An Americano is the most social format: you play individually, but with partners and opponents that keep changing. Over the course of the tournament you get to play with and against as many different people as possible, and at the end there is an individual winner. Slams forms the pairings, assigns the courts and updates the standings automatically, so you can focus on running the event.
The variants
Slams has four Americano-style formats. They share the same rules, but arrange the rounds differently:
- Americano: a fixed rotation, so partners and opponents change systematically and everyone gets as many different combinations as possible.
- Mexicano: the pairings follow the current standings, strong plays against strong. See Mexicano in Slams.
- Mix Americano and Mix Mexicano: each court plays with 2 men and 2 women. See mix formats in Slams.
Alongside the classic variant with individual players there is a team variant with fixed pairs (Team Americano and Team Mexicano). In that case a duo stays together for the whole tournament and only the opponent changes.
Adding participants
On the Participants tab you add players from your member list, or you let them register themselves through a link. For a mix format you set each player's gender (M or F); a mix requires an equal number of men and women. Does someone drop out during the tournament? Withdraw the player: the match history stays intact and the player no longer counts in new rounds. No players in your list yet? See adding players.
Generating rounds
On the Rounds tab you generate the next round each time. Slams forms the pairings, spreads them across the courts and makes sure that players who have to sit out (a "bye") take turns fairly. You play one round at a time: the next round can only start once every match in the current round has a result. In the settings you decide how many rounds you play, or you leave the number open.
Scoring and the standings
For each match you enter a result per side: the number of games or points won. In the settings you choose whether you play to points (24 per match by default) or by time (15 minutes by default). Draws are allowed. The standings are individual: each player builds up their own points total, the sum of all games won across all rounds. In the team variant the standings are counted per pair. Read more about the calculation in how standings work. Note: an Americano does not count toward players' DSS rating.
You can enter results in several ways: in the dashboard, through a court QR code that lets players score themselves, or through a score-entry link. See also entering scores.
Setting up courts
On the Settings tab you set the number of courts. Do you play on specific courts, for example 2, 3, 4 and 5? Then enter those court numbers. Slams uses them in the schedule, on the printout and in the QR codes. More about this in setting up courts.
