King/Queen of the Court
King/Queen of the Court is a padel format where the winning pair moves up a court, the losing pair moves down, and the pair at the bottom rotates out. The top court is the king court, and the aim of the night is to reach it and stay there.
How the movement works
Courts are ranked, with the king court at the top. Every round each court plays a short match. Winners climb one court, losers drop one, and the pair that loses on the bottom court rotates out and rejoins the queue.
The format sorts itself. After a few rounds the strongest pairs have climbed and are playing each other on the king court, while the rest find their level further down — without anyone having to seed the field in advance.
What it is good for
It suits a drop-in session where people arrive at different times and the group is too big for everyone to be on court at once, because a queue is built into the format rather than bolted on.
Keep the matches short. King/Queen of the Court lives on frequent movement, so a target of 8 or 11 points, or a fixed few minutes per round, works better than a long match that freezes the ladder.
What to know before you start
Pairs stay together, so it needs an even number of players. PadelLoop blocks an odd count rather than starting a session that would leave someone out.
Like the round robin, King/Queen of the Court keeps its leaderboard on the organiser's own screen: the hall screen, the share link and the CSV export are for the social formats today.
Common questions
What are the rules of King/Queen of the Court in padel?
Courts are ranked with a king court at the top. Each round every court plays a short match. The winning pair moves up one court, the losing pair moves down one, and the pair that loses on the lowest court rotates out and joins the queue. Play a set number of rounds or a set time, and whoever holds the king court at the end wins.
How many players do you need for King/Queen of the Court?
Four fills one court, but the format only comes alive with at least two courts, so eight players upwards. Pairs stay together, so the count has to be even. With a large group the queue does the work: pairs rotate out at the bottom and back in as the evening goes on, which is why it suits drop-in sessions.
How long should each round be?
Short. Eight or eleven points, or a fixed five to seven minutes, keeps pairs moving between courts often enough for the ladder to sort itself out. If rounds run long the movement stalls and the session turns into a set of separate matches, which is the one thing this format is not meant to be.
Is King/Queen of the Court the same as Winner Stays On?
They are related but not the same. Winner Stays On keeps the winning pair on the same court and sends in a challenger from the queue. King/Queen of the Court moves winners up a ranked ladder of courts and losers down, so the movement is in both directions and the court you are on tells you roughly where you stand.
Set up King/Queen of the Court
Pick the format, add the players, and the tool draws the rounds and keeps the standings. Free, no sign-up.
Set up King/Queen of the Court