Terms & Conditions

Last updated: 27 October 2026

Dar Open Play ("DOP", "the platform") is a free-to-use booking and community platform for pickleball sessions, tournaments, and coaching classes in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It is managed by Pickle in Dar, a branch of OwosTanzania, an international NGO (i-NGO) registered in Tanzania.

By creating an account or making a reservation through DOP, you agree to the following terms.

1. Joining the community

Joining DOP has three requirements, in this order:

An addiction to pickleball. 🎾
A DUPR ID. You can create one for free at dupr.com.
A sponsor: a current member of our community who introduces you. When you create your account you enter your sponsor's DUPR ID.

Your sponsor is kept on file with your account. Every new account is reviewed by the organizers before it can sign up for games, and an account without a valid sponsor may be declined. A one-game guest pass doesn't need these; becoming a full member does.

Members, guests and limited guests

Members (full sign-up, approved by the organizers) see and join the games open to their bracket, and use the member tools (rankings, forecast, sharing games, inviting a newcomer).
Guests sign up with the basics (email, phone, date of birth) to play one game at the normal price. To play more, complete the full sign-up.
Limited guests play by invitation only: they only see the games they've been invited to, and don't see the game list, announcements or member tools. A limited guest who hears about a game asks a member or an organizer to share it, then asks for an invite from the link. The organizers decide every invite, one by one, and may make any account a limited guest.

Visitors who aren't logged in only see a short preview of upcoming games. A game link shared with you opens once you're logged in.

2. The platform is free

DOP does not charge any fee to browse, create an account, or use the platform itself. Game fees you see listed (court costs, coaching fees, etc.) go toward covering the actual cost of running that specific session — venue rental, coaching, balls, and related expenses — not to DOP or its organizers as profit.

3. Signing up and paying for a game

When you sign up for a game, you're placing a reservation that is only confirmed once your payment is received (most mobile money payments are matched automatically) or an organizer confirms it. An unconfirmed ("pending payment") reservation does not guarantee your spot — if someone else completes payment before you, their spot is confirmed and yours may be released. Please don't hold up a space while you make up your mind.

Pay from your own registered number. Payments are matched to your account by the phone number on your profile. A payment from another number may not be recognised: tell us the transaction code so we can match it. Until then it isn't on your account.
A spot is personal: it can't be passed on to someone else without the organizers' agreement.

Self-reporting a payment

DOP may let you mark your own payment as sent, on the honor system, which confirms your spot immediately. This does not mean your payment has been verified — organizers check every self-reported payment against what was actually received. If a self-reported payment can't be verified, it will be reverted (your spot returns to "pending payment") and you'll be notified directly so you can resolve it with the organizer. If this happens twice on your account, your account will be automatically deactivated. Falsely marking a payment as sent when no payment was made is a violation of these terms regardless of how many times it occurs.

Payment deadlines

How long you have to pay after signing up depends on how close the game already is:

You have 12 hours from signing up to pay.
If the game is within 48 hours of starting — regardless of when you signed up — you only have 1 hour to pay.
If you have already missed a payment deadline once before on this same game, you only have 1 hour to pay the second time — and if you miss it again, you will not be able to sign up for that same game again.
A deadline that would fall between 22:00 and 09:00 moves to 09:00 that morning, unless that morning is the game day.

Missed deadlines result in automatic cancellation of your reservation, freeing the spot for someone else.

Cash at the court

Paying in cash at the court is only possible on private games where the organizers allow it. On those games, mobile money is paid at sign-up. Cash not paid at the court becomes a debt on your account, and you are reminded to pay it.

Pay later

Paying after the game is only possible by prior agreement with the organizers (for example, a parent paying for their children). The person who agreed to pay is responsible for everything owed under that arrangement.

4. Your balance, credits and debts

Your account keeps a ledger (My Ledger) of every charge, payment and credit. Payments are recorded in it from the mobile money received on our payment number. In a dispute, the mobile money records decide.

Family balances: family members linked on DOP share one balance: money and credit paid in by one can pay for another's games. 🏆 Prize credit is never shared: only the player who won it can use it.
Debts: an amount owed (an unpaid game, cash not paid at the court, an invite fee) must be paid by mobile money. The organizers may stop you booking until it is cleared.
Money credit: an overpayment, a payment we can't match to a game, money credited back after a cancellation, or a game cancelled by the organizers becomes money credit on your balance. Money credit can be used toward any game (except tournaments, and invite fees, which are paid in money).
Credit isn't paid out in cash, except in rare cases the organizers decide.

Which credit pays for what

Tournaments (from 20 October 2026) are paid in money only: no credit of any kind.
6 AM games (any game starting before 07:00) are paid in money or money credit only: no prize or coaching credit.
🎓 Coaching credit (e.g. earned by volunteering) can pay for coaching sessions, DUPR sessions and regular open play.
🏆 Prize credit can pay for regular open play only.

🏆 Prize credit

Prize credit is awarded for tournament results. It is for regular open play only, can't be transferred (including to family members) and expires on the date shown in My Ledger, usually 30 days after it's awarded. Unused prize credit is lost when it expires.
Each game takes one player paying with prize credit. If that place is taken, you can still join by paying with money, or use your prize on another game.
Prize credit used to pay for a game is non-refundable: if you cancel that spot, the prize credit used is not given back.
Prize strikes: cancelling a spot paid (in full or in part) with prize credit is a strike. After the 1st strike you are warned; at the 2nd strike you lose the rest of your prize credit from the tournament. Cancelling a spot you paid with money is not a strike.

Credit used to pay is non-refundable

A spot paid with credit (🏆 prize credit, 🎓 coaching credit, or any exceptional credit given by the organizers) is non-refundable: if you cancel it, that credit is not given back. Only real money you paid (mobile money or cash) can come back, as credit on your account.

5. Cancellations & credits

You can cancel your spot yourself from the game, at any time before it starts. Your spot is released straight away so someone else can take it.

Not paid yet: the reservation is simply cancelled; there is nothing to credit.
Paid: the organizers decide, case by case, either to credit the money you paid (mobile money or cash) to your DOP account, to use toward a future game, or to withhold the payment. You are notified of the decision.
Payments are not refunded in cash: a cancellation becomes credit, except in rare cases the organizers decide.
Credit used to pay is never given back (🏆 prize, 🎓 coaching or exceptional organizer credit), even when the money paid is credited.
If the organizers cancel a game, what you paid for it goes back on your account as credit.

6. Inviting a newcomer

A member signed up for a game can bring someone who isn't on DOP yet, with a personal invite link from that game:

Each game takes at most 2 newcomers.
The member pays a flat 8,000 TZS invite fee by mobile money (or cash to an organizer). Credit, including prize credit, can't be used for invite fees.
The fee is due as soon as the newcomer joins. The member is responsible for it: if the newcomer cancels or doesn't show up, the fee is still owed. A member with an unpaid invite fee can't invite anyone else.
An invite is a one-off for the newcomer. After that game they become a limited guest and join further games by invitation, at the normal price.

7. Brackets, eligibility and special games

Brackets are set by the organizers from your DUPR rating (Beginners below 2.4, LL 2.4–2.8, HL 2.8–3.4, Niners 3.4–3.9, 4.0+ from 3.9) and may change when your rating changes. Each game shows which brackets can join. Exceptions are at the organizers' discretion.
CPD drills: from 8 November 2026, Beginners and PreQual (LL/HL) players need 90 minutes of completed drill sessions in the last 30 days to sign up for regular games. Sessions count for 30 days, then drop off.
Partner-pool games: Niners, 4.0+ and players rated 3.5+ sign up and each calls one partner from the game's list (up to half the spots). Listed players first say IN or OUT, and can only join once a caller has called them and they accept. The called player pays for their own spot, at the normal price.
Private games are by invitation: only invited players see and join them.

8. Conduct, attendance and account status

Players are expected to treat other players, organizers, coaches, and venue staff with respect, and to follow each venue's rules.

Late and no-show strikes: an organizer can mark a confirmed player late or a no-show. The 1st strike is a warning. The 2nd strike deactivates your account for 60 days, after which it is reactivated automatically and the strikes are cleared. A no-show's payment is not credited back.
Inactive accounts: an account with no activity for 4 weeks, or that hasn't booked a game within 1 week of joining, is deactivated. You can ask for reactivation from the home page.
Repeated missed payment deadlines, false payment claims or disruptive conduct may lead to your account being deactivated or made a limited guest.
One account per person. You are responsible for everything booked from your account.

9. DUPR ratings

Some sessions are run as official DUPR-rated matches, and results from those sessions are submitted to DUPR. For other sessions, match results are only submitted to DUPR if all four players in that specific match agree.

10. No guarantee of availability

DOP does its best to run sessions as scheduled, but games may be rescheduled, moved, or cancelled due to weather, venue availability, insufficient signups, or other circumstances outside our control. If the organizers cancel a game, what you paid for it goes back on your account as credit.

11. Health, safety and liability

Pickleball is a physical sport. You take part at your own risk and are responsible for being fit to play.
DOP, Pickle in Dar and OwosTanzania are not liable for injury, illness, or loss of or damage to personal belongings at any session, except where the law says otherwise.
Players under 18 need a parent or guardian's consent to play. The parent or guardian is responsible for them and for any amounts owed.

12. Questions and disputes

If something about a payment, a charge, a credit or a cancellation looks wrong, tell the organizers within 7 days, with the mobile money transaction code where there is one. After that, the ledger stands.
The organizers review every dispute against the records (mobile money messages and the DOP ledger) and let you know the outcome.
The organizers' decisions are final on games, brackets, payments and credits, and on approving members, guests and limited guests and on any account's status. They don't have to give reasons, though they may choose to explain a decision if asked.
These terms are governed by the laws of Tanzania.

13. 💳 Wallet terms

This section is the complete set of rules for the wallet. Where it differs from the rest of these terms, this section applies to anything paid from or into a wallet.

The wallet is an optional prepaid balance for shared-cost games and coaching. It is kept separate from your balance in My Ledger: credit can't pay a wallet spot, and the wallet can't pay tournaments or invite fees. Only real money goes into a wallet (mobile money, cash, an overpayment, or a payment returned when the organizers cancel a game); 🏆 prize and 🎓 coaching credit never do.

Topping up

Top-ups are 40,000 TZS or more for a personal, parent's or child's wallet, and 60,000 TZS or more for a couple's joint wallet, sent by mobile money to our payment number (or cash given to an organizer).
A top-up you report shows as pending until the payment SMS arrives. A reported top-up with no matching payment within 48 hours is cancelled; contact the organizers with the transaction code if you did send it.
Overpayments: if you pay more than a game costs, the extra moves to your wallet (in a family, the family's main wallet) once the wallet is turned on, whatever its balance. Any money your family owes is settled first. By turning the wallet on you agree to this.

Paying for games from the wallet

Shared-cost games: when your spot is confirmed, the game's highest wallet price is held in your wallet. One hour before the game, your share is taken: the session's costs plus the wallet margin, divided by the players then confirmed (never fewer than the game's minimum). Your share is never more than the highest wallet price shown when you booked; if the real costs turn out higher, the organizers cover the difference. If they turn out lower, the organizers may re-settle the session and your share goes down.
Coaching: the fixed price is taken from the wallet when your spot is confirmed.
A sign-up the wallet doesn't cover is held for 20 minutes for a top-up, then released.
Available means your balance minus what's held for your upcoming games. New sign-ups and transfers can only use what's available.
If a game's price changes after you booked, what your spot holds changes with it, and you're asked to top up if the wallet no longer covers it.

Cancellations on the wallet

Cancelling before your share is taken: nothing is taken, and the hold is released.
Cancelling after your share is taken: if someone takes your spot, the share comes back to your wallet automatically. If nobody does, the share is kept, as for any late cancellation.
A no-show is charged their share like everyone who played.
If the organizers cancel a game (rain included), anything taken for it goes back to your wallet.

👪 Family and joint wallets

Family wallets are set up by the organizers at the family's request. A family wallet has signatories: one parent, or both partners of a couple.
Couple's joint wallet: one balance shared by both partners. Either partner can top up, book with it and move money to the children. Each partner is responsible for the whole wallet, and money already in either partner's wallet joins it. A transfer can't take it below 20,000 TZS.
Parent's family wallet: run by one parent. A transfer can't take it below 15,000 TZS.
Children's wallets: each child has their own wallet. A child can see it and book with it, but can't top up, move or withdraw money. Money in a child's wallet belongs to the family and is managed by the signatories, who are responsible for their children's bookings and charges.
Transfers are made by a signatory, 20,000 TZS or more each, only between the family wallet and a child's wallet (never between children). A transfer can't take a child's wallet below 15,000 TZS. These minimum balances apply to transfers only: games can use the whole balance.
If a family asks to stop sharing, each wallet stays with its holder: a joint wallet's balance stays with the partner who holds it unless both partners agree in writing to split it.

Refunds from the wallet

The wallet is for paying games, not a savings account: money in it is not refunded on request while you keep playing.
Leaving DOP (moving away, or closing your account): you can ask the organizers in writing to pay out your wallet. They pay the available balance (not what's held for upcoming games), by mobile money, within 14 days, less the mobile money transfer fee. Your wallet is then closed.
Refunds are paid to the number the top-ups came from. A child's wallet is paid out to a signatory. A joint wallet is paid out only with both partners' agreement, to the number(s) they choose.
Money the organizers added as a goodwill correction is not paid out.
In any other case (hardship, a long injury), the organizers may decide to refund all or part of a wallet. Their decision is final.
Turning the wallet off doesn't refund it: the balance stays and pays the spots already booked on it.

Corrections

The organizers can correct a wallet when something was recorded wrongly (for example, a top-up counted twice or a payment that wasn't received). You're told about any correction, and section 12 (questions and disputes) applies to the wallet like the rest of your account.

14. Changes to these terms

These terms may be updated from time to time. When they change, you'll be asked to read and accept the new terms to keep using the platform.

15. Contact

Questions about these terms can be sent to events@pickleindar.com.