Setting Up an Americano Night
Americano is the easiest format to run and the most fun to join. Here's how to set one up in FOM Play and get the pairings right.
FOM Play Team · · 4 min read Americano is the format most groups start with, and a lot of them never leave. Everyone plays with everyone, the pairings keep changing, and nobody’s stuck sitting out or carrying a weak partner all night. Here’s how to run one properly.
What makes Americano work
In Americano, points are personal, not team-based. Every round you get a new partner, but the points you win go to you. So even though the teams shuffle, the standings stay fair — the best player rises whether or not they got lucky with partners.
That’s the whole trick, and FOM handles it automatically.
Setting it up
- Start a match and choose Americano as the format.
- Add all your players into one pool — six, eight, twelve, whatever you’ve got.
- Set your court count and the points per round. Play to 24 or 32 depending on how long you want each round to run.
- Generate. FOM builds every round’s pairings so you play with as many different partners as possible and against as many different opponents.
A few tips
- Even numbers play cleaner. With eight or twelve players and two courts, nobody sits out much. Odd numbers work too — FOM just rotates the byes fairly.
- Keep rounds short. Shorter rounds mean more rotation, which means more variety and a tighter final standings.
- Turn on Toxic Mode if the group can take it. Americano’s constant reshuffling makes the Hall of Shame extra funny — there’s nowhere to hide.
When to pick something else
If your group is more competitive and wants the games to tighten up as the night goes on, try Mexicano — it re-pairs everyone by standings after each round. And if the teams are already set and it’s personal, that’s Match Play. But for a fun, fair, everyone’s-involved night? Americano, every time.