How to set up a Pickleheads round robin

You've got a date, a court, and pickleball players ready to go. Setting up your round robin takes about two minutes. Here's the full walkthrough, from first tap to game day.

On the website: Make sure you're logged in. Click your name and profile icon in the top right, open the dropdown, and select Sessions. Then click the + icon at the top right of that page and choose Round Robin.

In the app: From the home screen, tap the + icon in the top left and choose Round Robin. Or go to the Games tab, tap Create a new session, and select Round Robin.

Both get you to the same setup flow.

Select the round robin format that fits your group size and goals.

Not sure which to use? Take our quick format quiz to get a recommendation based on your setup.

Inside the setup flow, you can also use the filters – like "more competitive games" or "less court switching" – to narrow things down based on what you're optimizing for.

💡 Good to know: The organizer video series has a walkthrough of each format if you want to see how they run before committing to one.

Name your session so players know what they're signing up for. Something like "Friday Night Showdown 🔥" or "Sunday Social Mixer 🏓" works well.

Set your location, date, start time, and end time. Then set your player limit. Once that number is reached, additional signups go onto a waitlist automatically. If someone drops out, the next person on the list moves in and gets notified.

Who can join controls visibility:

Under Have you already reserved your court(s)? you can mark whether courts are reserved and enter any notes.

💡 Good to know: Pickleheads will not reserve courts on your behalf. You'll need to do that directly through your venue or facility's booking system.

Recurring sessions is a Pickleheads Pro feature – you'll need an active Pro or Ultra subscription to enable it.

Skip this section if it's a one-time event. If it's recurring, toggle Repeat this session weekly to Yes.

Set the end date, choose which day of the week it repeats, and set how far in advance players can sign up for each session.

Add me to future sessions controls whether you're automatically added as a participant to each recurring session.

Both are optional, but a good description does two jobs: it covers the practical details players need before they arrive (parking, which entrance to use, what to bring) and it sells the session. The more specific you are, the easier it is for the right players to say yes – and for them to show up already excited.

Add a primary image to help the session stand out in search results and invites.

Your selected format appears here. If you need to change it, click the pencil icon next to Round Robin format.

Set the number of courts, then name each one to match the actual court numbers at your venue. When the tool generates matchups on game day, it'll tell players exactly which physical court to go to.

Set the skill range you're running the session for using the slider. This isn't only for display – invite tools use this range to filter which players get notified when you send invites.

Toggle DUPR required on if you want to submit scores to DUPR (the pickleball rating platform) after the event. Players will need to link their DUPR account to sign up. The DUPR Club ID defaults to the Pickleheads club – use your own club ID here if you have one.

If someone is helping you run the event, add them individually via Add players. They'll have full access to the session and the round robin tool – the same view you have.

To involve a whole group, use Add groups. This automatically makes all group admins co-hosts, so everyone helping manage the event is already set up.

💡 Good to know: Can't find your co-host in the search? Make sure you're both following your home court – that's the fastest way to show up in each other's networks.

Set a price and currency to collect payment at signup. Payments are processed through Stripe. Players can pay by card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay and can save their payment method for future sessions.

💡 Good to know: There's a video series on collecting payments if you want to go deeper on payouts and refund settings.

If this is your first round robin, you can skip straight to Create session – the defaults here work fine.

The free plan includes 2 round robins per month. Once you're ready to run more, the Membership requirements toggle is worth knowing about. Turn on Pickleheads Plus to make this a Plus-powered session: players chip in for a Plus membership to join, which unlocks premium organizer tools for you at no extra cost.

Under Allow players to:

When everything looks right, tap Create session.

Once your session is live, it's time to start inviting players.

If this is your first round robin, the easiest place to start is Share an Invite Link – copy it, drop it in a group chat, and you're done.

Once your players are in and game day arrives, the round robin tool takes over. Matchups, score entry, and live standings are all managed from the app – open your session and tap Setup to get started.

Next up: running a round robin on game day.

You're good to go.