Mixed Americano: rules for a padel mixer with men and women

It follows the Americano rules: the whole schedule is drawn in advance, matches are played to a fixed number of points and each player is credited with their pair’s score. The only difference is how the pairs are made. Men are only paired with women, so over the tournament each man plays with each woman, and the opponents are always one man and one woman too.

Everyone is ranked in one list. There is no separate men’s and women’s ranking, so the winner is simply the player with the most points.

Mixed Americano suits mixers, couples’ evenings and club nights where the group is roughly half men and half women. Mixed pairs make the matches feel balanced and social, and nobody ends up in a men-only or women-only match.

It works best with equal numbers. If one group is larger, its players take turns resting. If the numbers are very uneven, a regular Americano is often the better choice.

When you add players in the app, mark each one as a man or a woman. Every court needs two men and two women. The draw spreads partnerships evenly: with four men and four women, every man partners every woman exactly once.

Scoring is the same as in an Americano. Matches are played to a fixed number of points, for example 24, the two scores add up to that total, and each player gets their own pair’s points. Ties in the standings are broken by wins and then by point difference.

Take Adam, Erik, Johan and Oscar, and Lisa, Maria, Sara and Tina, on two courts. Four men and four women make 16 possible mixed pairs, and two courts hold four pairs per round, so the app suggests four rounds. Round 1 could be:

• Court 1: Adam & Lisa vs Erik & Maria, 14–10
• Court 2: Johan & Sara vs Oscar & Tina, 11–13

Adam and Lisa get 14 points each, Erik and Maria 10, Johan and Sara 11, and Oscar and Tina 13. In the next three rounds each man plays with each of the other three women, so after round 4 everyone has partnered all four players of the other gender exactly once.

Four rounds to 24 take about an hour. For a longer session, simply play more rounds: the app keeps spreading partners and opponents as evenly as it can.

The suggested number of rounds is enough for each man to partner each woman once: men × women ÷ (2 × courts), rounded up. Four plus four on two courts gives 4 rounds, six plus six on three courts 6 rounds, and eight plus eight on four courts 8 rounds.

At about 15 minutes per round for matches to 24, six rounds take 1 h 30 min. With 16 or 21 points the rounds are a few minutes shorter, which leaves room for an extra round or two.

Mixers are easy to run with a little preparation:

• Collect sign-ups by gender in advance and aim for equal numbers. A short waiting list for each side makes last-minute dropouts easy to cover.
• Check that every player is marked as a man or a woman before you start; the app won’t create a mixed tournament until everyone is.
• If there are more men than women, or the other way round, the extra players rest in turn, and nobody rests twice before everyone in their group has rested once. Consider crediting resting players with half a match’s points.
• Put the live link on a QR code at the bar so everyone can see their next court and partner.

Other ways to play mixed:

• Mixed Mexicano: after the first round, men and women are ranked separately and the pairs on each court are drawn from the standings. The best man on a court plays with the lower-ranked woman, which keeps matches balanced.
• Timed rounds with free scoring, for venues with strict court times.
• Ranking by wins instead of points.