What is the difference between Americano and Mexicano?

Both are rotating-partner doubles with individual points. In Americano the whole rotation is fixed in advance, so partners and opponents are spread as evenly as possible regardless of results. In Mexicano each round is paired from the standings, so players with similar points end up on the same court and the matches get closer as the session goes on.

How many rounds should we play?

If the players exactly fill the courts, one fewer round than the number of players lets every pair partner exactly once — seven rounds for eight players on two courts. With rests, the page shows how even the rests come out for the rounds you choose; a multiple of the number of players resting each round shares them most evenly.

Who rests when the numbers do not divide by four?

Whoever has rested least so far, and preferably someone who played last round. That keeps every player within one rest of every other at every point in the session, and the page reports any back-to-back rests.

Is this an official format?

No. Americano and Mexicano grew up as club social formats and the details — points per match, serving rules, how Mexicano pairs a court — differ from organiser to organiser. Agree yours before the first round.

Americano & Doubles Rotation Generator

In a rotating-partner doubles session everybody plays with a different partner each round and the scores are kept per player, so a club night of mixed standards still produces a winner. Getting the rota right by hand is the hard part: with nine players and two courts someone has to rest every round, the same two people keep ending up together, and nobody can say whether the rests were fair. This builds the rounds for your players and courts — Americano, with every round planned before the first serve, or Mexicano, where each round is paired from the scores so far — and then counts what matters: how often each player rests, how many partnerships repeat, and how often the same people meet across the net. Where the numbers force repeats it says how many are unavoidable, so a schedule is called as fair as possible only when it has been shown to be.

Players, one per line

8 players. Names stay on this page.

Courts

2 in use each round; 0 players rest each round.

Format

Rounds

7 rounds let every pair partner exactly once.

Scoring

Points per match

Organisers commonly use 16, 21, 24 or 32. The two teams' points add up to this.

Seed (optional)

The same seed, players and settings give the same rounds again while the generator is unchanged. It is a repeat word, not a secret, and not cryptographic.

Paper size

Print size

Margin

Millimetres of blank edge, 5 to 40.

Turn the paper sideways

How to print this, or save it as a PDF

There is no PDF to download, and there does not need to be. Open the print command in your browser and choose “Save as PDF” as the destination. The page addresses and dates a browser normally prints across the top and bottom are already kept off.
Set the scale to 100%, not “fit to page”. This sheet is already the exact size of the paper you chose, so anything that resizes it makes every measurement on it wrong.
Leave the paper size in the dialog set to the same one you chose here.

The rounds will appear here.

What this generator does

Plans doubles rounds where partners change, books courts without double-booking anyone, rests the right number of players fairly, and keeps per-player points. The social mixer rotation pairs people one to one, so it cannot tell a partner from an opponent; the round-robin fixture generator plays fixed entrants against each other, which is the opposite of changing partners. This is for the doubles session where the teams are reshuffled every round.

How to use this tool

Enter the players, one per line, and the number of courts.
Choose Americano to plan every round now, or Mexicano to pair each round from the results.
For Americano, set the number of rounds; the page suggests how many let everyone partner everyone once.
Choose how matches are scored: a fixed total of points, or timed with any score.
Press the button and read the balance figures under the result before announcing it.
Enter scores as matches finish to keep live standings; for Mexicano, the next round unlocks once a round is complete.
Print the rounds with score boxes and a points sheet, or download CSV or JSON.

Understanding the controls

Players: Four to forty-eight names, one per line. Each name must be different, ignoring capitals, so two people called Sam need an initial each. The order matters only for breaking a tie in the standings.
Courts: Only as many courts are used as the players fill: eleven players fill two courts and rest three each round, even if four courts are free. The hint under the box says how many rest.
Format: Americano plans every round now, so the rota can be printed and pinned up. Mexicano plans only the next round, ranking players by their points so far and putting the top four on the first court, the next four on the second and so on, so it needs the scores entered as you go.
Rounds: Americano only. When the players exactly fill the courts, one fewer round than there are players lets every pair partner exactly once; more rounds than that must repeat partners, and the page counts how many.
Mexicano pairing: Which of the four players on a court partner each other. Organisers differ: first and fourth against second and third balances the two pairs; first and third against second and fourth and first and second against third and fourth are also in use. The first round is always a random draw.
Scoring: A fixed total — 16, 21, 24 and 32 points are all common — means the two scores on a court must add up to it, and the page refuses a score that does not. Timed matches take any score. Each player is credited with their own pair's points, won or lost.
Seed (optional): The same seed, players and settings give the same rounds again while the generator is unchanged, so a rota can be rebuilt on another phone. A seed makes the draw repeatable, not secret: it is not cryptographic.

Worked examples

Eight players, two courts, seven rounds — seed club-night: Round 1: Esi & Cleo v Gus & Ben, Ana & Hana v Finn & Dev. Round 2: Ana & Dev v Gus & Esi, Cleo & Ben v Hana & Finn. Across the seven rounds every pair partners exactly once and every pair meets across the net exactly twice, which is as even as eight players can be.
Nine players, two courts, nine rounds — seed club-night: One player rests each round and each rests exactly once, never twice running. No pair partners twice. Opponents repeat 38 times, two more than the 36 the numbers force, and the most two players face each other is four — so the opponents are not claimed to be the most even possible.
Thirteen players, three courts, thirteen rounds — seed club-night: Everyone rests once. Two partnerships repeat although the numbers force none, and the page says so rather than calling the schedule the fairest one.
Five players, one court, ten rounds — seed club-night: Each player plays eight games with only four possible partners, so at least ten repeated partnerships are forced; the schedule has exactly ten, and the page says that is as few as the numbers allow.

Common use cases

A padel Americano for eight players on two courts, every pair partnering exactly once
A pickleball open-play session with eleven players and two courts, rests shared out evenly
A badminton or tennis club night where newcomers should partner as many members as possible
A Mexicano evening in which later rounds put the leading players against each other
Printing a rota and points sheet for a venue with no phone signal

How this generator works

Each round first decides who rests: the players who have rested least so far, preferring anyone who played the round before, with remaining ties drawn at random. Taking the least-rested first keeps everybody within one rest of everybody else after every round. The players left are then arranged on courts, two against two, by searching for the arrangement that adds least to the repeats so far — a repeated partnership counts six times as much as a repeated opponent, and both are squared so repeats spread out rather than pile onto one pair. When the players exactly fill the courts a second plan is also made in which the partnerships come from the circle method used for round-robin fixtures, which gives every pair exactly one round together across one fewer round than there are players; only who plays whom is searched. The two plans are compared on their measured repeats and the better is kept. Every round is then re-planned knowing all the others, which mends choices early rounds could not foresee. Mexicano rests players the same way and then ranks the rest by points, breaking ties by points per game and then by the order the players were listed. Finally the schedule is checked from its rounds alone, and the rest, partner and opponent counts are recounted from them.

Randomness and fairness

Chance decides tie-breaks among equally rested players, the starting arrangements the search tries, and the whole of a Mexicano first round. Everything after that is calculated: the balance figures, the floors, and in Mexicano every later round, which follows from the scores. Draws come from your browser's cryptographic random source unless you type a seed, which swaps it for a repeatable sequence.

For how randomness is produced across the whole site, see how Generate Random works.

Assumptions this tool makes

All courts are free for the whole session and every match in a round starts together.
Players are credited with their own pair's points in every match, won or lost, which is the usual Americano convention; some organisers add bonuses for a win, which this does not apply.
Every player can partner every other. Fixed pairs, mixed-doubles rules or level bands are not modelled.

Limitations and good to know

The search is not proved to be the best possible except where the measured repeats equal the floor the numbers force; when they do not, the page says so.
Mexicano has several pairing rules in use; three are offered, none is presented as official, and bonus points or win-based ranking are not applied.
Up to 48 players, 12 courts and 30 rounds. Skill levels, fixed partners, mixed-doubles rules and late arrivals are not handled; a late arrival means making a new schedule.
The opponent floor is a simple count of meetings against pairs, which is often lower than what any schedule can actually reach, so a schedule can be above it and still be as even as possible.

Common mistakes

Ranking by total points when some players played more games: With rests, totals are not comparable. The standings show points per game beside the total; agree before the first round which one decides the winner.
Adding rounds past one fewer than the number of players and expecting new partners: There are no new partners left. Every extra round must repeat partnerships, and the page counts them — consider a Mexicano finish instead.
Booking every court the venue has: A court needs four players. Eleven players fill two courts, not three; the third would leave three people short of a match.

Practical tips

Decide the serving rule before you start — organisers commonly change server every two or four points in a points-target match — and print it on the sheet.
Organiser guides put a 24-point padel match at about ten minutes; work out the rounds from the time you have rather than the other way round.
In Mexicano, enter scores as each court finishes; the next round cannot be paired until the last one is in.

Privacy and your data

Player names and scores stay in your browser. They are not stored or sent anywhere, and the usage counts record only that a schedule was made and how many rounds it had — never a name or a score.

Americano and Mexicano are informal social formats with no governing rulebook; this page describes common organiser practice and is not affiliated with any federation, league or booking app.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Americano and Mexicano?: Both are rotating-partner doubles with individual points. In Americano the whole rotation is fixed in advance, so partners and opponents are spread as evenly as possible regardless of results. In Mexicano each round is paired from the standings, so players with similar points end up on the same court and the matches get closer as the session goes on.
How many rounds should we play?: If the players exactly fill the courts, one fewer round than the number of players lets every pair partner exactly once — seven rounds for eight players on two courts. With rests, the page shows how even the rests come out for the rounds you choose; a multiple of the number of players resting each round shares them most evenly.
Who rests when the numbers do not divide by four?: Whoever has rested least so far, and preferably someone who played last round. That keeps every player within one rest of every other at every point in the session, and the page reports any back-to-back rests.
Is this an official format?: No. Americano and Mexicano grew up as club social formats and the details — points per match, serving rules, how Mexicano pairs a court — differ from organiser to organiser. Agree yours before the first round.