How to use the Pickleball Scoreboard

A simple guide for scorekeepers. Everything is done with big buttons on your phone or tablet. Free, ad-free, no sign-up, nothing to install.

Open the scoreboard

1Quick start

Open pickleballscoreboard.online. A welcome message appears. Tap Continue to scoreboard. To read this guide later, tap How to use the scoreboard on the welcome message, or the ? button at the top.
At the top, choose 1 vs 1 for singles or Team for doubles.
Tap Settings, type the player names, then tap Done.
When the players are ready, tap the green Start game button. Then each time the serving side wins a rally, tap the big +1. When the serving side loses a rally, tap the button next to it.

Good to know: only the serving side has a +1 button. The other side cannot score by accident, just like real pickleball where only the serving side scores.

Welcome message with Donate now and Continue to scoreboard buttons — The welcome message

2Settings

Settings window with tournament name, court number, game to, serves first and player names — The Settings window

Tap Settings at the bottom of the scoreboard. Fill in what you need, then tap Done.

Tournament name: Shown in big letters at the very top. Leave it blank to hide it.
Court #: The court number, shown on the score bar. It stays the same for every new match.
Game to: 11, 15 or 21 points. Choose Custom to type any number. Games are always won by 2.
Serves first: Which team serves first. This can only be changed before the first rally.
Team name: Optional, Team mode only. If left blank, the board shows the two player names, like "Troy & Heather".
Player names: Team 1 is always blue and Team 2 is always red.
Clear: Empties all the boxes so you can type fresh names. Tap it twice to confirm.

3Keeping score

Every game begins with a green Start game button on the serving side. The scoring buttons appear only after you tap it, so nobody adds a point by accident while players warm up.

After every rally, tap one button on the serving side's panel:

+1 Serving side won the rally: Adds one point. In Team mode, the server and partner switch sides, and the boxes switch too.
Second server Serving side lost, first server: Team mode only. The partner serves next.
Side out Serving side lost, last server: The serve goes to the other team. Their +1 button appears.

The scoreboard keeps track of who serves, from which side, and what to call. You only need to say who won each rally.

Who is serving?

A red arrow ❯ appears in front of the serving player's name.
The yellow ball between the panels shows the server number, 1 or 2. The small triangle next to it points to the serving team.
Each player box starts with a big 1 or 2, the player's server number.

The score call

Under the score bar, CALL shows exactly what the server should say before serving. In Team mode it has three numbers: serving team's score, other team's score, server number. A doubles game starts at 0-0-2.

Made a mistake? Tap Undo. It takes back the last tap. You can tap it again to go back further.

Scoreboard during a doubles game. Loren is serving with server number 1; call is 1-2-1 — Team game in progress: Loren serves, call is 1-2-1

4Reading the board

Top of the scoreboard: tournament name, game number, mode buttons, score bar with court number, games and points — The top of the scoreboard

Score bar: Like the score box on TV. It shows the court number, each team's name, games won (GAMES) and points (PTS). The small yellow ball marks the serving team.
Game number and target: Top left, for example "Game 1, to 11, win by 2".
Big number on each panel: The team's score in this game.
Green lights above the names: Each player has a strip of small boxes. One box lights up green each time that player scores while serving, so you can see who earned the points.
Two small squares, top right of each panel: Games won in this match. A square fills in for each game the team wins.
? button: Top right, next to the sun / moon button. Opens this guide in a new tab. Your game stays on the scoreboard.
Sun / moon button: Top right. Switches between the dark board and a light board. Use the light board in bright sunlight if the dark one is hard to see.

5When a game ends

Scoreboard showing FINAL 11-2 with a Next game button — The game is over

When a team reaches the winning score and is ahead by 2, the game ends by itself:

FINAL appears on the score bar and between the panels, with the final score.
A check mark ✓ marks the winning team, and their games won goes up by one.
The board stays on screen so players can see the result.

When everyone is ready, tap Next game. The score goes back to zero, the other team serves first, and the teams switch ends on the screen, just as players switch ends on the court. Tap Start game when the players are ready.

Ended by mistake? Tap Undo to take back the winning point and keep playing.

6The bottom buttons

Undo: Takes back the last tap. Tap again to go back more.
Switch ends: Swaps the two teams on the screen so the board matches where the players stand. Scores do not change.
Settings: Names, tournament name, court number and points to win. See Settings.
New match: Starts over. Scores and games won go back to zero, but player names stay. It asks first, so tap Keep playing if you pressed it by accident.

71 vs 1 games

Tap 1 vs 1 at the top. Each side then shows one player.

There is no second server. When the server loses the rally, tap Side out.
The box shows which side to serve from: Right side when the server's score is even, Left side when it is odd.
The call has two numbers: server's score, then the opponent's score.

Note: switching between 1 vs 1 and Team starts a new match, so the scoreboard asks you first.

Scoreboard in 1 vs 1 mode with Troy serving from the right side — 1 vs 1: Troy serves from the right side

8Scoring rules in short

Only the serving side can score a point.
Games are usually played to 11, and you must win by 2. At 10-10, play continues until one side is 2 points ahead.
Doubles: both partners serve before a side out, except at the very start of a game. The first serving team gets only one server, which is why the game starts at 0-0-2.
The first server of each turn serves from the right side of the court.
After each point won, the server switches sides with their partner and serves again.

The scoreboard follows all of these rules for you.

9Helpful tips

Nothing is lost if the page closes. Scores and names are saved on your device. Open the scoreboard again and it picks up where you left off.
Each court needs its own device. Each phone or tablet keeps its own scores, so use one device per court.
Turn the phone sideways or use a tablet to see both teams side by side.
Keep the screen on. The scoreboard asks the device to stay awake. If your screen still turns off, check the display or auto-lock setting on your phone.
Add it to your home screen for quick access. On iPhone, tap Share, then "Add to Home Screen". On Android, tap the menu ⋮, then "Add to Home screen".

10Support and contact

The scoreboard is free to use and ad-free. Tips and donations help pay for site development, web hosting, and the work that goes into it. Any amount is appreciated.

To donate, tap ♥ Support this app at the bottom of the scoreboard, or Donate now on the welcome message. You can scan a PayPal, GCash, Maya or BPI code. The welcome message also appears again after every second game.

Comments, suggestions, inquiries: send email to admin@pickleballscoreboard.online