Organiser Guide
Pickleball Game Mode Guide
Everything you need to set up, run, and log each event format. From casual social sessions to full league seasons.
King of the Court
King of the Court
Fast-paced
8–24 players
Court-rotation rally game — winners stay, losers rotate off
How it works
- Courts are ranked 1 (King) to N — players start on their assigned court.
- After each game the winning pair promotes to a higher court; losers relegate down.
- Players waiting in the pool rotate onto vacated positions.
- The pair holding court 1 at the end of the session is the King!
- Games are time-limited (recommended 8–12 minutes).
Game timer
8–12 min per game. Use the dashboard timer.
Team format
Doubles (2v2). Partners stay together per game.
Winning condition
Highest court position at session end.
Courts needed
2–6 courts. More courts = more variety.
Organiser tip: Set wins-to-promote to 2 and losses-to-relegate to 2 so no one shoots up or drops too fast in a single session. Great for 90-minute open-play events.
Round Robin
Round Robin
Classic format
8–32 players
Every pair plays every other pair — fairest format for even competition
How it works
- All matchups are pre-scheduled at event start so everyone knows when they play.
- Partnerships are fixed for the whole event (or randomly assigned if not pre-seeded).
- Points accumulate across all games — win points, loss points configurable.
- Standings show rank by total points, then win percentage as tiebreaker.
- Ideal for tournaments and clubs wanting a clear champion.
Points system
Recommended: Win = 2, Loss = 0. Optional: Win = 3, Loss = 1 (for close games).
Session length
Allow 15–20 min per matchup. N teams = N−1 rounds.
Player count
Works best in multiples of 4. Odd counts create a bye.
Organiser tip: Use 15-point games for a round robin tournament — it reduces luck on any single game while keeping sessions under 2 hours for 8 teams.
Social Session
Social Session
4–40 players
Casual drop-in play with automatic partner mixing — your community favourite
Partner modes
| Mode | How partners are selected |
|---|---|
| Completely random each game — best for beginners | |
| Balanced | DUPR ratings are balanced across teams for fair games |
| Fixed | Pre-assigned partners — good for couples / corporate |
| Rotating | Everyone plays with everyone over the session |
Drop-in / out
Players can arrive or leave at any time without breaking the format.
Session length
Set the session duration (e.g. 2 hours). The app tracks time remaining.
Results
Individual win/loss stats are logged. No formal standings table.
Organiser tip: Use Balanced mode if you have a wide mix of skill levels — it keeps games competitive and prevents strong players always dominating weaker ones.
Ladder
Ladder
Competitive
8–40 players
Rank-ordered weekly sessions — climb or fall based on match results
How it works
- Players are ranked 1 (top) to N. Each session, adjacent-ranked players compete.
- Typical pairing: positions 1+4 vs 2+3 per court (rank-balanced doubles).
- After all matches, standings update: winners move up, losers move down.
- Sessions can be chained — carry the standings from last week's event.
- Run weekly across many sessions to build a true season ranking.
Cadence
Weekly or fortnightly sessions work best. Each is a separate event linked by standings.
Promotion
The app auto-updates rankings after every completed match round.
New players
Players with no history are added at the bottom of the ladder.
Organiser tip: When creating session 2+, select “Carry standings from” the previous session so rankings persist automatically. The “Session #” field is just a label to help players track which week they're on.
League
League
Season play
8–32 players
Points-based season — cumulative standings across multiple sessions
How it works
- A league runs as a season of weekly or fortnightly sessions.
- Each session uses Swiss-style pairing: players with similar records are matched.
- Points accumulate across all sessions — Win = 2pts (default), Loss = 0pts.
- Season winner = highest point total at the final session.
- Unlike Ladder, all players can beat anyone — no fixed rung to climb.
Points
Win = 2 pts, Loss = 0 pts by default. Customise per session if needed.
Carry standings
Link each new session to the previous one to accumulate season points.
Pairing method
Swiss: similar-ranked players meet each round for balanced competition.
Typical season
6–12 sessions over 6–12 weeks works well for most clubs.
Ladder vs League — when to use which?
Organiser tip: Run a prize night at the final session of the season. Post the standings table publicly so players track their progress — it keeps engagement high across the whole season.
Single Elimination
Single Elimination
Knock-out
Coming soon
8, 16, 32 players
Lose once and you're out — the definitive tournament format
How it works
- Players are seeded by DUPR rating (highest seed = strongest player).
- Bracket is generated: seed 1 vs 8, seed 2 vs 7, etc. (8-player example).
- Losers are immediately eliminated. Winners advance to the next round.
- Rounds: Quarterfinals → Semifinals → Final. The last player standing wins.
- Works best with power-of-2 player counts (8, 16, 32). Byes handle odd counts.
Bracket display
Full bracket view with live result updates. Players can see their path to the final.
Seeding
Automatic DUPR-based seeding or manual seed ordering by the organiser.
Best for
One-day tournaments, club championships, end-of-season finals.
Coming soon: Full bracket management is in development. You can create Elimination events now and we'll release the bracket view in a future update. Create an event to reserve your spot.
Scoring Reference
Pickleball Scoring
Official rules summary — set this when creating your event
The basics: Pickleball uses rally scoring in most modern play — every rally scores a point regardless of who served. Games are played to the target score, but you must win by 2. If it's tied at 10–10 (in an 11-point game), play continues until one player leads by 2.
Traditional side-out scoring (older rules): only the serving team can score. The server calls the score as server score – receiver score – server number (doubles). PicklePlus supports and logs both play styles.