Help & Guide

Everything you need to know — from registering to reading the bracket.

Getting Started Registration Tournament Flow Bracket Types Reading the Bracket Standings DUPR Rating FAQ

Getting Started

This platform manages the full lifecycle of a pickleball tournament — from player sign-ups to final standings.

1
Register

Players sign up with their name, email, and DUPR rating during the registration window.

2
Teams Form

The admin assigns or auto-generates balanced doubles teams based on DUPR ratings.

3
Bracket Generated

A bracket is created — Round Robin, Single Elimination, or Double Elimination.

4
Play & Score

Teams compete. Scores are entered in real time and standings update live.

Registration

How to Register

  1. Visit the home page — open tournaments appear in the carousel.
  2. Click "Register Now" on any tournament card (or visit the Discover hub).
  3. Fill in your full name, email address, and DUPR rating in the popup form.
  4. Submit — your name will appear in the "Recently Joined" section immediately.

Registration Rules

  • Each email can only be registered once per tournament.
  • Registration closes at the deadline date (if set), when the admin closes registration, or when the player limit is reached.
  • If a tournament shows "Tournament Full", no more spots are available.
  • Cancelled or completed tournaments do not accept registrations.
  • View all registered players on the Players page of each league's subdomain.

Tournament Flow

Every tournament moves through four stages:

Registration

Players sign up. The admin can add players manually too. Registration can be toggled open or closed at any time.

Teams Set

The admin forms doubles teams — auto-generated by DUPR balance or assigned manually.

In Progress

The bracket is live. Teams play matches. Scores are entered and the bracket updates in real time.

Completed

All matches finished. Final standings are locked. Results are archived on the Discover page.

A tournament can also be marked Cancelled at any stage — it will no longer accept registrations and will be listed separately on the Tournaments page.

Bracket Types

Three formats are supported. The organizer chooses when setting up the tournament.

Round Robin

Every team plays every other team.

  • Best for: 4–10 teams, full-day events.
  • Every team is guaranteed the same number of matches.
  • No eliminations — everyone plays the full schedule.
  • Ranked by wins, then game win %, then total points scored.
Example — 4 teams, 6 matches
A vs BC vs D A vs CB vs D A vs DB vs C

Single Elimination

One loss and you're out.

  • Best for: Large fields or tight schedules.
  • Teams seeded by DUPR rating — strongest vs weakest early.
  • Non-power-of-2 team counts give top seeds a bye (auto-advance).
  • Rounds: Round of 16 → Quarterfinals → Semifinals → Final.
  • Winner of the Final is champion.
Example — 4 teams
Seed 1 vs Seed 4 Seed 2 vs Seed 3
Final

Double Elimination

Lose twice and you're out.

  • Best for: 4 or 8 teams — every team deserves a second chance.
  • All teams start in the Winners Bracket.
  • First loss drops a team to the Losers Bracket — still alive.
  • Second loss in Losers Bracket eliminates the team.
  • Winners champ vs Losers champ in the Grand Final.
  • Requires exactly 2, 4, or 8 teams.
Structure overview
WinnersWin → advance. Lose → drop to Losers.
+
LosersSurvive → advance. Lose again → out.
Grand FinalChampions from each bracket.

Reading the Bracket

Match Card Legend

  • Final Match complete — scores recorded.
  • Live Match currently in progress.
  • Pending Match hasn't started yet.
  • BYE Team auto-advances (no opponent).
  • Bold / highlighted team = match winner.
  • G1 / G2 / G3 / G4 / G5 = individual game scores (number shown depends on format).

Match Scoring

  • The organizer chooses the match format: Single Game, Best of 3, or Best of 5.
  • Single Game — one game decides the match winner.
  • Best of 3 — first team to win 2 games wins the match (e.g., G1: 11–7, G2: 9–11, G3: 11–8).
  • Best of 5 — first team to win 3 games wins the match.
  • Scores entered by the admin — bracket updates live after each result.
  • The "Live Updates Active" badge on the bracket page means scores refresh automatically when match results change.

Standings

Each tournament's Standings tab (found on the Discover page) shows a ranked leaderboard.

PosTeamMWMLGWGLPts For+/-Played
🥇Team Alpha306188+303
🥈Team Bravo215376+83
🥉Team Charlie123560-123

Column Definitions

  • MW / ML — Match wins and match losses.
  • GW / GL — Individual game wins and game losses (shown for Best of 3 and Best of 5 formats).
  • Pts For / Pts Agn — Total points scored and points conceded across all games.
  • +/- — Point differential (Pts For minus Pts Against). Green = positive, red = negative.
  • Played — Total matches played.

Ranking Order

  1. Most match wins.
  2. Game win percentage (for Best of 3 and Best of 5 formats).
  3. Head-to-head — if exactly 2 teams are tied, the team that beat the other ranks higher.
  4. Point differential — highest (Pts For - Pts Against) ranks higher.
  5. Total points scored — highest Pts For ranks higher.

DUPR Rating

What is DUPR?

DUPR (Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating) is the most widely used pickleball rating system — a number from 2.0 to 8.0 based on real match results.

Find your rating at dupr.com. No rating? Ask the organizer for an estimated value.

Skill Level Reference

  • 2.0–3.0 Beginner — learning the basics.
  • 3.0–3.5 Novice — consistent rallies.
  • 3.5–4.5 Intermediate — competitive recreational.
  • 4.5–5.5 Advanced — tournament player.
  • 5.5–8.0 Pro — elite competitive.

Why We Use It

Ratings are used to create balanced teams. The system pairs the highest-rated player with the lowest, second-highest with second-lowest, and so on — keeping average team skill as equal as possible.

Frequently Asked Questions