padelBOX Weiden: eight courts, five tennis courts, one roof

Eight indoor courts, all of them doubles, plus five tennis courts on the same site in Köln-Weiden. Several aggregator listings call this Germany's largest indoor padel facility, and it isn't: Hanse Padel in Hamburg has sixteen. Eight is still a lot — enough that a company event and three unrelated pairs can be in the building at the same time without anybody waiting.

Prices are the padelBOX grid: €24 an hour on weekday mornings up to 16:00, €34 after that and all weekend. The venue states 08:00 to midnight while the directories mostly print 23:00, so a late booking is worth confirming. Every court is a doubles court, which is worth registering before you arrive with an odd number — the operator's Lövenich site is the one with a singles court.

Eight doubles courts is thirty-two players on court and a ceiling of forty-two — a company tournament rather than an evening among friends. At thirty-two the Americano is out entirely: thirty-one rounds against the six an hour gives at 21 points. Run a Mexicano and set the target once for all eight courts.

Because every court is a doubles court, the sit-out queue has nowhere else to be. At forty-two players ten rest each round, and the honest answer is to book more courts or invite fewer people rather than to run a waiting list with a scoreboard attached.

€24 against €34 is a real difference at this scale. Eight courts cost €192 before 16:00 on a weekday and €272 after — €80 on the same session, which for thirty-two players is €2.50 a head.