Choosing a Nonstop mode
Which Nonstop Courts mode fits your night — Pods, Round Ahead or Court Waves — with the simulated gains and costs for venues from 3 to 8 courts.
The Start dialog looks at your night and opens on one mode, with a line that says why. It is only a suggestion. Every mode stays in the list, so you can pick another one.
| Your night | The dialog recommends |
|---|---|
| Fixed partners (linked partners, or a team group) | Round Ahead |
| Changing partners, grouped by level (a preset that balances partners by rating, such as Ladder) | Pods |
| Changing partners, social mix, 6 or more courts | Court Waves |
| Changing partners, social mix, fewer than 6 courts | Round Ahead |
Pods are not offered while Mixed Doubles is on, because a pod mixes partners every game and can't keep mixed pairs.
Social nights: rounds, Round Ahead or Court Waves?
Games per player in a 90-minute night with a social mix. Court Waves waits for its default number of free courts: half the courts, at least 2 and at most 4.
| Players, courts | Rounds | Round Ahead | Court Waves (waits for) | Court Waves: pairs who were in the same last game, per game |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 players, 3 courts | 4.8 | 4.8 | 4.8 (2) | 1.6 |
| 16 players, 4 courts | 4.6 | 4.6 | 5.3 (2) | 1.7 |
| 20 players, 4 courts | 3.7 | 3.8 | 4.2 (2) | 1.3 |
| 20 players, 5 courts | 4.4 | 4.6 | 5.3 (2) | 1.7 |
| 24 players, 5 courts | 3.7 | 3.9 | 4.4 (2) | 1.4 |
| 24 players, 6 courts | 4.3 | 4.6 | 5.0 (3) | 0.8 |
| 28 players, 7 courts | 4.2 | 4.5 | 5.1 (3) | 0.9 |
| 32 players, 8 courts | 4.1 | 4.5 | 4.9 (4) | 0.3 |
| 40 players, 8 courts | 3.3 | 3.9 | 4.0 (4) | 0.3 |
What the table shows:
- Round Ahead never costs anything. It adds up to about 17% more games than rounds, and everyone stays within one game of each other. It gains most when some players sit out each round, and almost nothing when every player is on court (12 on 3, 16 on 4).
- Court Waves adds the most games, but on fewer than 6 courts it can only do that by waiting for 2 courts. Then more than one pair in each game were together in their last game. From 6 courts it waits for 3 or 4: at 3, about one pair per game was together last time; at 4, hardly any.
- With many spare players (40 on 8 courts), Round Ahead and Court Waves play about the same number of games. Round Ahead keeps everyone within one game; Court Waves does that on about 65% of nights.
Fixed-partner nights
Games per team for 16 teams on 8 courts (details: Round Ahead, Court Waves):
| Rounds | Round Ahead (1 round) | Court Waves (wait for 4) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Games per team | 4.1 | 4.9 | 4.9 |
| Rematches per night | 0 | 0 | 1.8 |
| Average rating gap between opponents | 0.23 | 0.26 | 0.30 |
| Longest wait | 17 min | 20 min | 11 min |
Round Ahead gives fixed teams about as many extra games as Court Waves, with closer matchups and no rematches. Court Waves' only edge is a shorter longest wait.
Level nights: Pods
When players should play people of their own level, Pods keep each court at one level all night, and nobody waits for another court. The cost is variety: each player plays only the 3 or 4 other people in their pod. See the Pods page for how a pod night compares with rounds.
How we measured: 200 simulated nights per row, 90 minutes of play, games to 11 lasting about 15 minutes, 1 minute between games, players rated 3.0 to 4.55 (fixed teams 3.0 to 4.5). Our simulated mixer is simpler than the real one, so real nights usually repeat partners even less.