How many players does a mixicano night need?

A multiple of four with equal groups is the easiest: 24 players, 12 women and 12 men, fill six courts with no sit-outs and all pairs mixed. Other numbers work too. The app rotates sit-outs and forms a same-group pair only when the players in a round cannot be split evenly: with uneven groups, when the sit-outs take more people from one group, or when some players have no group.

Can a round go to deuce at 20-all?

No. A round on the scoreboard ends when one side reaches the target, so 21-20 ends it. If you want the BWF two-point lead, play fixed pairs in a round robin with one game to 21.

Does the 2027 switch to games of 15 change anything?

Not for the rotation. From 4 January 2027 a standard BWF match is best of three games to 15. Americano rounds in JudgeMate run to 16, 21, 24 or 32 points, so clubs that want shorter games choose 16.

What if someone arrives after round 2?

Add them to the start list and they enter at the next round you draw. In mixicano, assign their group; until you do, they fit with any partner.

Do players need an account?

To register themselves and appear in the table under their own name, yes. You can also add players yourself. Watching the table on the public event page needs no login.

Can the organiser play as well?

Yes. Use **Add yourself as a player** in the category. You keep the organiser controls and are drawn into the rotation like everyone else.

Badminton Social Doubles Night

Twenty-plus players, mixed levels and mixed pairs, partners drawn on a phone instead of a whiteboard

A social doubles night is a rotation: everyone signs up alone, partners and opponents change every round, and points go to the person. With men and women in the hall, mixicano pairs one player from each of two groups. Put everyone in a group and the pairs stay mixed wherever the numbers allow, with nobody pairing by hand. In JudgeMate you create a badminton event, set the category to doubles, pick the format and a round target of 16, 21, 24 or 32 points. The app draws each round, rotates sit-outs fairly and keeps the table current.

A Thursday in the sports hall, round by round

18:45. Nets go up on five courts and the shuttle tubes come out. Twenty-two names are on the list: twelve men, ten women, from league players to people in their second month.

19:00. Round 1 is already on everyone's phone. Each court plays one game to 21, and the first side to reach 21 ends the round.

19:20. Five courts finish within a few minutes of each other. Two players sat out round 1; they are the first names on court in round 2, and two others take the bench.

20:40. Round 5. Most players have not yet played twice with the same partner, and every pair on court was drawn by the app.

21:00. Last round, hall closes at 21:30. The table is already final because each court entered its own score.

The evening has no bracket and nobody gets knocked out. The organiser manages a rotation: who plays with whom, who sits, and whether the mixed pairs stay mixed when two women arrive late.

Four on a court, and who sits out

Doubles puts four players on a court, so a round runs as many games as you have full courts. Everyone left over sits out that round.

JudgeMate picks the people to sit out from those who have sat out least so far. With a stable list, the gap between any two players never grows beyond one sit-out. Whether the count comes out exactly even depends on the numbers:

Players	Courts	Sit out per round	Rounds until everyone has sat out the same number of times
20	5	0	nobody sits
24	5	4	6
28	6	4	7
22	5	2	11
26	6	2	13

The last column is the number of players divided by their greatest common divisor with the number sitting out. Twenty-four players on five courts even out after six rounds; twenty-two need eleven, which no club evening has.

The table adds up points scored, so a player who sat out once more than the others has one round fewer to score in. Say before round 1 how you handle it. For a night with prizes, invite four players per court, so nobody sits out.

For the court-hours behind an evening (how many games each person gets out of two hours in the hall), see the badminton club night guide.

One game to 21 as the unit, points to the person

The BWF Alternative Laws (Section 4.1.4) allow a match of one game to 21 points by prior arrangement, with a change of ends at 11. Under the Laws, every rally scores a point; at 20-all a side needs a two-point lead, and at 29-all the 30th point wins.

An americano round in JudgeMate is a race to a fixed target: 16, 21, 24 or 32 points, with 21 as the default. On the live scoreboard the round ends the moment one side reaches the target, so 21-20 ends the round. There is no deuce at 20-all, which keeps all courts finishing together so the next round can be drawn. The scoreboard still prompts the interval and the change of ends when a side reaches 11 in a round to 21. If the score is typed in by hand, any score is accepted.

Both players on a side get the points that side scored. The table is personal and ordered by points scored, then wins, then point difference. A strong player paired with a beginner still collects points in a lost game; 18 of 21 counts.

The BWF standard changes on 4 January 2027: a match becomes best of three games to 15 (Laws of Badminton, Version 6.0). The round targets in JudgeMate stay 16, 21, 24 and 32, so a club that moves to shorter games picks 16.

Mixicano, mexicano or king of the court

Once the category is set to doubles, JudgeMate offers four rotation formats where every player enters alone.

Mixicano is americano with two groups. You split the list into group 1 and group 2, typically women and men, and every pair joins one player from each group. Partners still rotate, and the draw avoids repeating a partner. Anyone you leave without a group fits with everybody, so a late arrival never blocks the draw. When the groups are uneven, the app builds a same-group pair only where no mixed pair is possible: with 13 men and 11 women on six courts, each round has eleven mixed pairs and one men's pair.

Americano rotates partners without groups. Use it when the night is open to everyone and nobody asked for mixed pairs.

Mexicano draws round 1 at random and then pairs by the table: court 1 takes the top four, first and fourth against second and third, court 2 the next four. With every round, players with similar totals meet on the same court, which helps when the levels in the hall are far apart.

King of the court treats court 1 as the top court. The winning pair moves one court up, the losing pair one court down. It suits the last hour of a competitive group better than a mixed social night.

The format locks once the first round has been drawn. Pick it before people arrive.

Setting up the night in JudgeMate

Allow about fifteen minutes the day before. Creating the event needs an account.

Open Create for badminton and choose Tournament draw.
Add a category. Badminton starts in singles, so switch Draw type to Doubles, then pick Mixicano (or americano, mexicano, king of the court).
Set Points per round to 21 and Number of rounds, or leave it open-ended and finish the tournament by hand.
Share the event link. Players register individually; you can also add names yourself, including your own with Add yourself as a player.
In Match day, tap Split into groups and mark everyone as group 1 or group 2. The counter shows how many players still have no group.
Add your courts under Match & venues. Each court puts four more players on the floor.
Draw round 1. Scores come in through the referee QR of each match or from the live scoreboard (Start the scoreboard). The Next round can be drawn once every result of the current round is confirmed.

The free americano generator prints rounds for any sport, but its button opens a padel event. For a badminton night, start from the badminton link above.

What the app does not do on a club night

No deuce in a round. A round ends at the target. For games with a two-point lead and a cap at 30, run fixed pairs in a round robin with Points per set 21 and Sets to win 1.
No round to 15. Round targets are 16, 21, 24 and 32.
No credit for sitting out. The table adds points scored, and a sit-out adds nothing.
No payments or reminders. Entry fees are recorded as paid or waived, and JudgeMate sends no email, SMS or push messages.
No court booking and no ranking link. The hall stays booked through your club, and results do not feed a federation ranking.

Whiteboard, peg board or spreadsheet

A peg board or a whiteboard works for winners-stay-on and for queues. It cannot keep mixed pairs mixed over eight rounds, and it forgets who has already sat out.

A spreadsheet can hold a rotation planned in advance. It breaks when two people cancel at 18:30 or three turn up unannounced, because the whole plan was built for a different number.

A draw per round works from whoever is actually in the hall. Take a player who left off the list, add a newcomer, and the next round is drawn from that list while the table stays correct.

For rules questions on court, see how badminton scoring works. For a single match with a referee, the free badminton scoreboard needs no setup.

Set up your event

Free for organizers. No athlete cap. No commission on registrations. See badminton features · Organizer guide

Create event

Other scenarios

Badminton club championship

One day with singles, doubles and mixed: entries, seeding, a shared court schedule with rest time and results on a public page.

Badminton Grand Prix series

One-day tournaments through the season, finishing places turned into series points, best results counted and one public ranking.