Free Flow format¶
What it is¶
No rounds. Each court plays its own game, and when a game ends its four players are back among the players waiting.
The app suggests games from everyone who is waiting. Somebody presses Start beside a game, the four play, somebody enters who won, and the court is free again.
Nobody is ranked during the evening. The evening ends with two podiums instead.
Who plays next¶
Under the heading Suggested games you see two or three games the app proposes, each on a small sand court, with each team's chance of winning. Below them is the Bench: the people waiting who are not in a suggested game, with how much of their time they have played so far.
Four chips above the games are the rules, and anyone present may change them by tapping one:
| Chip | What it means |
|---|---|
| Same partner · max 1 | How many games you may play with the same partner. Max 1 means never twice. No limit is an option. |
| Same opponent · max 2 | The same for playing against the same person. |
| Any teams | Whether the games mix women and men (Mixed teams), keep them apart (Women’s and men’s games), or do not look (Any teams). |
| Level first | How the games are chosen from what the two limits allow (see below). |
A game that would break a limit is never suggested. If nothing fits, the page says so, and loosening a chip brings suggestions back.
Mixed teams and women’s and men’s games¶
With Mixed teams, each team gets a woman and a man. When the numbers do not fit, players who said they play as Either fill the short side first, then the lowest-rated men take women’s places, or the highest-rated women take men’s places.
With Women’s and men’s games, women play women and men play men, a whole court at a time. Players who play as Either go wherever they complete a court. Whoever is left over plays one mixed court together, or waits if they are too few for a court. Which players those are follows the order of the games: with Level first it is the lowest-rated leftovers, with Least playing time first whoever has played most.
Two women never play against two men: such a court always becomes two mixed teams. The courts are always filled, so if the limits leave no other game for the people still waiting, they get a game anyway.
Where you play comes from your gender in the club. If you chose Non-binary or Prefer not to say, you were asked how you play in mixed games: as a woman, a man, or either. You can change it in Settings; a change counts from your next tournament.
The three ways to choose¶
- Level first — the strongest players waiting play together, then the next four, and so on. Each four is split into the most even two teams.
- Fairest overall — of all the games the limits allow, the one with the most even teams, then the next most even from the players left.
- Least playing time first — whoever has played the smallest share of their time goes first, then the next, each four split as evenly as possible.
Strength is your club rating, or the level you chose when you joined if the club has no rating for you yet. The page never shows ratings, only the chances.
Changing a suggested game¶
A suggestion is a proposal, not an order. Tap one player and then another to swap them, or drag one card onto another. A game you changed shows edited instead of a chance. Undo swaps, which appears after a swap, puts the app's suggestions back. Your changes are only on your screen; when a game ends or a rule changes, the suggestions are refreshed and your changes go.
Start works for any of the four players in the game and for the organizer. There is no court count: Start takes the lowest free court number, so press it when a court is actually free.
Entering a result¶
Under In progress each game has a Results button for the four playing it and for the organizer. Tap the team that won and press Record win. The court is free the moment you do. The organizer can also Abort game.
An organizer can correct a result later, under Finished games.
Arriving late, leaving early¶
Someone who arrives during the evening is admitted on the Free Flow page and joins the players waiting straight away. Someone who leaves switches off Available on their Me page, finishes the game they are in, and is not suggested again.
The end of the evening¶
When every game has its result, the organizer presses Finish. That ends the tournament and publishes every game to the club's ratings. If someone is new to the club, the organizer first confirms their starting rating, exactly as on the Standings page of a Batman and Robin evening.
Then two podiums replace the board:
- Biggest club-rating gain — the three players whose club rating rose most tonight.
- Most games won — the three players with the most wins.
Two players who tie share a place. A place is left out when a tie would put more than three people on it.
Your own games stay on your Me page.
What this format does not have¶
- No Tournament Rank, no moving up or down, no Standings tab.
- No bench chosen by the organizer: whoever is waiting is waiting.
- No Batman and Robin roles.
- No scores. Only who won.
- The tabs are Lobby, Free Flow and Me.
Compared with the other formats¶
| Free Flow | Batman and Robin | HeroZero | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rounds | None | Every court starts together | Three matchups, one after another |
| Who plays together | Any four waiting, within the chips | The four next to each other in rank | Always the same four |
| Ranking | None | Tournament Rank moves every round | None |
| Ends | Finish, which publishes and shows the podiums | When the organizer stops | After the third matchup |
Choosing the format¶
The organizer chooses the format in the Lobby, under Tournament format. It can be changed until the tournament starts, and is fixed after that.