About K-CUP
Learn more about the K-pop ideal type tournament.
What is K-CUP?
K-CUP is a free, browser-based game where K-pop fans pick their ultimate favorite among 32 K-pop idols via single-elimination bracket. It follows the popular "ideal type world cup" format and runs on both mobile and desktop.
How to play
- Pick a version — male idols or female idols.
- Pick a bracket size — start at the quarterfinal (8) or round of 16.
- Vote in 1v1 matchups — click on whichever candidate you prefer.
- See your winner — the survivor of the final round is your personal champion.
Matchups and bracket seeding are randomized each game, so replays surface different rivalries.
Languages
K-CUP supports three languages, switchable from the top-right toggle on the home screen:
- 한국어 (KR) — Korean (default)
- English (EN)
- 中文 (ZH) — Simplified Chinese
The 32-idol roster
The current roster spans groups from BTS, SEVENTEEN, Stray Kids, NCT, RIIZE, TXT, ENHYPEN, TWS, EXO, SHINee, ASTRO on the male side; and NewJeans, IVE, aespa, BLACKPINK, LE SSERAFIM, TWICE, NMIXX on the female side. See the browse page for short bios, and the generations primer for how each member maps to K-pop's generational waves.
Photo sourcing & licensing
All candidate photos are real photos of the named idols, sourced from
Wikimedia Commons
under Creative Commons (CC BY / CC BY-SA) or public-domain licences. We hotlink directly from
upload.wikimedia.org. CC attribution is consolidated on the
credits page.
K-CUP has no affiliation, sponsorship, or endorsement relationship with any K-pop entertainment company, agency, artist, or official fandom. Idol names are used only for identification.
Tech stack
- Hosting — Cloudflare Pages
- Styling — Tailwind CSS (CDN)
- Fonts — Google Fonts (Poppins, Noto Sans KR)
- Photos — Wikimedia Commons (CC-licensed)
- Source — GitHub
Contact
Questions, bug reports, lineup suggestions, or photo takedown requests: chohw510@gmail.com.