other. The winner of the 1 vs. 2 game gets a bye to the final. The loser of the 1 vs. 2 game plays the winner of the 3 vs. 4 game in the semi-final. The winner of the semi-final plays the winner of the 1 vs. 2 game in the final, with the winner of that game winning the competition.
This has the effect of allowing the top two teams to lose a game and still win the tournament, producing a similar effect to a double-elimination tournament. This gives the top two teams a significant advantage over the next two. However, to ensure that the first-placed team does get some advantage for finishing at the top of the pack, that team is often given a home-ice advantage; since curling teams rarely play national or international tournaments at their home rink, the advantage in curling is that the first-placed team is given the hammer (last rock) in the first end, which is a reasonable advantage between comparably skilled teams.