> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.podplay.app/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.podplay.app/pro-system/tournaments/running-an-open-play.md). # Running an Open Play ### Overview Open Plays are the most flexible format in PodPlay Tournaments. Customers come and go, matches generate on the fly, and byes are distributed fairly. PodPlay balances court time and varies partners and opponents automatically. Most Open Plays generate one round at a time so you can handle changes, and you can add a timer so every round ends at roughly the same time. For an introduction to all formats, see PodPlay Tournaments. ### Pick your Open Play format There are four formats. All support late arrivals and walk-ons. Shuffle Play, Challenge Court, and Challenge Ladder also support player freezing and the round timer. #### Shuffle Play Randomized rounds where partners and opponents change every round, so everyone gets balanced court time and maximum variety. Some Clubs call this a "mixer". Shuffle Play is the default type and the best choice for casual drop-ins. Rotating Doubles is the usual Event Type. #### Challenge Court One court is the challenge court. Winners defend it against challengers round after round. * Choose whether winners stay on always or rotate off after a set number of wins. * Each round, a winning team from the previous round is randomly selected to challenge. * Teams that have not played the challenge court, or have played it least, get priority. * Standings track challenge court wins. The team with the most wins is the overall winner. #### Challenge Ladder Every court is a rung on a ladder, set from top to bottom. Winners climb toward the top court and losers move down, so players sort themselves by level over the session. * On the top court, the winner stays. * On every other court, winners climb one rung and losers drop one. * When the top court holder loses, they either move down one court or drop to the bottom rung. You choose. * When there are more teams than court seats, the teams that have played the most sit out, and never for two rounds in a row. When they return, they re-enter at the court they were headed to, not at the bottom. #### Paddle Rack A live queue instead of rounds, like stacking paddles by the court. When a match finishes, the next players in the queue move onto the open court automatically. No admin action is needed between rounds. * **Player Stays On:** the default is "2 On / 2 Off" (winners stay, losers rotate out). Switch to "4 On / 4 Off" to rotate all four players off. With "2 On / 2 Off" you can cap the number of matches winners stay on, or have winners split. * **Allow Fixed Partners:** on Rotating Doubles, Customers click a player's name in the standings to request them as a partner. Partners travel through the queue together and are placed only when two slots open. * **Queue controls:** Customers can move themselves down the queue (never up), skip a match, or queue for a specific court by clicking the court name on a match card. {% hint style="info" %} By default, each court has its own queue. Customers pick a court when they join, and a loss removes them from the queue until they join again. An Environment can switch to the original single continuous queue under `Tenants` → `Advanced Features` → `Old Paddle Rack Style`. In that style, Customers join one line, go to whichever court opens next, and losers stay in line. Saving the option applies to Paddle Racks that are running now and to every one created afterward. {% endhint %} ### Step 1: Create the Tournament 1. Open the Tournaments tab and click `+ New Tournament`. 2. Select your location (auto-selected for single-location Clubs). 3. Choose your Event from the next 35 days of scheduled Events, including private and unlisted Events. Search by name to find it quickly. {% hint style="warning" %} Private Reservations are not included in the Event list. {% endhint %} 4. Select **Open Play** and set: * **Games in Match:** Single Game, Best of 3, or Best of 5. * **Scoring:** 11 or 15 points (win by 1 or 2), or 21 points (win by 2). * **Event Type:** Singles, Doubles, Rotating Doubles, MLP 4 Players, or MLP 3 Players. 5. Click `Create Tournament`. Courts and registered players import from the linked PodPlay Event. ### Step 2: Finalize players right before the Event {% hint style="warning" %} Wait until right before the Event to lock in players. Expect no-shows, late sign-ups, and cancellations. {% endhint %} * **Refresh:** syncs the latest lineup from PodPlay. Right before the Event, it also shows a green checkmark next to each Customer who has checked in. * **Add Walk-Ons:** adds players who never signed up in PodPlay. Matches with walk-ons cannot be submitted to DUPR. * **Get Non-Participants:** shows eligible people who are in PodPlay but not signed up for the Event. They are not added by default. They are useful as subs when the Event is at capacity. ### Step 3: Set up teams (Doubles and MLP only) Rotating Doubles needs no team setup. For Doubles, MLP 4 Players, and MLP 3 Players: * **Drag + Drop:** drag players from the Available Players box onto teams. * **Auto-Assign:** pairs players automatically. With DUPR ratings, the highest-rated player pairs with the lowest-rated (for example, A=1700, B=1600, C=1500, D=1400 gives A+D and B+C). * **Name your team:** click "Team 1", "Team 2", and so on to type a custom name. With an odd number of Doubles players, PodPlay creates a one-player team on the assumption that player gets a rotating partner. To prevent this, click the red X next to that player to return them to the available pool. Click `Submit Teams` when done. ### Step 4: Configure the Open Play setup Select the play type, then set its options: * **Min # of Matches:** generates enough rounds that each player plays at least this many matches. Set it low, because you can always generate more rounds. * **Challenge Court:** pick the challenge court. `Min # of Matches` disappears, because each round depends on the previous round's results. * **Winner Stays On:** appears with Challenge Court. Choose **Always**, or set a number of wins. * **Challenge Ladder:** arrange your courts as rungs from top to bottom and pick the top court loser rule. * **Paddle Rack:** set `Player Stays On` and `Allow Fixed Partners`. For Shuffle Play, click `Refresh` one more time to catch last-minute changes, then click `Auto Seed` to move players into the Participating Players box. Remove anyone who is not present, so PodPlay does not generate matches for them. ### Step 5: Go live and generate matches 1. Open `Tournament Settings` and turn on `Show on App / Monitors`. This makes the Tournament visible in the App and puts matchups and standings on the Court Monitors. 2. Click `Generate Matches`. ### Step 6: Run the Event Admins can always enter scores. Customers enter scores in the App when `Player Score Entry` is on, and Customers or staff can enter them on iPad kiosks. Standings and queues update live. #### Tournament Settings * **Show Tournament In App / Show on App / Monitors:** controls visibility. Keep it off while testing. * **Player Score Entry:** lets Customers submit scores from the App. Turn it off for moneyball or admin-managed Events. * **Who Can Generate Next Round:** admin only, Customers, or Automatic. * **Default Scoring:** locked once play begins. The **Open Play** tab adds: * **Round Timer:** see Timed Play below. * **Challenge Court** and **Winner Stays On:** change the challenge court or the win limit. * **Add Late Arrivals:** finds Event attendees in PodPlay who are not yet in the Open Play and adds them. * **Add Walk-On Player:** adds players who are not in PodPlay. #### Timed Play Shuffle Play, Challenge Court, and Challenge Ladder can run each round on a clock. * When the timer expires, players finish the current point and stop. * After the timer, scoring is sudden death. Any winning margin of 1 counts, so 9-8 is valid even at "11 win by 2". * If all matches finish early, the timer stops and you can start the next round. **Countdown Between Rounds.** With a Round Timer set, a `Countdown Between Rounds` field appears. After you start the round 1 timer, every round generated afterward (by an admin, Customers, or automatically) gets the countdown so everyone can find their court. Then its round timer starts on its own. **Hands-free rounds.** Set `Who Can Generate Next Round` to **Automatic** as well, then start the round 1 timer. The session runs itself: 1. When the timer expires, Shuffle Play gives Customers one minute to report scores. Anything unscored is marked DNF and can be scored later. 2. Challenge Court, Challenge Ladder, and Mexicano have no score window. They wait for the last score, because the next round is built from every result. Mexicano is a Tournament format. See Running a Tournament or League. 3. PodPlay generates the next round, runs the countdown, and starts the round timer. Staff can pause the countdown or press `Start Now`. Cancelling the timer stops the loop. PodPlay generates no new rounds after the Event's scheduled end time. #### Manage Courts * **Enable/Disable:** disabled courts get no new matches. * **Refresh Courts:** pulls in court changes made on the linked PodPlay Event. * **Ladder Order:** for Challenge Ladder, sets the court ranking from top rung to bottom. {% hint style="info" %} Court changes apply only to rounds generated after the change. Matches that already exist keep their court. {% endhint %} If you remove a court while a match is on it, PodPlay asks what to do with that match before anything changes: * **Let it finish:** the match keeps the court and PodPlay drops the court once the match is scored. * **Return it to the queue:** available only if play has not started. The match waits for the next free court. Matches that are waiting on a removed court go back to the queue automatically. Completed matches keep the name of the court they were played on. ### Mid-event changes * **Late arrivals and walk-ons:** add them any time from the Open Play tab of Tournament Settings. * **A Customer takes a break:** Customers freeze and unfreeze themselves by clicking their name in the standings. Frozen players are skipped when rounds generate. * **Swapping players:** admins can change who is on an unplayed match by clicking a player on the match card. In Paddle Rack, you can swap in the next player from the queue. * **Losing a court:** disable it in Manage Courts. Future rounds skip it. ### Finishing up Final standings are on the Tournament page as soon as the last score lands. On Basic or Basic+ with the Tournament feature, open the `DUPR` tab in Tournament Settings after all matches are complete to submit them. Pro tier Clubs submit from the iPad kiosks. All four players in a match must be connected to DUPR, and matches with walk-ons are never eligible. ### Tips * **Test before going live.** Keep `Show Tournament In App` off until the format and matchups look right. * **Start with a low Min # of Matches.** You can always generate more rounds. * **Use Timed Play for tight schedules.** A per-round timer keeps Events with a hard end time on track. * **Ask Customers to sign up in PodPlay.** Walk-ons make a match ineligible for DUPR. * **Match the format to the field.** Challenge Court works best with players of similar skill. For mixed fields, Shuffle Play or Paddle Rack keeps more Customers happy. ### FAQs
Why didn't a match generate for a Customer? The Customer is probably frozen. Frozen players are skipped when rounds generate. They unfreeze by clicking their name in the standings.
Customers signed up after I created the Open Play. Where are they? Click `Refresh` on the setup screen. Once the Open Play is running, use `Add Late Arrivals` on the Open Play tab of Tournament Settings.
The round timer went off mid-game. What is a valid score? Players finish the current point, and any winning margin of 1 counts. A score of 9-8 is valid even at "11 win by 2".
I disabled a court but matches are still on it. Court changes apply only to rounds generated after the change. Reassign existing matches manually, or choose what to do with them when PodPlay prompts you.
### Related articles * PodPlay Tournaments * Running a Tournament or League --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the following URL with the `ask` and `goal` query parameters: ``` GET https://docs.podplay.app/pro-system/tournaments/running-an-open-play.md?ask=&goal= ``` `ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. `goal` is what the user is ultimately trying to achieve, the reason they need the answer. Sharing it helps GitBook give you a better, more relevant answer. A goal is most helpful when it describes the outcome the user wants rather than restating the question. For example, with `ask=how do I create an API token`, a goal like `automate deployments from our CI pipeline` lets GitBook tailor the answer to that use case. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.