Open play

Run pickleball open play from one phone.

PickleMixer by PickleFriend.net is a free web app for running pickleball open play: type in who showed up, set your courts, press Mix, and every court is filled for the round with the extras sitting in turn. What it adds that a paddle rack cannot is memory. It keeps players on fresh partners and fresh opponents for as long as your numbers allow, and the 7:30 walk-in or the 8:15 early leaver goes into the next round instead of forcing a restart. Free for 4 to 150 players, no signup, and once the small offline package is installed it keeps mixing when the gym Wi-Fi drops.

Open the Mixer How to organize open play

4–150Players, doubles

1Phone runs the night

$0To run open play

Free, no signupRuns in the browser. No card.

Players need nothingNo app, no account, nothing to install on their side

Works offlineOnce the small offline package is installed

On the TV tooBig Screen mode, countdown and buzzer

// 01 A night, start to finish

One open play night, start to finish.

Two hours, one phone

i.
6:50. Names in

Type the names in, one per line, or paste the whole list. With a free account the roster is saved, so next week starts loaded, and with Player self-service on (a free account on your side only), the big screen shows a QR code before the first round: players scan it and tap their own name, no app and no account on their side.
ii.
7:00. First round

Set your courts and press Mix. Every court is filled, the players sitting this round are listed, and the round is on your phone, on the TV if you have one up, or on each player’s phone if they checked in by QR.
iii.
7:30. The door opens

Add the walk-in and they play in the next round. Someone leaving? Remove them, and nobody else loses a turn. Someone needs a breather? Mark them out for a round. When the courts clear, press Mix Next.
iv.
8:55. Last round

Keep pressing Mix Next for as many rounds as the court time gives you; the partner and opponent memory runs the whole night. When the slot ends, close the tab. Nothing to post, nothing to tally.

// 02 Who plays next, and who sits

Who plays next, and who sits.

Open play’s whole argument is the bench: more players than court spots, and no agreed way to decide who waits. The mixer answers it for the whole room at once. Each round, every court is filled from everyone who is in, and the players who do not fit are listed in a Sitting Out strip at the top of the screen, so nobody has to ask. Sit-outs go round in turn: whoever sat this round plays the next one, and a late arrival goes on court at the next mix.

Who you play with is the other half. The mixer remembers every partner and every opponent from earlier rounds and avoids repeating them for as long as the numbers allow, and it counts a crossover (someone you partnered in game two coming back across the net in game five) as a repeat too. When a repeat finally becomes unavoidable for your head-count, a small badge on the court card says so, so you see it rather than hear about it afterwards.

The round is still yours. Drag any name onto any other, on a court or on the bench, and the swap is made on the spot; when you pick someone up, the players that would cost the fewest repeats are ringed in green.

PickleMixer on a phone during pickleball open play: three players sitting out this round, a walk-in already on Court 1, and play counts on every name — Mid-session on a phone: who sits this round, and a walk-in who joined a minute ago already on court.

// 03 Walk-ins, late arrivals, early leavers

Walk-ins, late arrivals, early leavers.

A printed schedule assumes the twelve people who signed up all arrive at seven and stay until nine. Open play never does that. The mixer builds each round from whoever is on court right now, so the roster can change all night without a restart, and everything already played (partners, opponents, sit-outs) is carried forward.

A walk-in. Type the name and they are in; the next round seats them. If you have already pressed Mix, Shoo-in puts them on the bench for this round so the mixer knows they exist, and if a court is free and enough players are sitting, it offers to fill that court from the bench without moving anyone who is already playing.

An early leaver. Remove them and the next round closes around the gap. Their session history goes to the trash with them, so when they come back from the car park you restore them, repeats and all.

A breather. Mark a player as sitting out and they stay on the bench until you mark them back in. With Player self-service on, players do all of this from their own phones: Sit out next round, I’m ready to play again, This is my last game. Each request shows as a notice on your roster, you can dismiss any of them, and the ones you leave alone are applied at the next mix. Nothing a player taps ever changes the round being played.

// 04 The room sees it

The room sees it.

Your phone runs the night, but the room should not have to crowd around it. Big Screen mode puts the round on a TV or projector in type that reads from across the gym: every court and the sitting-out players on one screen, no scrolling, with a countdown and a buzzer. Turn on auto-mix and the buzzer fires when the clock runs out, the next round is generated, and the clock restarts, so you can play in your own session instead of running the desk. A venue TV you would rather not sign in on gets a board link: a short code typed into the TV’s browser mirrors the session, with nothing signed in on the TV. The board link needs a free account with the players saved to it.

With a free organizer account you can also turn on Player self-service. Before the first round the big screen is the check-in desk: a QR code players scan to tap their name, or add it if they are not on the list, and names light up as people arrive. During play the same code lets a late arrival join, and every player who scanned sees their own court on their own phone each round, with the sit-out and leaving buttons underneath. Players need nothing for any of this: no app, no account, no signup.

A wall still works. Print the round, or print a whole night of rounds on one sheet before anyone steps on a court, with a colored shape next to each name so players find themselves at a glance.

PickleMixer big-screen check-in: players scan a QR code on the TV to check themselves in, and the screen ticks off who has arrived — Before the first round the TV is the check-in desk: players scan the QR, tap their name, and the screen ticks off who has arrived.

PickleMixer Big Screen mode on a TV: court-by-court matchups in large type with color-coded courts and the sitting players listed — Big Screen mode during play: every court in large type, the sitting-out players listed, countdown and buzzer.

A player's phone after QR check-in showing their court for the round, teammates and opponents, and buttons to request a sit-out or say they are leaving — A player’s phone after check-in: their court this round, and the buttons to sit out or say they are leaving.

// 05 Instead of the paddle rack

Instead of the paddle rack.

The paddle rack answers who plays next, and nothing else: it cannot tell you that the four paddles at the front belong to four friends who have now played together five times, and it only mixes at all when five or six paddles are waiting. The mixer keeps that answer visible to the whole room and adds the memory the rack lacks, at the price of a round-based rhythm where every court changes together, so pair it with games to a score or a timed round (or with Nonstop Courts, part of Lite, if you would rather courts refilled as they empty). Whether a rack, a whiteboard, winners-stay or an app suits your crowd is the subject of our guide, How to Organize Pickleball Open Play, which compares all seven methods and the court math behind them.

// 06 Mixed levels, mixed doubles

Mixed levels, mixed doubles.

Most open play nights are one pool with a spread of levels, and the mixer leaves it that way by default: it ignores ratings and works purely on freshness. Give players a rating when you want more (any scale you like, typed next to the name) and three sliders come into play. Similar ratings on court keeps the four players on a court close in level, so the strong court and the social court sort themselves without anyone being told which they are on. Evenly matched teams splits a court into two sides that are close. Use one, or both. With a free account you can also tag players Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced and run a night for one tier by marking only those players as available.

Mixed doubles is a switch, not something you build by hand. Set each player’s gender once, turn on Prefer Mixed Doubles Courts, and every team that can be a woman and a man will be, with partners and opponents still fresh from round to round. With an uneven split, the courts left over are all-men or all-women rather than a broken round. Prefer Single-Gender Courts does the opposite for a men’s night or a women’s night, and couples or training pairs who want to stay together can be linked, so they play as a team while their opponents rotate.

// 07 FAQ

Open play app questions

6 questions

Q.01 Is it free, and do my players need to sign up?

The mixer is free with no signup for 4 to 150 players, and your players never need an account, an app or a signup for anything on this page. A free organizer account is optional: it saves a roster of up to 19 players so next week starts loaded, and it unlocks QR check-in, each player's court on their own phone, and the board link for a venue TV. Lite ($19 a year) saves up to 100 players and adds Nonstop Courts and a clock the server keeps so your phone can sleep. Scores and ratings are the one Pro part, below.

Q.02 Does it work when the gym has no Wi-Fi?

Yes, once the small offline package is installed. While you still have a signal, open Games Settings in the mixer and tap Download Offline Mixing Package (about 100 KB, stored in that browser, so do it on each device you mix from), then flip Mix Offline on. Mix, Mix Next and REmix, swapping players and sitting players out all run on your device from then on. Without the package a dead connection stops the mixer, so install it before you go. Anything that has to reach other phones waits for a connection: QR check-in and the sit-out requests from players' phones, saving the session to your account, and the TV board link.

Q.03 I have 13 players and 3 courts. Who sits?

Twelve play and one sits each round, and sit-outs go round in turn: the player who sat is back on court next round, and someone else takes the turn. Every head-count works the same way; 11 on 2 courts sits three a round, 18 on 4 sits two. A late arrival goes on court at the next mix, and a player who leaves does not cost anyone else their turn. A player who asks for a break is simply skipped until they are back in, and the Sitting Out strip at the top of the screen always shows who is off this round, so nobody has to ask you.

Q.04 Can players check themselves in?

Yes, with a free organizer account; players need nothing. Turn on Player self-service in the mixer's Games Settings and open Big Screen mode before the first round: it becomes a check-in screen with a Scan to check in QR code. Players point their phone camera at it, tap their name (or type it in if they are not on the roster yet), and the screen ticks off who has arrived. After the first mix the same code lets late arrivals join, and every player who scanned sees their own court on their phone each round, with Sit out next round and This is my last game buttons. Their requests wait for the next mix and never change the round in progress. Your phone needs a connection for this; it is the one part of the night that does not run offline.

Q.05 Can players enter scores from their phones?

Yes, and it is optional. Each player gets a link or a QR code that opens their court's score entry on their phone, with no app and no account; the result shows up on your screen live, every game moves an Elo rating that carries across weeks, and a public standings page lets players check where they stand without logging in. Score entry is part of Pro and up, and included free for every account's first month, so you can see whether your group wants ratings before paying for them. Leave it off and the mixer runs the night exactly the same way without a single score. How phone score entry works.

Q.06 What if I don't want every court to wait for the slowest game?

That is the one thing a round-based mixer cannot fix by itself: when you press Mix Next, every court changes together, so a court that finished early waits for the last one to reach 11. There are two answers. The simple one is a timed round with the buzzer, which is what most open play nights run anyway. The other is Nonstop Courts, a different mode of the same mixer: the next game starts as each court frees up, players are called on their phones and on the TV, and the same partner, opponent and sit-out memory carries over. It is part of Lite and up, and free during your first month with an account.

// 08 Related

Other ways to run the night.

Run tonight’s open play.

Type in who showed up, set your courts, press Mix. Fresh partners and opponents, sit-outs in turn, and the walk-in at 7:30 goes straight into the next round. Free for 4 to 150 players, no signup, and with the offline package installed it keeps working when the gym Wi-Fi does not.