For pickleball clubs and rec centers

How to create a pickleball open play waitlist

Someone posts the sessions on Sunday night and the thread fills with names, plus-ones, and people asking if they made it. On the morning, 23 players show up for four courts and the person with the clipboard decides who sits. The club software does it, but it charges per member and nobody wants another login.

The open play sign-up sheet is a group text with 40 replies. 7 steps, about five minutes, or one click with the recipe below.

Step by step

Set up the Open play yourself

These are the exact values the recipe applies. Change any of them to match your line.

  1. Create the waitlist

    Sign in, click New waitlist, and name it "Open play". It starts as a draft, so nothing is public until you publish.

  2. Set capacity to 16 per day

    In Settings, set the capacity to 16 per day and the reset to daily at 6:00 AM. The count starts over at every reset; nothing is deleted.

  3. Set the opening hours

    Under Hours, set signups to open Mon to Sat, 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Outside those hours the form shows a closed screen with the next opening time, in the joiner's time zone.

  4. Add the form fields

    Email is built in. On the Form tab, add Name (required), Phone (required), Skill level (required). Labels and help text render as plain text.

  5. Add the "Session" time slots

    On the Form tab, add a Time slot field named "Session" with 8:00 to 10:00 AM (8), 10:00 AM to noon (8). Each slot fills on its own and reads as full when its spots are taken.

  6. Show the counter

    In Settings, turn on the counter so the form shows how many spots are left. People join faster when they can see the number.

  7. Publish and share

    Click Publish. The Share tab has the hosted link, a QR code, and the script tag or iframe for your site. The submit button reads "Book a session".

Or do it in one click

Use the recipe

The "Open play" recipe creates the waitlist with every step above already done. Sign in, click once, and it is live as a draft you can publish.

Create this waitlistSee the recipe page

Recipe

Open play

  • 16 per day
  • Mon to Sat 6 AM–8 PM
  • 2 capped slots
  • 5 fields
  • 16 players per day, reset at 6:00 AM. Tomorrow starts at zero.
  • Two sessions with eight spots each. A full session is greyed out on the form and rejected by the API.
  • Signups are open Monday through Saturday from 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM.
  • Asks for name, phone, skill level, and session.
  • Players see their number for the day on the success screen.

After you publish

How the list runs

Cap the day

Sixteen players per day, reset at 6:00 AM. The count never carries over.

Cap each session

Two sessions of eight on one form. When the 8:00 AM fills, the form greys it out and only the 10:00 AM is left to pick.

Skill level

A multiple-choice field. Sort the CSV by level and courts sort themselves.

Numbers, not thumbs-up

"You're #9 today." Players stop asking the thread whether they made it.

Free a court

A player who cancels from their status link frees the spot in that session. The next person can book it.

The QR on the gate

Print it once from the Share tab. The link is the same every day.

FAQ

Questions people here ask

Can I run more than two sessions a day?

Yes. Add options to the session field, each with its own cap, and raise the daily cap to match. Up to 200 options per field.

Can players bring a guest?

Add a number field for guests and lower the caps to leave room, or ask guests to sign up with their own email so each counts as one spot.

Does it text players when a spot opens?

No SMS. Players get a confirmation email with their number and a status link. When a spot opens, send "your turn" from the Entries tab and they get an email.

Can I charge a drop-in fee?

No. Unwaited takes names and enforces the caps. Collect the fee at the gate or through your existing checkout link.

Related

Keep reading

Five minutes by hand, or one click.

Free for 100 signups a month. Unlimited waitlists. Every setting above stays editable.

Create this waitlist