• Drop-In tennis at the Phoenix Tennis Center is intended to be fast and interesting.   Play is doubles, with whoever shows up.
• As players arrive to play, they go to a court requiring an additional player and either warm up or start play, depending on activity on the other court(s).
• Teams are assigned dynamically; partners and opponents change after each match.  
• Games use "no-ad" scoring, using the values 1,2,3 and 4.   Matches are comprised of 4 games; each player serves once per match.
• First team winning 4 points wins the game.   A 3-3 tie uses a single "tie-break" point to determine the winning team.   The team winning 3 or 4 games wins the match and advances to an eastern court.   If the winning team is on the most eastern court, they remain there.
• The team that loses moves to a western court...or remains there if they're on the most western court.
• Matches tied 2-2 go into a 1-point playoff.   A coin-toss or racquet-flip determines which team serves; that team picks the server.
• Upon court changes, teams split up to form new teams and opponents.   Reasonable attempts should be made to avoid playing again with the same player, but sometimes it's unavoidable.
• A special option, called the "Rocky Rule" can be invoked if a match reaches a 3-0 score.   This allows the team with no wins to attempt to win all 4 points in the 4th game.   If they do, that team wins the match and advances as though it had won more games than the opponent.
• The "Rocky Rule" must be explicitly invoked at the 3-0 point in the match.   Otherwise, the 4th game has no special meaning.
• With the above process all matches should end about the same time.   Therefore, play will be relatively constant as players move to other courts as their results indicate.
• Finally, at the conclusion of play, some players may decide to go to "coffee", which is normally held at the Einstein Bros. Coffee at Northern & 21st Avenue.   This is a Drop-Ins tradition and is optional.
• Currently, the cost of Drop-Ins play at the PTC is $4.25, which includes the court fee and new tennis balls for each court.   It's a very "good deal"...

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