Group + Playoffs is a two-phase format: fixed pairs play a full round-robin inside their group, then every team plays one final cross-group match against the team that finished in the same position in the other group. The group phase delivers the depth and fairness of round-robin. The crossover round delivers a defined endpoint — a match that feels like it matters, because it does.
How It Works
Group phase. Before the first ball, the field is split into groups of equal or near-equal size. Each group plays a complete round-robin: every team faces every other team in that group exactly once, in a pre-set schedule. No elimination. Everyone plays every round. Group standings accumulate from those results.
Crossover phase. Once all group matches are finished, rank-peers from different groups are paired against each other: the group-A winner plays the group-B winner, second plays second, and so on down the table. This single crossover round folds into the overall standings and determines the final order.
Who It Is For
Group + Playoffs is the right call when your field is too large for a single round-robin but you still want a competitive finish. The sweet spot is 16 to 32 players (8 to 16 pairs). A 24-player club night — 12 pairs split into two groups of six — is the canonical example: each group plays 5 rounds of round-robin, then a crossover round gives you 6 rounds total and a clean final ranking. Everyone plays six matches, every pair gets a championship-calibre final match, and the night finishes in under four hours on two courts.
The format requires fixed pairs from the start. If your crowd wants to rotate partners every round, Americano or Mexicano is a better fit. If you want structured competition for a group that is too large for a single pool, Group + Playoffs is built for exactly that.
The Group Phase
Teams are assigned to groups randomly before the event starts. The organizer picks the number of groups — 2, 3, or 4 — based on field size and available courts. A group seed is saved at that point so the same partition applies whether you preview it in setup or run it on the night.
Within each group, the format runs a standard round-robin: every team plays every other team in their group once. With 6 teams per group that is 5 rounds; with 4 teams it is 3 rounds. The schedule is fully pre-set — no waiting for results to generate the next round. Courts across groups run in parallel, so all teams are active at the same time.
Group standings after the round-robin:
| Position | Based on |
|---|---|
| 1st | Most competition points (3 for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss) |
| Tiebreak 1 | Point difference (points scored minus points conceded) |
| Tiebreak 2 | Points scored |
The Crossover Phase
When every match in every group is complete, the crossover round fires. The format pairs rank-peers across groups: first-place in Group A plays first-place in Group B, second plays second, and so on. With 3 or 4 groups, the pairing extends across all of them — first from each group plays one cross-group match, creating a mini-ladder of finals.
The crossover round is one round. A team that wins the crossover does not play another knockout match — there is no bracket, no semifinals, no final. The result of the crossover match adds to each team's cumulative standings row and determines the final ranking order.
Knockout mode (where only the top finishers from each group advance into a bracket) is on the roadmap but is not yet available. The current crossover mode is placement — everyone plays.
Scoring
Group + Playoffs uses point-split scoring by default: each match has a fixed total of points, and every rally awards 1 point to the winner. No deuces, no extended sets. Matches are predictable in length, which makes scheduling tight round counts on a real club night practical.
Sets scoring is supported if your crowd prefers standard game-set-match format. The organizer picks one scoring mode for the whole event before it starts.
Standings track wins, losses, draws, points scored, points conceded, and point difference. The crossover round folds into the same row as the group phase — there is no separate crossover table. A team's final position reflects their whole night.
Player Counts and Courts
The minimum is 2 groups of 2 pairs each — 8 players total. In practice, Group + Playoffs only makes sense with at least 3 pairs per group, which means 12 players minimum for two groups.
| Groups | Min pairs | Typical field | Group rounds | Total rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 4 | 8–12 pairs | 3–5 | 4–6 |
| 3 | 6 | 12–18 pairs | 3–5 | 4–6 |
| 4 | 8 | 16–24 pairs | 3–5 | 4–6 |
For the 24-player club night (12 pairs, 2 groups of 6): 5 group rounds plus 1 crossover round equals 6 total rounds. On 2 courts with all matches running simultaneously within each group, expect 3 to 4 hours. More courts compress the timeline.
Aim for at least one court per group during the group phase so groups can run in parallel without one waiting on the other.
When to Pick This Over Round Robin
Round Robin is the fairest format for a single pool. But it does not scale past 8 teams without the round count becoming impractical (8 teams means 7 rounds). Group + Playoffs solves that: you get the depth of round-robin within each group, then a decisive final match that round-robin alone cannot deliver.
Use Group + Playoffs instead of round-robin when:
- Your field is larger than 8 teams. Group + Playoffs handles 16-plus players comfortably. A single round-robin with 10 teams means 9 rounds and 45 matches — a full day, not a club night.
- You want a defined climax. The crossover round creates a championship-match feel that a standalone round-robin never produces. Players know what their group position means before the last round.
- The social energy matters as much as the results. Group-phase matches within familiar sub-pools keep the energy up early. The crossover then introduces inter-group tension at the moment when players are warmed up and invested.
- You have mixed skill levels. Groups can be seeded by skill before the event, so strong pairs face each other in the group phase and the crossover pits evenly-matched opponents for the finale.
If you have 12 or fewer players and a full evening, Round Robin gives everyone more head-to-head data and is simpler to explain. If you want partner rotation rather than fixed teams, Americano is the better call.
Tiebreaks
Within each group, ties in competition points are broken by:
- Head-to-head — if the tied teams played each other, the winner of that direct match ranks higher.
- Point difference — total points scored minus total points conceded across all group matches.
- Points scored — total points scored (if point difference is identical).
Head-to-head goes first because each group plays a full round-robin: tied teams have always met. This matches what most organizers and players expect — "we both finished 2-1, but I beat you, so I'm ahead."
When teams from different groups are compared for the final standings (after the crossover), the same hierarchy applies across their combined results — group matches plus the crossover match — giving a single unified ranking for the whole field.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many groups can I run? Two, three, or four. The organizer picks this in the event setup. Two groups is the default and covers most club nights. Three or four groups make sense when you have a very large field and enough courts to run all groups in parallel without excessive waiting.
What happens if groups have uneven sizes? The format handles odd distributions — one group may have one more team than another. The round count is determined by the largest group. Smaller groups finish their round-robin before the larger group does and wait for the crossover phase to begin.
Do all teams play the crossover round? Yes. Placement mode — the current default — pairs every team with its rank-peer in the other group. No one is eliminated after the group phase. The crossover round is not optional.
Can I run a bracket instead of placement? Knockout mode (where only the top finishers from each group advance into a bracket) is planned but not yet available. Pick Group + Playoffs today for the placement crossover; the knockout option will appear in a future update.
How do I set up a 24-player night? Add 12 pairs, set group count to 2, leave crossover mode on placement. The format assigns 6 pairs to each group, generates 5 rounds of round-robin within each group, then one crossover round. Six rounds total, everyone plays six matches.