Comparison

PaddleScramble vs Rival

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

PaddleScramble

This app automates the creation of pickleball game schedules for any number of players and courts. It ensures fair play, balanced partnerships, and manages player rotations, even accommodating late arrivals or early departures. It offers various game modes and tournament structures, with an optional premium subscription for season-long tracking.

Highlights
  • Automated round-robin scheduling
  • Fair partner and court assignments
  • Player rotation management
  • Multiple game modes (Crazy Eights, Open Play, etc.)
  • Tournament bracket generation
  • Real-time schedule updates
  • Season-long group tracking (Premium)
Features
Read full description

Twelve people turn up. Somebody has to work out who plays who, on which court, and who sits this one out. Then do it again every twenty minutes, fairly, while everyone waits. PaddleScramble does that in seconds. Say how many are playing and how many courts you have. Tap Start. The whole session appears: every round, every partner, every court, and who sits out — balanced so people play with everyone and nobody sits twice in a row. NO NAMES NEEDED Everyone gets a number, so you can read the schedule straight out across a noisy court: "Court 1, three and seven, against one and nine." It works when you don't know everybody, which at a drop-in is most of the time. Put names in if you want them — any of them, at any point, or none at all. Save it as a PDF, print it for the wall, or just hold up your phone. SCORING IS OPTIONAL Keep score and the standings look after themselves. Don't, and the app stays a schedule and nothing else. Most sessions only ever need the schedule. WHEN YOU WANT MORE There is a fuller setup behind the second button, for people running something regular: • Crazy Eights — a new partner every round, so everyone plays with everyone. 4 to 24 players. • Open Play Scramble — for drop-in sessions. Add walk-ins, put someone on a break, or drop a leaver between rounds, and the next round is drawn from whoever is actually on the floor. • Fixed Partner — pick your partner and keep them the whole way. • Team Scramble — two teams throughout, scored as two sets; if they split them, a Final Set decides it. • Pods — split a large group into 2 to 4 pods on their own courts, then a cross-pod playoff. END IT PROPERLY Finish with semifinals and a final. The bracket is drawn on screen and fills in as it is played, with consolation games so nobody sits out the finish and a game for third. WHEN IT DOESN'T GO TO PLAN • Someone leaves early — cover their remaining games in one tap • Someone turns up late — add them and they play the next round • A court frees up, or you lose one — in Open Play, add, remove or renumber courts mid-session • Change the play-to, a misspelled name, or how ties break, mid-session. Games already played keep the rules they were played under. SHARE IT Put the live scores on a web page your group can follow from their phones, or print the whole schedule for the wall. YOUR GROUP'S SEASON — PaddleScramble Premium If you play with the same people regularly, save them as a group and every session adds to its record: who is on top, who has won a championship, who is on a streak, and how every pair does together. There is a web page for the season too, so everyone can look without installing anything. PaddleScramble Premium is $9.99/month or $59.99/year. One subscription covers all your groups — the organiser subscribes and every device they have invited sees the season. Cancel any time; everything you have recorded stays visible. Drawing sessions is free, for as many as you like. No ads, ever, and no account to create. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://paddlescramble.com/privacy/

About

Rival

Read full description

No subscription. No ads. No limits. Works offline. Buy Rival once and set up and run tournaments for friends, school, office and club in minutes. 10 SPORTS Football, Basketball, Tennis, Volleyball, Table Tennis, Badminton, Chess, Darts, Gaming/FIFA, Padel 7 FORMATS • Single Elimination — classic bracket, optional 3rd-place match • Double Elimination — a second chance for the loser • League — everyone plays everyone; points, head-to-head, goal difference • Group + Knockout — World Cup style • Swiss — equal scores meet, nobody is eliminated • Americano — rotating doubles, individual points • Mexicano — courts built from the live standings RUN THE TOURNAMENT • Random or seeded draw, instant bracket • Enter the score; bracket and standings update themselves • Typo? Undo the last result • Schedule, standings, player stats and match history • Resume an active tournament straight from the home screen SHARE AND KEEP • Send the bracket as an image to WhatsApp • Download a PDF, print it, pin it up • Save player lists and load them with one tap next time • Back up and restore on a new phone FOLLOW FROM THE LOCK SCREEN While a tournament is open, the next match and progress show live in the Dynamic Island and on the Lock Screen (iOS 16.2+). MAKE IT YOURS • 5 themes: Night, Day, Midnight, Forest, Sunset • English, Turkish, German • No account, no data collection; everything stays on your phone School tournaments, game nights, office ping-pong cups, Friday padel Americanos — Rival is ready for all of them.

Screenshots

PaddleScramble4 screens
Rival4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: PaddleScramble at Free against Rival's $3.99. PaddleScramble also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 4 months). Rival's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

PaddleScramble is free to download; Rival costs $3.99 up front. PaddleScramble sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Rival asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PaddleScramble ships an update weekly, Rival every 4 months. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 5 level
PaddleScramble versus Rival: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPaddleScrambleRival
PriceFree — better$3.99
Rating5.0 (3 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings3 — better—
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB33 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMatthew KroppEMRE KILIC

In-app purchases

2 purchases

PaddleScramble

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Premium Yearly$59.991 Year
None

Rival

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PaddleScramble free?
PaddleScramble is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Rival free?
Rival costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do PaddleScramble or Rival have ads?
Neither PaddleScramble nor Rival shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PaddleScramble or Rival?
PaddleScramble ships an update weekly, and Rival every 4 months. Most recently, PaddleScramble was updated on October 31, 2026 and Rival on October 31, 2026.

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