# Paddle Rack

> Paddle Rack is a pickleball open play organizer app for iPhone and Android. It runs open play rotations (the "paddle rack" queue), round robins (rotating-partner mixer and fixed partners), Americano, Mexicano, king of the court and ladders from one phone. It works offline, needs no account, shows no ads, and costs nothing for 1 court and up to 8 players; Paddle Rack Club (unlimited courts and players, ladders, history, stats, PDF/CSV) is a one-time $14.99 or $9.99/year with a 7-day free trial.

Key facts:
- Fairness rule, in priority order: (1) games played differ by at most one across present players (sit-outs spread evenly); (2) minimise repeat partners; (3) minimise repeat opponents; (4) optional skill balancing or skill bands.
- Late arrivals join with a fair starting games count; early leavers drop without breaking the rotation.
- Deterministic: same players, settings and seed produce the same schedule.
- Each session can produce a fairness report, e.g. "Everyone played 6 or 7 games · 0 repeat partners".
- Made by Elco Dev. Support: https://www.elcodev.com/apps/paddlerack/support. Privacy: https://www.elcodev.com/apps/paddlerack/privacy.

## Tools
- [Free round robin generator](https://www.elcodev.com/apps/paddlerack/generator): printable schedules for open play, mixer, fixed partners, Americano, Mexicano, king of the court.
- [Round robin schedules by players and courts](https://www.elcodev.com/apps/paddlerack/round-robin): 4–24 players, 1–6 courts, e.g. [10 players on 2 courts](https://www.elcodev.com/apps/paddlerack/round-robin/10-players-2-courts).

## Guides
- [Americano vs Mexicano: Which Format Should Your Group Play?](https://www.elcodev.com/apps/paddlerack/guides/americano-vs-mexicano): Americano is a doubles format where partners rotate on a schedule fixed in advance and every player collects individual points, while Mexicano builds each round's pairings from the current standings so players of similar form meet each other.
- [How to Run a Pickleball Ladder](https://www.elcodev.com/apps/paddlerack/guides/how-to-run-a-pickleball-ladder): A pickleball ladder is an ongoing competition where players are ranked and move up or down the rankings from session to session based on their results, so each week you play people near your current level.
- [How to Run Pickleball Open Play (Without the Chaos)](https://www.elcodev.com/apps/paddlerack/guides/how-to-run-pickleball-open-play): Pickleball open play is a drop-in session where players check in, get rotated onto courts in doubles games of four, and play with and against different people each game instead of booking a fixed foursome.
- [King of the Court Pickleball Rules (and Queen of the Court)](https://www.elcodev.com/apps/paddlerack/guides/king-of-the-court-pickleball-rules): King of the court is a pickleball format where courts are ranked from top to bottom, winners move up a court and losers move down after each game, and players usually split from their partner every game so they climb individually.
- [Paddle Stacking Rules: How the Paddle Rack Works (and Fairer Alternatives)](https://www.elcodev.com/apps/paddlerack/guides/paddle-stacking-rules): Paddle stacking is a pickleball queuing system where waiting players place their paddles in a rack or line, and the next four paddles in order go onto the next open court.
- [How Many Pickleball Games Per Hour? Court Time Math for Organizers](https://www.elcodev.com/apps/paddlerack/guides/pickleball-games-per-hour): A recreational doubles pickleball game to 11 typically takes 12 to 18 minutes, so one court fits about 3 to 4 games per hour, and each player's share of games equals courts times 4 times rounds, divided by the number of players.
- [The Pickleball Organizer's Checklist (Printable)](https://www.elcodev.com/apps/paddlerack/guides/pickleball-organizer-checklist): A pickleball organizer's checklist is a printable list of everything to prepare and do before, during and after an open play or round robin session, from booking courts and bringing balls to posting results in the group chat.
- [Pickleball Round Robin Formats Explained](https://www.elcodev.com/apps/paddlerack/guides/pickleball-round-robin-formats): A pickleball round robin is a format where every player or team plays a planned series of games against many different opponents, either rotating partners each round (a mixer) or keeping one partner throughout (a team round robin).
- [How Paddle Rack's Rotation Algorithm Works](https://www.elcodev.com/apps/paddlerack/rotation-algorithm): Paddle Rack's rotation algorithm chooses who plays next by a fixed priority order: first put whoever has played the fewest games on next (in testing, 98% of everyone-off open-play sessions end with every player within one game, and none more than two apart), while never leaving a court empty, then minimize repeat partners, then minimize repeat opponents, then optionally balance skill, and it produces the same schedule every time for the same inputs.
- [Skill-Level Open Play: Running 3.0, 3.5 and 4.0 Bands](https://www.elcodev.com/apps/paddlerack/guides/skill-level-open-play): Skill-level open play splits a drop-in pickleball session into rating bands, such as 3.0 and below, 3.5, and 4.0 and up, with each band rotating on its own courts so most games are competitive for everyone.

## Optional
- [Full text of all guides](https://www.elcodev.com/apps/paddlerack/llms-full.txt)