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How to run an Americano: rotating partners for padel, pickleball and badminton nights

An Americano is a social doubles format where everyone plays with and against as many different people as possible. Nobody needs a fixed partner, so it suits club nights, open mornings and mixed-level groups. Each round you get a new partner, and your own points count towards your own total.

Open the free rotation builder (the Americano card on the page: enter players, courts and rounds)

A worked example: 8 players, 2 courts, 7 rounds

Eight invented players on two courts play 7 rounds. Everyone plays every round, so there are no sit-outs. Every player partners each of the other seven players exactly once, and nobody plays the same partner twice.

The plan is built by a seeded search and then checked by a separate validator: nobody is on two courts in a round, and the counts of games and sit-outs are within one of even. The same seed gives the same plan, so you can rebuild it on another device.

Build your own rotation

Questions

How many rounds does an Americano have?

With 8 players and 2 courts, 7 rounds lets every player partner every other player exactly once. In general, with n players the full cycle is n - 1 rounds when n is a multiple of 4; shorter nights simply stop earlier, and the tool lets you pick any number of rounds.

What if the number of players is not a multiple of 4?

Each court needs 4 players, so the extras sit out. The tool shares sit-outs so nobody sits out more than one round more than anyone else, and it shares games the same way.

How do you score an Americano?

Each player keeps the points their side scored in every game, and the night's winner is the player with the most points. Games are usually played to a fixed score such as 21 or 24, or for a fixed time. This tool builds the rotation; it does not keep score or rate anyone.

What is the difference between Americano and Mexicano?

In an Americano the pairings are fixed in advance so everyone partners as many different people as possible. In a Mexicano, each round after the first is drawn from the standings, so players of similar level meet. The tool has both: Build rotation for Americano and Draw next round for Mexicano.

Related: how to make a round-robin schedule for team leagues, and how a Swiss tournament works.