Most weeks your club doesn’t need a rated tournament. It needs whoever turns up at 7pm to get a game, the next round paired once the boards are done, and someone at the door who can add a newcomer without a form. That’s a club night: an ordinary event with pairing switched on, run from one screen.
Set one up
Club nights are switched on when you create the event. Go to Events → New Event (or Create Event / Create Series in the app) and, in the Pairing card, turn on Pair players (club night). It works on a one-off event and on a recurring one — for a recurring event, every occurrence gets its own night. Turning it on sets the event type to Tournament.
Then fill in the night’s settings:
- Pairing method — Swiss, Holland, or Manual.
- Planned rounds — 1 to 20 (4 by default).
- Time control — free text, like
G/25+5. - Allow guests to check in online — off by default. With it off, somebody who isn’t a member of your club is added at the door instead.
- Sections — one section called Open to start with. Add more, each with an optional rating floor and ceiling, if you split the room.
- Chief TD — on the web, the person who runs the night: you by default, or any member of your club who has an account. In the app, the chief TD is whoever creates the event.
Each night gets its own tournament behind it, set up for walk-in play: unrated for the federations, check-in on, entries open while rounds are running, and nothing to pay online.
Checking in
On the day of the night, a Tonight card appears at the top of the dashboard and the Events list on the web, and on Home in the app. Members tap Check in, and the card changes to You’re checked in. If check-in isn’t open yet, the card says when it opens instead of offering a button.
A member who checks in is entered in the first section whose rating band admits them. On the web, a parent checking in a child switches to that child in the club switcher first, then taps Check in — the child is checked in, not the parent.
Run the night
A director sees Run tonight on the same card. That opens the Tonight screen, which holds the whole evening:
- Check-in — everyone entered, with a toggle per player and a count of who’s here. Add member or guest adds a walk-in at the door, including a club member who has never set up an account.
- Pair round N — pairs whoever is checked in, then Publish round posts it. The next round waits until every board has a result, and the button says why when it’s waiting.
- Results — 1–0, ½–½ or 0–1 on each board. Tap the chosen result again to clear it.
- Standings — updated as results go in.
People come and go, and the screen keeps track. Somebody who checks in after a round is paired is marked Joins next round. Somebody who leaves partway through keeps their current game and is marked Leaves after this round. With an odd number of players, the one left over gets a half-point bye.
When you’re done, Finish night closes it — you can finish once at least one round has been played, so a night that runs short doesn’t need its planned rounds. The summary counts who played, the rounds played, and the games that count toward the club rating. Reopen night undoes it if you finished too soon.
The Tonight screen links to the Full TD console for anything else, such as adjusting a pairing. On the web, a result change that lands on a completed round offers Unlock round for correction beside the board.
Club nights and the club rating
If your club has the club rating turned on, games between members on a club night count toward it once the night is finished. Games against guests don’t count.
Change a recurring night’s settings
For a recurring club night, the settings live in a template on the series. On the web, open any night’s TD console, go to Settings → General, and choose Edit club night template. You can change the pairing method, rounds, time control, guests, sections and chief TD. Changes apply to future nights nobody has entered yet — a night somebody has already entered keeps the settings it started with.
A chief TD has to be an active member of your club. If they leave, they lose access to its club nights, and nights that haven’t been set up yet go back to whoever created the series.
If your club moves back to Pawn
Nothing you built is removed. Your existing club nights can still be renamed, rescheduled or cancelled, but pairing rounds, entering results and creating new club nights need Rook.
What’s next
- Understanding your club rating — how the games from each night move members’ numbers.
- Assign tournament directors — bring on assistants to help run a night.
- Run your event, round by round — the full TD console, for a rated event.
Questions? The FAQ has answers, and support@rookready.com is always open.
Updated September 29, 2026