The mixer that remembers every game.

Feature Details

No Account Required

Free and anonymous usage of all core mixer features. No need to do anything except start entering your players' names. Your session is saved locally in your browser.

Offline Mixing — Works Without Internet

PickleMixer ships a full offline mixing engine that runs entirely in your browser. Once installed, you generate the same high-quality rotation with no internet connection at all — perfect for outdoor courts with weak signal, gyms with unreliable Wi-Fi, or anywhere reception drops mid-session.

The offline engine is fast: most mixes return in milliseconds, even on a typical phone. Mixing quality is almost the same as the online mixer — the same pre-calculated rotation patterns for popular player counts (5 to 36 players) and the same direct-search algorithm everywhere else. The online version still has a slight edge for fine-tuning via genetic optimization, but the gap is small and rarely visible round to round.

What works offline: fresh partners and opponents deeper into the session, sitting in turn, never-sit players, linked partners (fixed pairs), drag-and-drop player swaps, fixed-partner round-robin patterns (up to 17 teams / 34 players), and the same streak-aware consecutive-play / consecutive-sit-out handling used online.

How to use: Open Games Settings and tap Download Offline Mixer while you're online. The package (under 200 KB) is cached in your browser. Then flip the Offline Mode toggle to mix locally. The toggle persists across page loads, so you can prep the device at home and arrive at the courts ready to go even if you lose signal. Updates download automatically the next time you're online.

What's not available offline: account features (cloud sessions, score entry, headless mode, big-screen mode), frozen courts, court pinning, bad-court rotation, mixed-doubles gender balancing, and squad-vs-squad mode all need the server. The advanced weight sliders for these features are hidden in offline mode. When you go back online, your settings are preserved.

Advanced Mixing Algorithm

The mixer tracks every prior pairing across the session and prefers combinations it hasn't produced yet, so partners and opponents stay fresh round after round. Sit-outs are distributed fairly even at extreme player counts and player-to-court ratios.

Session-Based Mixer with Timeline Controls

Your mixing session is managed server-side, allowing seamless access across devices when logged in. Built-in timeline navigation lets you traverse game history and analyze past mixes directly within the interface.

Genetic Optimization

Complex genetic algorithms, advanced deterministic searches and pre-calculated solutions ensure optimal (or near optimal) rotations. This isn't just a random shuffle of the deck.

Pre-Calculated Patterns

Pre-solved mixes are served automatically if available. For maximum optimality and speed, many popular combinations (9 to 24 players) have optimal patterns precalculated. Pre-solved round-robin sequences for fixed partner formats are also available.

Up to 150 Players

Enter up to 150 players in each session — the mixer scales the courts and sit-out rotation to match.

Bad Court Distribution

Sometimes there's one bad court that players hate. Use the "bad court" setting to fairly distribute this court to all players.

Freeze Court for Next Remix

Keep a court's players unchanged during the next remix. Useful when a game is still in progress or players want to continue their current matchup.

How to use: In the game view, tap the snowflake icon (❄) on any court to freeze it. Frozen courts display a blue highlight. When you remix, those players stay on their court while others are shuffled. Tap the snowflake again to unfreeze.

Pin Players to Courts

Designate specific players to always play on a certain court when they are mixed. Perfect for accessibility needs, accommodating players with limited mobility, or if the organizer needs to be near the computer or device.

How to use: In the court assignments view, tap the three-dot menu next to a player's name and choose "📌 Pin to Court...". Select the court number. The player will receive a pin icon next to their name and will always be assigned to that court whenever they play. To remove it, use the menu again and select "Remove Pin".

Rename Courts

Customize court names to match your venue's layout. Instead of generic "Court 1, Court 2" labels, use meaningful names like "North Court" or "Gym A" for easier player navigation.

How to use: Tap on the three-dot menu button beside the court name in the game view to edit it. Your custom names persist throughout the session and appear on printouts.

Mixed Doubles Mode

Set player genders in the roster and pick a gender-aware preset. Each round can combine mixed-doubles courts (one man and one woman per team), men's-only courts, and women's-only courts in whatever mix fits the players — and the exact combination varies round to round as the algorithm balances gender constraints against partner and opponent freshness. On truly lopsided ratios one court may end up with an unavoidable three-and-one split, but freshness is still optimized on every court including that one.

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Fixed Partners System

Link two players to be fixed partners. Handles odd numbers of players and any mix of fixed teams with individual players. Use the link feature in the player roster to assign fixed partners.

For rating-based mixing, see the Rating System section below to create balanced matchups based on player skill levels.

Never-sit players

Some players need guaranteed court time — coaches, paid lessons, the host running the evening. Mark them with the star icon and they're protected from sitting out while everyone else rotates through fairly.

Quick Presets

No need to use complex weight settings — just choose a pre-made preset from the Quick Presets menu in Games Settings.

Player Swapping

If someone doesn't play where directed, you can let the system know by performing a swap. This way the mixer can continue to deliver fresh opponents and partners to everyone.

How to use: Either drag and drop by clicking and holding the three-dot menu icon beside the player, OR tap the three-dot menu for the player and choose 'Swap with...', then click another player's three-dot menu to complete the swap.

Shoo-in Players

Add late-arriving players to the current game when they show up after courts have already been called. Perfect for when you forgot to enter someone's name or a player arrives just too late to play in the current game. For example, three players are sitting out when the game is called and everyone else heads to their courts. Then two more players arrive just as play is starting — now five players are free. Shoo-in can open an available court for them, randomly choosing four of those five to play and leaving one in the sit-out area.

How to use: Add the player to your roster, then use the shoo-in feature to place them directly onto an available court or into the sit-out area for the current game without needing to remix.

Start Next Round While Some Courts Are Still Playing

Start a new round with players who have finished their games while others are still playing. Ideal when waiting for all courts to complete would take too long — you can enter scores for incomplete games later after the next round begins.

How to use: Enter scores and submit normally for the games that are finished. Click "Split Session" to remix the next game using only the players that have completed their game and entered their score. The incomplete games can be entered any time they finish by clicking the enter scores button on the next round.

Headless Mode — Walk Away and Let the Server Run the Session

Hand the session to the server and step away. In Headless Mode the server auto-finalizes each round as soon as all scores come in, auto-mixes the next round using the same algorithm as the manual mixer, and publishes the new court assignments to players — for as many rounds as you choose. Players keep entering their scores from their own phones; you don't need to be watching the screen (or even be in the building).

How to use: Open Enter Scores on the mixer page, click Enable Headless in the footer, and pick how many rounds the server should run. A banner replaces the button while headless is active, showing games remaining plus Pause and Take Control controls. Pause freezes auto-advance while keeping the countdown; Take Control cancels headless entirely and returns the session to normal manual mode. When the countdown hits zero the banner disappears and you're back to manual by default.

You can also enable Headless Mode before the first game is mixed: once you have at least 4 active players, the Enter Scores button is available and the modal offers a "no game mixed yet" state with the Enable Headless option. The server will handle round 1 from scratch.

If you used Split Session before enabling headless, the server waits for all courts — including carry-overs from the previous game — to finish before consolidating everyone into the next round. This means a split session cleanly re-merges once every game is scored. Split Session is hidden while headless is active; press Take Control first if you need to split mid-run.

Public Ratings Page

Share your group's player ratings with a public leaderboard page. Perfect for clubs and leagues who want members to track their standings without needing to log in.

How to use: Enable public ratings in your group settings. Share the generated public URL with your players. The page displays current ratings, recent games, and player statistics — updated automatically as you record scores.

Team Entity Rating Mode

Track ratings for fixed partnerships as a single team entity rather than individual players. Ideal for leagues or groups where partners always play together and want their combined performance rated as a unit.

How to use: Enable team rating mode in your group's rating settings. When players are linked as fixed partners, their games contribute to a shared team rating instead of separate individual ratings. Team ratings appear on the leaderboard alongside individual players.

Squad-vs-Squad Mixing

Organize players into squads — named subgroups that the mixer treats as rival teams. When squads are active, the algorithm strongly avoids placing squad-mates on opposing sides of the net and encourages same-squad partnerships. This creates a natural squad-versus-squad dynamic where your group's internal teams compete against each other every game.

How to use: Create subgroups in the Dashboard and mark them as squads. Assign players to their squad, then start a mixer session as usual. The mixing engine automatically detects squad assignments and applies the squad-vs-squad scoring — no special preset or weight adjustment needed.

Big Screen Mode

Use the "Show All Courts" feature (📺) to display all players and their current courts on one screen without needing to scroll — perfect for a TV or projector.

Timer, Buzzer & Auto-Mix

Set a countdown timer for game duration directly in Big Screen Mode. When time is up, a loud buzzer sounds to signal the end of the round. Enable auto-mixing and the system will automatically generate the next round of matches when the timer expires — completely hands-free court rotation. The timer auto-stops after 180 minutes of continuous use to prevent unattended looping.

Advanced Printing

Customize your printouts with adjustable spacing, fonts, and column layouts to fit everything on one page. Use color markers for easy visual identification of teams or player names.

Dashboard Features

Save Players to Groups

Save player names so you don't need to type them in each time. Have multiple groups of players saved for different playing locations or events. Sign up to access the dashboard.

⚙ Rating System

Give your players ratings via seed ratings or let ratings be adjusted by entering game scores. Weight can be given so the mixer prefers to make partners and/or opponents roughly equally rated.

This uses an ELO system with a default rating of 1500. Ratings are calculated per group and reflect the relative strengths of players within each group.

Enter Scores

Record game scores to automatically calculate and update player ratings using the ELO system. Scores can be entered for any completed game, and ratings will adjust based on the outcome and margin of victory.

Rating System

The following settings are used for groups. Most can be customized per group:

Cloud Session Sync

Logged-in users can sync their mixer sessions to the cloud, allowing access from any device. Sessions are associated with your account and can be managed from the dashboard.

Scheduler — Event & League Management

The Scheduler is a PickleFriend.net organizer tool — back by popular demand from the classic site. Create and manage pickleball events and recurring leagues for your group. Set up single events or recurring schedules that repeat on selected days over a date range.

Players do not need an account to participate. Invited players receive an email with a personal link to view event details, RSVP, and interact with the event — no signup or login required.

For each event, configure the date and time, location (with Google Maps autocomplete), number of courts, maximum player capacity, session duration, and optional descriptions. Events support three waitlist types: Standard (first come, first served), Lottery (random selection after a grace period), and Rating-based (highest rated players get priority).

Auto-Invite lets you automatically send email invitations to your entire group or specific subgroups a configurable number of days before each event. You can also invite players manually after creating the event. Players receive email notifications and can RSVP directly from their inbox.

Additional features include fixed partner configurations per event (players can use a mutual selector to pick each other — no awkward one-at-a-time asking), booking jobs where players can volunteer for setup tasks, notices posted by the organizer, chat for event communication, and After-Game Social (AGS) announcements.

How to use: Go to the Scheduler page in your dashboard sidebar. Click "Create Event / League" to set up a new event. Use "Upload CSV" to bulk-create events from a spreadsheet. Manage each event's RSVPs and player statuses from the event detail page.

Scheduler Field Reference

Some scheduler fields have nuanced behavior worth understanding:

Attending Events Mode — Personal Event Schedule

Attending Events Mode is a unified schedule view for logged-in players, showing all upcoming events across every group and organizer. If you've been invited to events by multiple organizers, they all appear in one place. Players who don't have an account can still RSVP and interact with events directly from their email invitation link.

Switch between list view (events grouped by date with proximity indicators) and calendar view (month grid with event dots). Pre-invite events — events your subgroup will be auto-invited to but haven't been invited to yet — appear as ghosted entries so you can plan ahead.

Click any event to open the player schedule page, where you can RSVP (I'm In, Undecided, I'm Out), join the waitlist if the event is full, volunteer for booking jobs, select a fixed partner, view organizer notices, add the event to your calendar, and chat with other players.

How to access: You will only see the Attend button in the dashboard header if you have been invited to an actual event, either by yourself or by a third party.

"All Players" Mode

The Players Dashboard now supports an All Players view where you can see, filter, and edit players across multiple groups at once. This is designed for power users who manage several groups and want a unified roster management experience.

Sort by group (flat row view) to see all players listed under their group, or sort by name (tree view) to see players alphabetically with their group memberships nested underneath. Use the search filter to quickly find any player across your entire roster.

How to access: Enter this mode by changing the filter drop down to "All Players". If you only manage one group, the default view still just shows that group's players.

Running Multiple Divisions Simultaneously

Organizers managing a ladder with multiple divisions can run all of them at the same time from a single phone or tablet — no laptop required. Each division has its own independent mixer session, and the group switcher dropdown in the header lets you hop between them instantly. This is ideal for ladder nights where Div A, Div B, and Div C are all playing on separate courts at the same venue.

How to use:

1. Select the first division from the group dropdown.
2. Launch the mixer session, mix the first game, and click the enter scores button to publish it.
3. Use the group dropdown to switch to the next division.
4. Launch its session, mix the first game, and publish.
5. Repeat for each remaining division.
6. As games finish, use the group dropdown to switch back to any division and mix its next game. Each division's session advances independently at its own pace.

Ladder Leagues

Ladder Leagues let organizers run structured, multi-division competitive leagues with automatic promotion and relegation. Players or teams compete within their division, and at the end of each cycle the top performers move up while the bottom move down — keeping every division competitive and giving everyone something to play for.

Tiered Divisions

Create as many divisions as you need — Div A, Div B, Div C, and so on. Each division maintains its own standings, ratings, and game history. Players are ranked within their division using the same Elo rating system available in standard groups.

Individual & Team Modes

Ladder Leagues support both individual and team entity modes. In individual mode, each player carries their own rating and moves between divisions independently. In team mode, fixed partnerships are rated as a unit — the team's combined performance determines their standing and movement.

Promotion & Relegation

At the end of each cycle, the organizer triggers promotion and relegation. The top players or teams in a lower division are promoted up, while the bottom of the higher division are relegated down. The number of movers per cycle is configurable. Start ratings in the new division are calculated from the existing field so movers land at a competitive position — not too high, not too low.

Inactivity Decay

Inactive players or teams gradually lose visible standing over time, preventing stale names from occupying top positions. The hidden rating is never lost — when a player returns and plays a game, their full rating is instantly restored. If a player stays inactive long enough, they can be automatically relegated to a lower division to keep standings competitive.

Cross-Division Spares

Need a substitute for tonight's Div A event? Invite a spare from Div B. Sparing down (a Div A player in a Div B game) leaves the spare's home-division standing untouched — they just get a temporary rating in the lower division for that game. Sparing up (a Div B player in a Div A game) auto-promotes the player on their first game in the higher division — their home-division row is deactivated (rating preserved on it, frozen) and they become officially part of the higher division from then on. Organizers control which directions spares can be pulled from and which events auto-invite from which divisions.

Public Standings

Share a public link and let your players check standings for every division in one place. The public ratings page shows each division's leaderboard with promotion and relegation indicators, recent games, and historical cycle movements — no login required.

Running Divisions at the Same Time

When all your divisions play on the same night, one organizer with a phone can manage them all. Use the group switcher dropdown to hop between divisions, launching and advancing each division's mixer session independently. See the full walkthrough in the Dashboard Features section.

How to use: Set up a ladder from the Dashboard by creating a group and enabling ladder mode. Add divisions, configure the number of promotion/relegation slots and cycle settings, then add players to their starting divisions. Use the Scheduler to organize events within your ladder, and process cycles from the Ladder management page when the time is right.

Ladder Leagues — How It Works →
Detailed guide covering ratings, promotion & relegation, inactivity decay, spares, team partnerships, and common player questions.

Player Indicators

Badges shown beside player names when applicable:

⚙ Custom Weights

Presets cover most groups, but every knob is yours when you want it. The Mixer exposes priority weights for sit-out fairness, fresh partners and opponents, rating balance, gender rules, court rotation, and a quality-vs-speed dial — turn any of them up to tell the engine "try harder at this," and it rebuilds the next round around your priorities.

Each setting has a sensible default, and a * indicator shows you the moment you've changed one. You'll rarely set them one at a time — pick a preset, then fine-tune from there.

Full settings reference → — every weight explained, with its default and when to reach for it.

Need Help?

Feature requests, bug reports, community feedback, and all other support: /r/PickleFriendMixer