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Basketball scorekeeping cheat sheet

Hand this to the volunteer parent who just got asked to "do the book." Ten things to track, five signals to watch, and the mistakes that cause 90% of disputes — all mapped to HooperScore buttons.

Your 10 jobs at the table

  1. Score: +1 free throw, +2 inside, +3 outside. Confirm 2 vs 3 with the referee's fingers.
  2. Game clock: Start on legal touch, stop on every whistle. Space key.
  3. Shot clock: Full reset (R) on change of possession, 14s reset (Q) on offensive rebound.
  4. Period: Advance 1 → 2 → 3 → 4, then OT. Reset team fouls each period.
  5. Team fouls: +1 per personal foul. Watch Bonus light.
  6. Timeouts: Tap one dot off per call, announce remaining.
  7. Possession arrow: Flip (P) on every held ball.
  8. Horn: Auto at 0:00. Manual horn only for quarter breaks or emergencies — never mid-play.
  9. Announce: Say score, fouls and timeouts out loud after every dead ball.
  10. Protect the record: Photo the final board. Don't reset until both coaches agree.

5 referee signals you must know

  • 2 fingers / 3 fingers up: That's the basket value. Tap +2 or +3 to match — not what the crowd shouts.
  • Fist + number, then point: Foul on that player number. Add 1 team foul to their team.
  • Arms crossed / T-shape: Timeout. Stop clock immediately, tap one dot off.
  • Thumbs up / jump-ball signal: Held ball — flip the possession arrow.
  • Waving off / "no basket": Don't score it even if the ball went in (e.g., after the whistle, offensive foul).

Rule: watch the referee, not the ball. The ball lies in chaos; the referee tells you what counts.

Running clock vs stopped clock

Stopped clock (default): Clock stops on every whistle — fouls, violations, out of bounds, timeouts. Used in NBA, NCAA, high school varsity.

Running clock (youth tournaments): Clock keeps running except timeouts and the last 2 minutes. If your event uses running clock, agree it before tip: "Running except last 2:00 stopped." Otherwise every game runs 30 minutes long.

HooperScore works for both — just don't stop the clock on whistles in running-clock mode. Switch to stopped-clock for the final 2 minutes and tell both benches.

7 mistakes that cause disputes (and how to avoid them)

  1. Adding a 3-pointer as +2. Fix: always mirror the referee's fingers.
  2. Forgetting to reset team fouls at the quarter. Fix: advance period first, then check fouls read 0–0.
  3. Giving free throws on an offensive foul in bonus. Fix: offensive foul = ball to defense, no shots, ever.
  4. Missing the 14s reset and giving a full 24s after an offensive rebound. Fix: Q, not R.
  5. Resetting the board before coaches confirm. Fix: photo first, reset second.
  6. Screen sleeping mid-game. Fix: enable wake-lock + fullscreen before tip.
  7. Two people tapping at once. Fix: one owns clocks, one owns scores — or one solo with hotkeys.

Print this in your head: S-C-F-T-P

Score – Clock – Fouls – Timeouts – Possession. After every whistle, check those five in order and you'll never lose a game.

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More: High School Rules Guide · How to use the board · All guides