About PickleMixer

The mixer that remembers every game.

PickleMixer is built to keep players on fresh partners and opponents deeper into the session than typical random or basic rotation tools. A complete feature reference (algorithm, ratings, schedules, ladder leagues, and every quality-of-life tool) for organizers who want the long version.

2023Mixing since
150Max players
< 250 KBCached for offline
Freeto mix, 4–150 players
// What it is

It remembers the whole session.

Most "mixers" shuffle a deck every round. PickleMixer tracks pairings across the whole session and avoids repeats until they become mathematically unavoidable, keeps sit-outs even, and treats a fresh partner and a fresh opponent as one job.

// In this page

Algorithm, ratings, schedules, ladder leagues, dashboard, & every quality-of-life tool.

// 01 Algorithm

What each round is picked for.

what it keeps fresh

Every round, PickleMixer checks the current roster against a memory of every pairing it has produced so far in the session, and picks the round that keeps partners, opponents, sit-outs and court numbers as fresh as the roster allows, inside any rating or gender rules you have turned on.

Most groups get their round back in milliseconds, and it keeps working offline in your browser, so a dead Wi-Fi signal doesn't stop the night.

01

Remembers every game

Each round is picked against everything the session has already played: who partnered, who faced whom, and who sat.

02

Fair before fresh

Sit-outs are spread evenly first; then partners and opponents are kept as fresh as the roster allows.

03

Fast, online or off

A round for a typical group comes back in milliseconds, and the mixer keeps working in your browser when the signal drops.

// 02 Core features

What you get without an account.

06 core
Partners

Fixed partners

Link couples or training pairs and they play as a team while opponents rotate fresh.

Learn more →
Gender

Mixed doubles

Tag gender on each player and the engine balances men and women across courts every round.

Learn more →
Ratings

Rating-balanced mixing

Seed ratings manually or auto-track Elo through recorded scores (Pro). Every team comes out balanced.

Learn more →
Courts

Bad-court rotation

Got one court nobody wants? The mixer fairly distributes it across the entire session.

Learn more →
No sits

Never-sit players

Mark players who need guaranteed court time (e.g. coaches or hosts). They keep playing while everyone else rotates through the bench.

Learn more →
Teams

Squads & teams

Organize players into rival squads: same side every round, opponents rotate.

Learn more →
// 03 Power

More tools for bigger nights.

11 features
Swaps

Drag & drop swaps

Pick up a player and drop them on another court. Roster updates, next round respects the change.

Learn more →
Display

Big Screen mode

TV / projector view with built-in countdown timer, buzzer, and auto-mixing. Or cast up to eight live sessions to one shared TV with a link.

Learn more →
No waiting

Nonstop Courts

The next games start as courts become free. Pods, Round Ahead or Court Waves; the server calls players on their phones and the TV. Lite and up.

Learn more →
Over weeks

Box League

Boxes of four or five by rating, each on a night of its own, week after week. One score sheet per box, confirmed by a box-mate; the boxes re-form by rating each round. Pro and up.

Learn more →
Print

Advanced printing

Colored teams, adjustable font sizes and columns, so any schedule fits on one or two pages.

Learn more →
Events

Event scheduler

Schedule events, manage invites, players RSVP. Lottery and take-turns waitlists, staggered auto-invites.

Learn more →
League

Ladder leagues

Multi-division competitive leagues. Elo, decay, promotion & relegation each cycle.

Learn more →
Offline

Works offline

Full mixing engine runs in your browser, cached in one small download. No internet needed at the courts.

Learn more →
Pin

Pin to court

Lock a player or team to a specific court while the rest of the rotation moves around them.

Learn more →
Custom

Rename courts

Renumber every court in one click: ×2 for all even courts, ×N for any multiplier, +N to shift the whole range.

Learn more →
Scores

Score tracking

Players self-report scores from their phones (Pro). Ratings update live; Headless mode can mix the next round itself.

Learn more →
// 04 Feature index

Every feature, linked.

jump menu

Core mixer

Dashboard (account required)

// Getting started

Getting started is quick.

Open the mixer, type each player's name into the input field (pressing Enter or clicking Add after each one), set the number of courts, and press Mix. When the game ends, press Mix Next for the next round.

Hint: Only use REmix if the shown game was not actually played — it regenerates the current game with any changes you've made.

Go to PickleMixer →

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 a rotation with no internet connection at all. Built for outdoor courts with weak signal and gyms with unreliable Wi-Fi.

The offline engine returns most mixes in milliseconds, even on a typical phone, and keeps partners and opponents fresh. Some account features need a connection (see below).

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 schedules (up to 17 teams / 34 players offline; up to 64 teams / 128 players online), and fair handling of play and sit-out streaks.

How to use: Open Games Settings and tap Download Offline Mixing Package while you're online. The package (about 100 KB) is cached in your browser. Then tick Mix Offline to mix locally. The setting 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.

Not available offline: account features such as cloud sessions, score entry and headless mode need a connection. When you go back online, your settings are preserved.

How the Mixing Algorithm Works

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 saved as you go, so a refresh or a closed tab loses nothing; on Lite and up it is also backed up to the cloud, so you can pick up where you left off on another device. Built-in timeline navigation lets you step back through past games in the session.

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. Useful for players with limited mobility, or when 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. The exact combination varies round to round. On lopsided ratios one court may end up with an unavoidable three-and-one split, but partners and opponents stay as fresh as possible on every court including that one.

Watch: How to run a mixed doubles league ▶

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

You don't need the weight settings. Choose a 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. 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. Useful when waiting for every court would take too long; scores for the unfinished games can be entered 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: 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. For clubs and leagues whose members want to check standings without logging 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, squad-mates stay on the same side of the net and the squads face each other.

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. Squads are picked up from the roster, with 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 scrolling, sized for a TV or projector.

QR Self Check-In

Turn on Player self-service and the big screen shows a "Scan to check in" QR code. Players point their phone camera at it, tap their name (or add it if they're not listed), and they're checked in, with nothing to install and no player account. After that their phone shows their court every round, and they can request a sit-out or mark themselves as leaving; every request folds into the next mix automatically.

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 next round of matches is generated when the timer expires, so the rotation runs without you. Signed in with a group, the clock starts on the group's round length (game time plus any walk-on time), so every organizer runs the same round. Add a water break between games and choose whether the next lineup appears when the break starts or when it ends; pick the buzzer sound and how long it blasts, with a short Next game ring when a new lineup lands on the screen. On Lite and up, with the session on a TV, the server runs the clock instead of your phone, so the phone can sleep. The timer auto-stops after 180 minutes of continuous use to prevent unattended looping.

Cast to a Shared TV

Big Screen Mode runs on the device you're mixing from. For a venue TV you'd rather not sign in on, create a board link instead: open Sessions, tap 📺 Board link on your active session, and open the short code, link, or QR code in the TV's browser. The TV mirrors every mix, swap, and shoo-in you make on your phone, auto-mix countdown included (tap Sound on the TV once and it rings the buzzer too). Nothing is signed in on the TV, and the link expires on its own after 24 hours or the moment you revoke it. Every player in the session must be saved to your group for the board to show them — saving players is free (19 per group on the free plan, 100 on Lite).

One club, one big TV, several leagues at once: a single board link carries up to eight live sessions side by side, each with its own courts and countdown. Beginner league on the left, ladder night on the right, nothing signed in at the TV.

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:

Default Rating:
The starting rating for all new players. A standard Elo default is 1500. All ratings are relative within each group, so the actual number matters less than the differences between players. You could use traditional pickleball ratings (3.5, 4.0, etc.) but make sure to set the scale appropriately.

Base K-Factor:
Controls how much ratings change after each game. Higher values (e.g., 80) mean ratings adjust quickly, which is good for new or rapidly improving groups. Lower values (e.g., 32) make ratings more stable but change slower. This value is automatically adjusted internally: it's doubled for doubles games (to account for ratings changes shared between partners). It means the same thing under either rating method.

Scale:
In the Elo formula, "scale" is the constant that determines how many rating points correspond to a specific win probability difference between players. It controls the steepness of the win-probability curve.


For example, with the standard 400-point scale, if a 1500-rated player faces a 1300-rated player (200 points difference), the formula predicts the higher-rated player will win approximately 75% of the time; if you instead used a 200-point scale, that same 200-point gap would predict ~91% win probability, making the system more "stretched" where small rating differences indicate larger skill gaps.


If you already have set some ratings in place before you started you can calibrate this setting until the expected scores look right. Otherwise you could just leave it at its default.

Player Placement Games:
New players go through a placement period where their rating changes are amplified (2× normal). This helps new players reach their true skill level faster. After completing this many games, rating changes return to normal.


Note: If you are importing players from the legacy system where they already had established ratings, or if you are confident in the seed ratings you entered, you can set this to 0.

Pool Placement Games:
When a group is new, ALL player ratings are more volatile (2× changes). This helps the entire group establish accurate relative ratings quickly. After this many total games are played in the group, volatility returns to normal.


Note: If you are importing players from the legacy system where they already had established ratings, or if you are confident in the seed ratings you entered, you can set this to 0.

Highest Player Responsibility:
In doubles, this determines how much the higher-rated player affects the team rating calculation. At 50%, both partners contribute equally. At lower values (e.g., 35%), the team rating weights more toward the lower-rated player, partially protecting stronger players from rating loss when paired with less skilled partners. Example: If the highest rated players run around taking all the balls in your league, you may want to set this to around 50–70%. If in your league, the lowest rated players end up receiving most of the balls, you should set this around 30–40%.

Rating Method:
How one game moves the ratings.


Point margin (default): Ratings move by how the score compares with what was expected. A favorite who only just wins did worse than expected and can lose a little; an underdog who loses narrowly can gain a little.


Win/loss: Winners always go up and losers always go down. The margin decides by how much: an expected win moves ratings a little, an upset a lot, and winning by more than a typical win moves them more than a narrow one.


Win/loss feels fairer to some players, but it uses less of each score, so ratings wobble more from game to game and, in regular (side-out) scoring, take longer to settle. On real games the two predict results about equally well. Pick win/loss if "we won and still dropped" causes arguments. Switching affects new games; Recalculate All Ratings replays past games under the new method.

Rating Decay:
When enabled, players who haven't played in 7+ days will have their rating gradually reduced each week. This keeps the leaderboard active and prevents inactive players from holding top positions indefinitely. Ratings have a floor of 1000 and will not decay below that. The decay rate (default 2%) determines how much rating is lost per week of inactivity.

Group Timezone:
Sets the timezone used for your group's date displays and session boundaries. This affects when "today" starts/ends for session grouping and when the weekly decay calculation runs. Choose the timezone where most of your group plays.

Standings Page (Public Ratings):
When enabled, creates a shareable link where anyone can view your group's player ratings and standings. Useful for letting players check their ratings without needing an account. The link is unique to your group and can be shared via text, email, or posted at your playing venue.

Team Rating Mode:
Choose how team strength is calculated. "Individual ratings" uses a weighted average of both players' individual ratings. "Team entity ratings" tracks each unique player pair as its own rated entity based on games they've played together. Both are always calculated in the background; this setting controls which one is used for mixing and shown on leaderboards.

Typical Competitive Game Duration:
The expected duration of a competitive, close game. Used for time-based adjustments in non-rally scoring games. If a game has a short time limit, bonus points are added to simulate how the game might have finished.

Rally Scoring:
Rally scoring means a point is scored on every rally, regardless of who served. Traditional scoring only awards points to the serving team. Rally scoring games tend to have more predictable outcomes, which affects rating calculations.

Win By Two:
When enabled, a team must win by at least 2 points (e.g., 11-9 or 12-10). This affects expected score calculations for rating adjustments.

Target Score:
The score needed to win a game (e.g., 11, 15, or 21 points). This affects expected score calculations and time-based adjustments.

Cloud Session Backup

On Lite and up, your mixer sessions are backed up to the cloud, so you can pick one up on 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 chat. 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 five waitlist types: Standard (first come, first served), Lottery (random selection after a grace period), Rating-based (highest rated players get priority), Manual (the organizer picks from the waitlist), and Take Turns (players who missed out last time 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, so nobody has to ask one person at a time), 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

A few fields behave in ways you might not expect:

Courts:
You can enter plain text into the courts field — for example, "We obtained courts 1, 2 and 5", and the system reads the court numbers to get the total (3 courts in this example). Your players see the same text, so the court details travel with the event.

Waitlist Types:
The scheduler supports 5 waitlist types, each controlling how players are admitted when event spots are limited:

  • Standard (First Come, First Served): Players are admitted immediately on a first-come basis. No grace period. If the event is full, latecomers go to the waitlist.
  • Lottery (Random Selection): All RSVPs during the grace period go to the waitlist. When the grace period ends, waitlisted players are shuffled randomly and winners are placed "in." After the grace period, remaining spots fill first-come-first-served.
  • Rating (Highest First): Same as lottery, but instead of random selection, waitlisted players are sorted by rating — the highest-rated players get in first.
  • Manual (Organizer Picks): All RSVPs go to the waitlist. The organizer manually promotes players from the event manage page. When done picking, the organizer can click "Open Standard Flow" to allow remaining spots to fill first-come-first-served.
  • Take Turns: Players who didn't get in last week get priority over players who did.

Grace Period: For Lottery and Rating types, the grace period mitigates the "click race" in busy groups. As long as a player RSVPs within the grace period after invitations are sent, they are treated as an early bird — equivalent to having clicked at the very first moment. The grace period starts automatically when the first invitations are sent (manual or auto-invite).

Standard and Manual types do not use a grace period.

Disallow Direct Declarations:
Controls whether players can unilaterally declare a partner. When this setting is left unchecked (the default), a player can declare that they already have a partner — the partnership is formed instantly without confirmation from the other player, and both players are set to "In" status (or placed on the waitlist if there are no available spots).


When checked, direct declarations are disabled and the declared partner must confirm the partnership request before it takes effect. Enable this if you want to prevent players from committing others without their knowledge.

Auto Invite:
Automatically sends email invitations to your group's players a configurable number of days before each event. You can invite your entire group or target specific subgroups — and different subgroups can be invited at different intervals if you prefer staggered invitations (e.g., core players get invited 7 days out, everyone else gets invited 3 days out).


Auto Invite runs automatically via the system's scheduled tasks — once configured, you don't need to remember to send invitations for each event.

Shame Notices:
When a player drops out of an event at the last minute, the scheduler can notify the group with a shame notice so everyone knows what happened and can plan accordingly.

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 your own group or by another organizer.

"All Players" Mode

The Players page has an All Players view where you can see, filter, and edit players across all your groups at once. It's built for organizers who run several groups and want one roster to manage.

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.

Move players between groups in bulk: tick several players, open the ⋮ menu and choose Edit, then use the Group & Subgroup Memberships checkboxes — a check adds everyone selected to that group, an empty box removes them, and a grey dash leaves that membership alone. One save applies it to the whole selection.

How to access: Click All Players at the top of the dashboard sidebar, or pick "All Players" in the group dropdown above the players list. The Players link under your active group's name takes you back to that group's roster.

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. Each division has its own mixer session, and the group switcher in the header moves you between them. Built 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 leagues with several divisions and promotion and relegation. Players or teams compete within their division, and at the end of each cycle the organizer previews and applies the moves: the top performers go up, the bottom go down. That keeps every division competitive and gives 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.

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 restored. If a player stays inactive long enough, they can slide into the relegation zone and drop a division at the next cycle, but never a second decay-only drop until they play again.

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) never promotes anyone mid-session. By default the player simply stays in their home division; with the Defer option, a spare who holds their own in the higher division is ratified into it at the next cycle, and their home-division row is retired. 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:

Sit-out reason

  • S Super Sit: Sitting out in turn (highest consecutive games played).
  • V Voluntary: Manually sat out by organizer.
  • A Algorithm: Sitting out due to algorithm optimization.
  • 2x Sit-out Streak: Sat out multiple games in a row.

History warnings

  • DG Duplicate Game: Exact same game configuration played before (same partner and same two opponents).
  • nD Near Duplicate: Same game with exactly one player swapped — one full team is preserved AND one opponent stays the same.
  • T Team: Played against this exact team before (different partner).
  • P Partner: Played with this partner before.
  • O Opponent: Faced this opponent before.
  • X Crossover: Role flip — current partner was a past opponent, or a current opponent was a past partner.
  • 2xO3 Counts (optional): Turn on Show Repeat Counts in Games Settings — the number after the letter is which time this is (O3 = third time as opponents), a prefix like 2x means that many games in a row.

Status icons

  • ⭐ VIP: Protected from sitting out.
  • 🔗 Linked: Fixed partner assignment.
  • 💔 Broken Link: Linked partner is playing without them.
  • ▶ Ready: Ready to play next mix.
  • ⏸ Sitting: Will sit out next mix.
  • 🔄 Swapped: Position manually changed.

Custom Weights

Presets suit most groups. If you want more control, Games Settings has a weight for each priority: sit-out fairness, fresh partners and opponents, rating balance, gender rules, court rotation, and quality versus speed. Turn one up and the next round leans harder that way.

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.

Help and support

Feature requests, bug reports and questions: send us a message through the feedback form, or ask on r/PickleFriendMixer.

Open the mixer. Watch it work.

Type a few names, set the courts and press Mix. The first round is on the screen in milliseconds. There is no signup and no credit card.