Open Play formats overview
Use this guide to pick the Open Play format that fits your event. Open Play formats are casual, self-organizing formats with no brackets or scheduled rounds—players show up and play.
Compare Open Play formats
Format | Best for | Choose this when |
|---|---|---|
Self-organized pick-up play | Players want to create their own games, pick their own partners and opponents, and play at their own pace. | |
Fast-paced continuous doubles | You want the system to auto-generate and rotate matches, give players diverse partners and opponents each round, and keep play moving with minimal admin overhead. |
Open Play
Open Play is a casual, pick-up style format. Registered players create their own singles or doubles games from the matches tab, pick their own teammates and opponents, and matches go live immediately. Admins can also create games, add players, and manage the roster.
Choose Open Play for weekly club sessions, drop-in play, or any event where players want flexibility to organize their own games without brackets or scheduled rounds.
Speed Play
Speed Play is a system-managed, fast-paced doubles format. The admin starts the session and the system automatically rotates players through courts with fair, diverse matchups—minimizing repeat partner and opponent pairings. When a match finishes, players return to the waiting pool and the system generates the next match on the freed court.
Choose Speed Play when you want continuous play, balanced court utilization, and minimal admin overhead. It's ideal for busy club sessions where players want to play with different people each round without managing matchups themselves.
Speed Play is doubles only and host-controlled. Players see matches and scores only—only hosts and admins can manage the session.
Shared features
Both formats share these capabilities:
Court auto-assignment: If your club has courts configured, matches are automatically assigned to available courts. If courts aren't configured, the court assignment UI is hidden—matches still go live normally.
Add players: Registered players and admins can add new players to the roster by name or link an existing GGS username.
Push notifications: Players get notified when assigned to a court (if your club has notifications enabled).
Individual standings: Both formats track wins, losses, and point differential per player, not per team.
Score validation: Standard score validation applies to both formats.
Creating games and authorization
Open Play: Any registered player can create a game, pick partners and opponents, and manage matches.
Speed Play: Host-controlled. Only hosts and admins can start rounds, create games, adjust courts, and manage players. Players just see matches and scores.
Create Game / Add Player (Open Play): Requires being a registered player in the division or a tournament admin/host.
All controls (Speed Play): Admin-only (host, club admin, or global admin).
What to read next
Start by Creating an Event in GGS. Then review Event settings to configure courts for your Open Play or Speed Play session.