King of the Court generator for padel
Enter the scores and the courts rearrange themselves: winners climb toward court one, losers drop, and both pairs split so nobody keeps the same partner. Works in your browser — no account, no signup, nothing to install.
Use real names instead of Player 1, 2, 3…
How King of the Court works
Court one is the king court. The pair that wins on any court moves up one; the pair that loses moves down one. On court one there is nowhere higher, so the winners stay; on the bottom court there is nowhere lower, so the losers stay.
The important part is what happens on arrival. Each court now holds two players who came down from above and two who came up from below, and they split: one from each side forms a pair. That is why your partner changes every single round without anyone drawing anything.
Rounds are usually played to 21 points shared between the pairs — 21:0 down to 11:10 — rather than to games. Count the rallies, and the round ends when the pool is used up or the clock runs out.
You need at least two courts. With one there is nowhere to move up or down to, and the format is simply not King of the Court.
With numbers that do not divide by four, the extra players sit out and come back in at the bottom court, taking the place of that court's losers. The winners are never bumped: they earned that court.
An example on three courts. Round one: Anna and Ben beat Carla and Dan on court one; Emma and Finn lose to Grace and Hugo on court two; Iris and Jack beat Kim and Leo on court three. Round two, court one holds Anna and Ben — who stayed — plus Grace and Hugo, who came up, and they split: Anna with Grace against Ben with Hugo. Court two takes Carla and Dan, who dropped, plus Iris and Jack, who climbed. Court three keeps Kim and Leo and receives Emma and Finn. Nobody has the same partner as a round ago.
Questions organisers ask
- How many players do you need for King of the Court?
- Eight is the minimum, because you need two courts and each holds four. Twelve on three courts and sixteen on four are the common sizes; above that the climb to court one just takes longer.
- What score is King of the Court played to?
- Usually 21 points shared between the two pairs, so a round ends 21:0 or 13:8 or anything in between. Some groups play to 16 for shorter rounds, or on a timer, taking whatever the score is when the buzzer goes.
- Do partners stay the same?
- No — that is the whole point. Both pairs split when they arrive on a court, so you play with a different person every round and against different opponents.
- Can you play it on one court?
- No. Winners have nowhere to move up to and losers nowhere to drop, so it becomes an ordinary rotation. Use the Americano generator for a single court.
- What happens if someone has to leave halfway?
- Redraw from the current round with the smaller number. King of the Court copes with this better than most formats, because the standing order is the courts themselves rather than a table.