Getting started with Cream of the Crop
Groups of four play a short round robin, then everyone regroups by where they finished — all the winners together, all the runners-up together, and so on.
Start with How Cream of the Crop works.
Check your numbers first. This format needs a multiple of 4 with at least 16 players, or exactly 25. See Player counts for Cream of the Crop.
Lifecycle
1. Create the event and cap registration at a valid count. See Create a Cream of the Crop event.
2. Add players individually — no partners to record.
3. Check your standings sort. Finishing order inside a group decides everything about the next round.
4. Generate round 1. Groups of four, three matches each. See Generate rounds in Cream of the Crop.
5. Score the whole round, then generate the next — the field regroups by finishing position.
Repeat 5 each round or session.
Good to know before you start
The player count is strict. 16, 20, 24, 25, 28, 32. Nothing between.
Every group plays at once — no queue. Four groups need four courts.
Three matches per round in a group of four, so you partner each of the other three once.
Regrouping is by finishing position, not by court movement — you jump straight to the group of everyone who finished where you did.
Point differential breaks cross-group ties, so winning big beats winning narrowly.
The sorting method at generation does nothing — this format always groups from standings.
For leagues, check the count every week. Opt-ins change it.
How it compares
Ladder formats | Cream of the Crop | |
|---|---|---|
Movement | One court at a time | Straight to the group matching your finish |
Driven by | Winning or losing a match | Where you finished the whole round |
Recovery | Climb back a court at a time | One good round puts you straight back up |
There is no gradual climb here. Each round reshuffles the entire field by result, which makes it fast-moving but unforgiving of a bad session.