New Tournament Tools: King of the Court, Americano, and Mexicano

Playtomic now automates tournament operations for three popular formats, so you can stop using spreadsheets and external apps.

What's included

Three tournament formats:

• King of the Court – Players compete to climb courts, with the top court as "king"
• Americano – Players rotate partners and opponents, accumulating points across rounds
• Mexicano – Adaptive matchmaking that re-pairs players based on performance for balanced games

What all formats have in common 

Creation wizard with court selection and player distribution

This is the setup tool that helps you configure your tournament step by step.

It means:

• Court selection – You choose which courts will be used for the tournament
• Player distribution – You decide how players are placed at the start. You can put the strongest players on certain courts, balance teams evenly, or assign players randomly

Think of it as a guided setup that walks you through the key decisions before your tournament starts.

Automatic pairing and matchup generation

The system creates the player pairings for each round without you having to do it manually.

Instead of using spreadsheets or figuring out who plays whom by hand, Playtomic Manager automatically generates the matchups based on the tournament format rules. This happens for each round throughout the tournament.

The specific logic depends on the format you chose:

• In King of the Court, it pairs players based on court positions
• In Americano, it rotates partners and opponents so everyone mixes
• In Mexicano, it adapts pairings based on performance to create balanced games

Multiple rounds support

The tournament can run across several rounds, not just a single match.

In these tournament formats, players compete in multiple rounds—each round generates new matchups, results are recorded, and the leaderboard updates. The tournament continues for as many rounds as you configure, allowing players to accumulate points or climb positions over time.

For example, in Americano, players rotate partners and opponents across rounds. In King of the Court, players move between courts based on results. In Mexicano, matchups adapt based on performance as rounds progress.

Match-by-match result registration

The organizer records the outcome of each individual match as it finishes during the tournament.

Instead of waiting until the end to enter all results at once, you input scores after each match completes. This allows the system to update the leaderboard in real-time and generate accurate pairings for the next round based on current standings.

Live scoreboard and rankings

The tournament leaderboard updates automatically as you record match results throughout the competition.

After you enter the outcome of each match, the system recalculates standings in real-time. Players' positions, points, and rankings reflect the latest results immediately, so everyone can see current standings at any point during the tournament.

This eliminates the need to manually update a separate scoreboard—the leaderboard stays current as the tournament progresses.

Tournament chat to share matchups, court assignments, and final results

It is a messaging feature within the tournament that allows the organizer to communicate with all participants in one place.

How it works:

The organizer uses the tournament chat to share key information throughout the event:

• Matchup assignments – After each round is generated, you can publish which players are paired together
• Court assignments – You share which matches happen on which courts
• Final results – When the tournament ends, the final standings and leaderboard are automatically shared in the chat

This is particularly important right now because players don't yet see live matchups or leaderboards directly in the Playtomic app—they receive this information through the tournament chat messages instead.

Think of it as the main communication channel that keeps all participants informed about what's happening during the tournament.

Final summary when you mark the competition as finished

When the tournament organizer marks the competition as complete, the system automatically generates and shares a comprehensive summary of the tournament results.

This includes:

• The final leaderboard with all player rankings
• Complete standings that show how players performed throughout the tournament
• This summary is automatically posted in the tournament chat so all participants can see the final results

It's essentially the wrap-up step that closes out the tournament and gives everyone a clear view of who won and how everyone placed.

Which format should I choose?

• King of the Court – Best for competitive groups where players want to "climb the ladder" and reach the top court
• Americano – Ideal for social events where everyone should mix and play with different people
• Mexicano – Great when you want games to become more balanced as the tournament progresses

How to create a tournament

Step 1: Set up the basics

In Playtomic Manager, create a tournament and choose your format. You'll configure courts and initial player distribution.

Step 2: Choose how to distribute players initially

Select one of these options:

• Strongest players in initial courts – Place top players strategically
• Evenly matched teams – Balance skill levels
• Random allocation – Let the system assign randomly

This matters most for King of the Court and Mexicano, where starting position affects early rounds.

Running the tournament

Automatic matchups

The system generates matchups for each round automatically. Share player-court assignments via tournament chat.

Enter results

Record the outcome of each match as it finishes.

Leaderboard updates

By default, leaderboards prioritize accumulated points over wins. For Americano and Mexicano, you can choose to prioritize wins instead during setup.

Choose a target score (commonly 12, 24, or 32 points). Results update the leaderboard after each round.

Finish the tournament

Mark the competition as finished to show the final summary and leaderboard. Share final standings automatically in the tournament chat.

What players see

Players receive matchup details and final standings via tournament chat messages. They don't yet see live matchups or leaderboards directly in the Playtomic app—that's coming in a future update.