Same courts. Same crowd. New ways to play. Choyens open play now comes in five formats, so you can pick how your night runs.
Some nights you want everyone to play the same amount. Some nights the winners want to stay on. Some nights the club wants a champion. Choyens, the open play queuing app for badminton and pickleball, now has a format for each, and the app runs the queue for you whichever one you pick. Here’s how each one works. Prefer to watch? It’s all in the 87-second video.
Pick a format when you create your event
When you create a Queuing event, the Format field shows all five as chips, each with a one-line hint. Tap one, and Choyens explains it in plain words right under it, so everyone knows how the night will run.
1 Rotation: fewest games play next
Everyone plays about the same number of games. Players wait in one line. When a court is free, the players with the fewest games go on next, and whoever has waited longest breaks a tie. Partners change every game, so you play with and against different people. After each game, everyone goes back in line.
Good for: open play and regular club nights where everyone gets a fair share. (Want the details? Read how Choyens Rotation runs an open play night.)
2 Up & Down: winners play winners
Winners play winners, losers play losers. The first games are made from players who haven’t played yet. After a game, the winners join the Winners line and the losers join the Losers line. Four winners from two different games play each other, with partners from the same game split up, and the losers do the same.
And it keeps moving: win a Losers match and you move up to the Winners line; lose a Winners match and you move down. Late arrivals go first, and Up Next fills itself after every game, with each match labelled Winners match or Losers match.
Good for: open play where everyone ends up playing people on their level of the night.
3 Winners Stay: win and you keep the court
Win and you keep the court. The winners stay on and split up: each winner teams up with a new player, whoever has played the fewest games, then waited longest. The losers go back in line. You choose a win cap (1 to 5 wins in a row, or no cap), and when it’s reached, everyone comes off so others get a turn.
Nothing starts on its own: when a game ends, the host taps Next match for that court, checks the lineup, and taps Start match.
Good for: competitive nights where winning earns more play.
4 Mini-Tournament: groups, then finals
A small tournament, start to finish in one session. Players pair up (or form teams), and each team plays every other team in its group, Bracket A, Bracket B and so on. The best teams go on to the finals: a Final, or semifinals then a Final. It ends with a champion and a podium.
Good for: a competitive night where you want a winner.
5 Group Tournament: teams battle for the night
Split into a few teams and battle for the night. Everyone is put into teams: tap Balance teams, and Choyens deals the players who showed up into Team A, Team B, Team C by strength. Players take turns playing for their team, and every win counts for the team. The live Team standings show who’s ahead, and the team with the most wins takes the night.
Good for: club rivalry nights and team-versus-team fun.
Pick how your night plays. Choyens runs the rest.
Quick answers
Which format is fairest for a regular club night?
Rotation. The players with the fewest games go on next, and whoever has waited longest breaks a tie, so everyone plays about the same number of games.
Does Winners Stay let one team hog the court?
No. Winners split up and team with new players, and the win cap sends everyone off so others get a turn.
Which sports does it work for?
Badminton and pickleball, plus tennis, table tennis, volleyball, basketball and soccer.
Run your next open play on Choyens
Free on iPhone and Android. Create a Queuing event, pick a format, and let Choyens run the queue, the courts and the scores.