Americano vs Mexicano
These two get mixed up constantly, and fairly — they score exactly the same way. Every match is played to a fixed number of points, every point goes to your personal total, and whoever has the most points at the end wins. If you only look at the scoreboard, you cannot tell them apart.
What is identical
Scoring. Both play every match to a fixed total — 16, 21, 24 or 32 points, 24 by default — and the two team scores always add up to that total. You enter one pair's points and the other pair's are filled in automatically.
Personal totals. In both, you are scored as an individual, not as a pair. Both players on a team bank the full team score, so if you and your partner take 13 points, you each get 13.
Winning. Both rank by total points scored, then matches won, then name. Points you conceded are tracked but never count against you.
Rests. If your numbers do not divide by four, both rotate the sit-outs the same way: whoever has rested least goes next, and rests never differ by more than one across the session.
The one real difference
It is how the next round gets drawn — and the two are near opposites.
Americano ignores results completely. It draws each round from your history instead: its priority is that you never partner the same person twice running, then that you partner people you have not yet partnered, then that opponents vary too. The leader and the last-placed player are equally likely to share a court. Court numbers mean nothing at all.
Mexicano is driven entirely by results. After each round everyone is ranked by total points, and that ranking is cut into fours: top four on court 1, next four on court 2. Inside each court, first plays with fourth against second and third — a rule that tries to even out the match by putting the strongest player with the weakest.
What that changes in practice
In Americano the session feels flat in a good way: everyone circulates, nobody is stuck anywhere, and you often do not know who is winning until the final table. It is the more sociable of the two.
In Mexicano the session has a shape. Court 1 becomes the place to be, the field spreads out, and where you are playing tells everyone how you are doing. It is the more competitive of the two.
One consequence catches people out: because Mexicano's pairing is fixed by rank, you can get the same partner two rounds in a row if the standings barely move. Americano never does that unless you are only four players on one court, where there is no alternative.
And one that reassures people: in Mexicano the points are worth the same everywhere. A big score on court 3 counts exactly as much as a big score on court 1, so nobody is out of the running for being on a low court early.
So which one?
You want the friendliest, most even session
Play Americano →Partners rotate by design and results never push anyone into a corner of the draw.
You want tension and a visible pecking order
Play Mexicano →The standings become the draw, so every round has something riding on it.