Back in the day there was a pretty cool set up in some of the tourney's I bowled in. Essentially it was a singles tourney, pretty straightforward when it came to that. But there was an optional doubles that you could get into...for however much more per person, but you didn't have to bowl on the same pair, lanes or even squad as the other person. Basically the set or sets that you bowl for singles are added to your partners when they bowl to come up with your doubles score. So long as it was paid for before the first of the doubles team bowls, you were in. So you had your normal singles standings, and optional doubles being separate. Kind of a nice option to have.

The most popular format in my area is the singles eliminator. Cuts are based on each squad at the advertised ratio (1:5 or 1:6 typically). For the finals, it's usually 4 on a pair. Top two scores from the pair move on, bottom two are out. Payout are based on the round. Redraw lanes and do it again until you get to four bowlers left. They bowl one game and you pay out according to score. This format eliminates many issues of having an overall cut where one squad whacks'em and another squad grinds it out.