Point Chase: the fixed-pairs margin league

Point Chase is a league night for fixed pairs: you keep your partner, rotate opponents in a round-robin, race each match to 21 — and only your winning margin lands on the league table. Beat someone 21–19 and you bank +2; crush them 21–8 and you bank +13.

What is Point Chase?

Point Chase is Rallio's fixed-pairs league format. Unlike an Americano or Mexicano, you and your partner stay together for the whole event — each 'team' is simply the two players who always play side by side. Opponents rotate: over the full schedule every pair faces every other pair exactly once.

The scoring twist is what gives the format its name. Matches are a chase to a target — first pair to 21 points wins — but the win itself is worth nothing on the league table. What gets banked is the winning margin. The table therefore rewards how convincingly you win, not just whether you win.

How Point Chase works

The classic setup is six pairs on three courts: five rounds, every pair plays every other pair once, done in an evening.

1. Enter as a fixed pair

   You sign up with your partner and stay together all league. Six pairs on three courts is the classic; four pairs on two courts works for smaller groups.

2. Race each match to 21

   The score runs consecutively — 1–0, 2–0, 3–1… — with no games or sets. First pair to 21 points wins the match.

3. Bank the margin, not the win

   Only the gap is scored: a 21–15 win banks +6 for the winners and nothing for the losers. The league table is the running sum of margins won.

4. Rotate until everyone has met

   Each round every pair gets a fresh opponent, round-robin style — five rounds for six pairs. Highest cumulative margin lifts the trophy.

Scoring: the chase and the margin

Inside a match, Point Chase looks like a straight race: the score never resets, it just climbs to the target.

The rotation: every pair meets every pair

Opponents are dealt round-robin over pairs: with six pairs each pair plays five rounds, one against each rival. Here is one pair's evening:

Watch a full Point Chase league

Press Play round below: three matches race to 21 at once, each winner banks its margin, and the league table re-sorts live. Run all five rounds and see which pair's margins add up to the title.

Good to know

Organisers can vary the target (15 for faster rounds, 24 for longer ones) and some cap the maximum banked margin to keep one blowout from deciding the league. With an odd number of pairs, one pair sits out each round — the rotation shares the rest evenly.

Because losses bank nothing, the table can look brutal early. Don't panic: one big win rebuilds a total fast, and close specialists who keep every loss narrow deny their rivals the margins that decide titles.

Point Chase vs Americano. An Americano rotates partners and banks every point individually; Point Chase keeps pairs and banks only margins. Which suits your group — including Mexicano — is covered in the full format comparison.