Scorers and officials
The scorer's table playbook
Everything before the first whistle, in the order you do it, plus the jersey-number rules that stop a game having to be rebuilt afterwards.
After the first basket, compare the app against the scoreboard. If the points are on the wrong side, stop and call your league manager. Thirty seconds now, or a rebuilt game later.
Live stats: scoring a game walks through the encoder screen once the game is running. This page is the setup that comes first, and the rules that keep the record correct.
1. Set up and sign in
Ten minutes early. All of this is harder at the first whistle.
- A tablet or laptop, in landscape. The encoder refuses portrait and shows Rotate Your Device.
- Sign in as the court account, the one named for your table, not your personal login. It stops the game being locked to somebody who has gone home.
- A normal browser window, not private or incognito. The offline safety net needs to store events on the device.
- One tab only. Two copies of the same game will disagree, and the encoder will warn you.
- Open the game: Manage › Season › Games, find the fixture, press Live Stats.
2. Identify the two teams
Get this wrong and every tap after it is wrong. Four ways to be sure.
| Check | What to look for |
|---|---|
| The schedule | The team listed first, on the left or on top, is home and usually wears the light jerseys. The second wears dark. |
| The jersey | Club name and logo on the jersey, against the name on each panel. Two squads from one club look alike; the logo does not. |
| A player | Take a name off the panel and find that number on the bench in front of you. |
| Ask | The coach will tell you in five seconds. So will the referees, who have already checked both rosters. |
Jersey colours clash, a team sometimes arrives in the wrong colour, and a home side sometimes plays in dark. Treat the colour as your first guess and confirm it with the logo or the coach. Then say it out loud: "left panel is the team in white".
3. Match the panels to the court
Two settings, once, so the screen agrees with what you are looking at.
Jersey Colors
Set both teams to the jerseys in front of you. It colours the scoreboard and the team labels, so a glance tells you which panel is which. The defaults come from the team profile and are often not what they are wearing today.
Swap Sides
Turn this on if your table faces the court from the other end, so the panel on your left is the team on your left. It mirrors the display only; it does not change which team is which.
Both live in Settings on the encoder. Teams change ends at half time and the panels do not, so re-say the sides to yourself rather than re-swapping them.
4. Check the rosters
Panel against bench, before anyone touches the ball.
- Both panels have players. An empty one means no roster was submitted. Find the team manager now.
- Scroll the whole list. It runs past one screen on most tablets, and a player you think is missing is usually further down.
- Walk the bench with the coach if the panel and the players do not line up. Faster than working it out alone, and they can name anyone you cannot.
- Note the jersey numbers on court that are not on the panel. Those are the ones you add next.
5. Add anyone missing
A player who is not on the list is normal. Two checks first.
Do
- Confirm the jersey number is not further down the same panel
- Confirm the jersey number is not on the other panel, which usually means the sides are swapped
- Add with the jersey number and no name if you do not know it, then ask the coach for the name
- Use the distinguisher field for a second player in the same number: "red shoes", "taller"
Never
- Change an existing player's jersey number to match somebody on court
- Guess a name to fill the field
- Invent a different jersey number to tell two players apart
- Tap the other team's panel because the number you want is only there
| Case | What to do |
|---|---|
| Two players, same jersey number, same team | Allowed. Add both, and fill the distinguisher |
| 0 and 00 | Different jerseys, treated as different. Record what is on the jersey |
| You cannot read the jersey number | Add with no jersey number plus a distinguisher. Blank is recoverable, wrong is not |
| You do not know the name | Leave it blank. (unnamed) asks the manager to finish the job; a guess never gets fixed |
6. Starting fives and tipoff
- Set both starting fives from who is actually on court, not from who is listed first.
- Press Start Game and record the jump winner.
- Score the first basket, then check the scoreboard. Right team, right side. This is the check in the red box at the top.
7. During the game
Two people record far more than one. Here is how to split it, and what each stat actually needs.
The caller watches the game
Never the screen. Call the jersey number first, then the action, the same way every time: "twelve, two", "twenty-three, steal". Numbers, not names.
The operator watches the screen
Taps what they hear and keeps up. Ask again only if you did not catch it. Never debate a call mid-possession, you will lose the next two plays.
On your own? Record points and fouls first, they decide the game and the bonus. Everything below is a bonus, and no stat at all beats a wrong one.
| Stat | Whose jersey number you need |
|---|---|
| AST | The passer. Record the basket first, then select the passer and tap AST: it attaches to that team's most recent unassisted basket, so you never have to catch the pass live |
| STL | The defender who took it, not the player who lost it. A turnover for the other team is recorded separately |
| BLK | The defender. It happens away from the ball you are following, so this is the one a partner catches and a solo scorer misses |
| Rebound | The rebounder. Offensive or defensive depends on which team shot, and the button asks you |
| Turnover | The player who lost it, or nobody at all for a team turnover |
You do not have to see the pass. Score the basket, then tap the passer and press AST. Older ones can still be credited afterwards from the play-by-play, so a quiet minute late in a period is a good time to catch up.
- Enter substitutions at the dead ball, not the moment the horn goes. Nobody is watching the bench while the ball is live.
- Missed something? Let it go. A missing stat is recoverable, a guessed one is not.
- Do not stop mid-possession to fix an older entry. Fix it at the next dead ball from the play-by-play.
- Keep an eye on team fouls in the header so the bonus does not catch you out.
- Glance at the scoreboard every few minutes, not only after the first basket.
- Swap roles between periods if you are there all day. Calling is more tiring than tapping.
Changing an existing number
A jersey number lives on the team's season roster, not on this game. Changing it renames that player for every future fixture, and it rewrites who wore what in games already played. One game where five numbers were edited to match the other team took a full rebuild to untangle.
So the jersey number on court does not match the panel. Almost always the answer is add a player, not edit one. Only change an existing number when the player has genuinely changed jersey, and then:
- Confirm with the coach or team manager first. Not the player, and not by eye.
- Ask what they wore before. Everything recorded so far is filed under the old jersey number.
- Tell your league manager after the game, so the roster and the play-by-play can be reconciled.
- If you cannot reach anyone, do not change it. Add a player with the new jersey number and report it. Nothing is lost that way.
Before you leave the table
Ninety seconds, while both teams are still in the gym.
- End the game with End Game, not by closing the tab.
- Final score matches the scoreboard. Both numbers, and which side.
- Top scorer on each side looks right. Ask a coach. Catches a swapped game instantly.
- No jersey numbers that team was not wearing. That is the fingerprint of a wrong-panel tap.
- Pick Player of the Game while you can still see the court.
- Report anything odd today. Not next week, once it has reached the standings.
If the sides are swapped
Nothing warns you, because every tap still lands on a player. These are the tells.
| What you notice | What it means |
|---|---|
| Scoreboard and app disagree on who leads | Conclusive. Stop, call your league manager |
| Five jersey numbers on court are missing from the panel | You are on the other team's list. One or two missing is normal |
| The jersey number you are adding is on the other panel | Almost always swapped. Check before you add |
| You keep renumbering people to match the court | You are editing one team to describe the other. Stop |
Carry on exactly as you have been and tell your league manager afterwards. A consistently swapped game still records the right jersey number on every play, which is what lets it be turned around in one operation. Re-tapping and renumbering destroys that, and then it has to be untangled play by play.
Common questions
I think I have been scoring on the wrong panels
Keep going exactly as you are, finish, and report it the same day. Do not switch mid-game and do not renumber anyone.
A player says their jersey number is wrong on the screen
Check with the coach or team manager, not the player. If it really did change, see Changing an existing number. If you cannot confirm it, leave it and report it after.
The jersey number I need is only on the other team's panel
Add the player to the correct panel. Tapping the other one credits the play to an opponent, in their season statistics.
Two players have the same jersey number
Allowed, and more common than you would think. Add both with that jersey number and use the distinguisher field.
Can I fix a wrong tap?
Undo the most recent action from the play-by-play. Anything older, leave it and report it.
Nobody sent a roster. Do I still score?
Yes. Add who you can see, numbers and no names, and tell your league manager which team was missing. A game nobody scored is the only unrecoverable one.
Does any of this change the score?
A swapped game does, it changes the result and the standings. A wrong player within the correct team does not, only who is credited. Report both.