Hef thought about ways to set up the tournament and decided the tried and true, always popular, blonde vs. brunette theme was still popular with spectators. He figured it'd be a good way to justify a tournament, blondes matched against brunettes. In addition, if the first round left the pairing uneven, maybe a blonde would fight another blonde or a brunette fight a brunette to even things up again but he wanted to keep it blonde vs. brunette as much as possible.

Hef sent an open invitation for all his Playmates to join the tournament. He told them to be quick signing up because the first eight blondes and brunettes to sign up would make up the starting team. They'd be matched up against each other randomly. He told them they wouldn't know their opponent until they entered the arena. Within a few hours, all sixteen slots had been filled and girls were being turned away. Hef compiled a list of sixteen Playmates and put them in a blonde group and a brunette group. He then randomly drew one name from each group to make the pairings. After the pairings were made and the schedule set, Hef called his usual group of friends and colleagues and invited them to the fight nights. Within a couple days, everything was in place and the fights were set.