Scoreboard app for game nights, quizzes and sport

Three kinds of scoreboard

The same words cover different tools. Decide which one you're building, since each has a different screen.

Head-to-head

Two sides, two huge numbers, the screen split down the middle. Tap a side to add a point, swipe or long-press to take one away. Optional extras: a game clock, periods or sets, fouls or timeouts. Good for five-a-side, table tennis, padel, basketball in the park.

Multi-player tally

Three to twelve players, each with a running total and a list of round scores. This is the board game and card game score keeper: add each player's score at the end of a round, see the totals and who's leading. Rules like "first to 500" or "lowest score wins" (as in golf or some card games) change how the leader is shown.

Quiz night leaderboard

Teams down the side, rounds across the top, a total and a rank. The host enters scores on a laptop; the room watches a leaderboard view on the big screen, with the order animating as rounds come in. A joker round that doubles a team's score is a common rule to build in.

Details that stop arguments

Undo history. Every change logged with the time, and a one-tap undo of the last one. "Who scored that?" has an answer.
Big, stable digits. Fixed-width numbers that don't shift the layout when 9 becomes 10.
Colour per team. Names and colours set at the start and used everywhere.
Saved on every change. A dropped phone or closed tab mustn't reset the match. Each point is saved to that browser.
A clear end. Winner screen, then a New game that keeps the same players.
Handicaps and starting scores. A child playing adults can start on ten points, or a stronger darts player can start further back. Simple, and it keeps everyone playing.

Showing it on a big screen

The simplest setup is a laptop connected to a TV or projector, with the published scoreboard open in full-screen. Some smart TVs have a web browser that can open the link directly; test it, because TV browsers vary a lot in speed and remote-control navigation.

Because the app has no network, the screen and the controls have to be the same device. A host can't keep score on their phone while the TV shows it, since the two browsers don't share anything. For a quiz night, the practical answer is the laptop driving the projector, with a host view and an audience view as two modes on it, switched with a key.

Describing your scoreboard

"A quiz night scoreboard. Up to twelve teams with names and colours, 8 rounds, a joker round per team that doubles that round. Host mode: a grid to enter scores per round. Audience mode for the projector: ranked leaderboard, big type, rank changes animated, toggled with the S key. Undo the last entry. Pub-quiz feel, dark wood colours, bright team colours."

Or: "A head-to-head scoreboard for five-a-side on my phone. Tap a half to add a goal, long-press to remove. A 20-minute match clock with pause, half-time and a buzzer sound made in code. Works in landscape, readable in sunlight."

What it can't do

No remote control or second screens. No phone-as-remote, no players' phones showing the live score.
No live results online. Supporters can't follow from home; there's no server.
No sensors or video. It can't read scores from a dartboard, a camera or a buzzer system.
No league across weeks on several devices. History stays on one device. For a season, see the tournament bracket maker, and keep one device as the record.

For running the questions themselves, there's trivia game maker, and for a screen that runs all day in a venue, digital signage.

Questions people ask

Does the scoreboard app work on a smart TV?

If the TV has a web browser that can open the link, usually yes, but TV browsers vary. A laptop connected by HDMI is more dependable.

Will it lose the score if the phone locks?

Scores are saved in the browser on each change, so they're there when you unlock and reopen it.

Can two people keep score on different phones?

Not together. Each phone has its own copy, so pick one scorer.