Bowling Scoreboard
Tap the pins you knocked down; strikes, spares and the tenth frame are scored for you, frame by frame.
How to use
- Step 1Add the bowlers in Settings — up to six on one lane. The board keeps a row of ten frames for each of them.
- Step 2After every ball tap the number of pins you knocked down, or the X and / shortcuts. Counts that cannot happen are greyed out, and the turn passes to the next bowler as soon as a frame closes.
- Step 3Got a ball wrong? “Correct last roll” takes it back. Tap “Share live” to put the sheet on the house monitor or send it to the rest of the group.
How bowling is scored, frame by frame
A game is ten frames. In each of the first nine you get two balls to knock down ten pins, and the frame is scored one of three ways under the USBC playing rules:
- Strike (X) — all ten with the first ball. The frame is worth 10 plus whatever you knock down with your next two balls, so it can be worth up to 30.
- Spare (/) — all ten with two balls. The frame is worth 10 plus your next single ball, up to 20.
- Open frame — pins still standing after two balls. The frame is worth exactly the pins you knocked down, and a miss is written as a dash.
| Frame | Balls | How it scores | Frame value | Running total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1, 4 | open: 1 + 4 | 5 | 5 |
| 2 | 4, 5 | open: 4 + 5 | 9 | 14 |
| 3 | 6, / | spare: 10 + next ball (5) | 15 | 29 |
| 4 | 5, / | spare: 10 + next ball (10) | 20 | 49 |
| 5 | X | strike: 10 + next two balls (0, 1) | 11 | 60 |
| 6 | –, 1 | open: 0 + 1 | 1 | 61 |
| 7 | 7, / | spare: 10 + next ball (6) | 16 | 77 |
| 8 | 6, / | spare: 10 + next ball (10) | 20 | 97 |
| 9 | X | strike: 10 + next two balls (2, 8) | 20 | 117 |
| 10 | 2, /, 6 | spare, then the bonus ball: 10 + 6 | 16 | 133 |
The tenth frame and the maximum score
The tenth frame is different because a mark there has no later frame to borrow from, so the bonus balls are bowled on the spot. Strike with the first ball and you get two more; make a spare and you get one more. Miss, and the frame ends after two balls like any other.
That makes 30 the most a tenth frame can be worth, and 300 the most a game can be worth: twelve strikes in a row, nine frames of 30 plus 30 in the tenth. All spares with five pins each time is a 150 game, and a whole game of gutter balls is 0.
| Tenth frame | Balls bowled | Scores |
|---|---|---|
| X X X | three | 30 — a perfect finish |
| X 3 / | three | 20 — strike, then a spare on the fresh rack |
| 9 / X | three | 20 — spare, then a bonus strike |
| 9 / 3 | three | 13 |
| 7 2 | two | 9 — no mark, so no bonus ball |
What this scoreboard does
- Up to six bowlers on one sheet, each with their own ten frames, marks and running total.
- Running totals appear only when a frame can actually be resolved: a strike stays blank until the next two balls are bowled, exactly as a house monitor behaves. The number on the right is what you have scored so far including every bonus ball already thrown.
- Only legal pin counts are offered — after a first ball of 7 you can tap 0 to 3 and nothing else — so the sheet can never end up with an impossible game on it.
- The X button is available only on a full rack, and the / button only when pins are standing, so a ten after a gutter ball is scored as a spare and not as a strike.
- Whose turn it is moves on its own when a frame closes, and the current frame is highlighted; tap a name to jump back if somebody bowls out of order.
- “Best possible” shows the highest score the current bowler can still finish on, which is what people actually argue about halfway through a game.
Tips for league night
Score as you go rather than at the end of the frame: tap the first ball while the pins are being reset and the second while your team-mate is picking up their ball. Nobody has to remember whether the eighth frame was a spare or an open.
If the house scoring is down for one pair of lanes, open the board on a phone, tap “Share live” and put the view link on a tablet propped on the ball return. Everyone on the pair sees the same sheet, and only the person holding the edit link can change it.
Practice games are easier to read with one bowler: add the others only when the group turns up. Removing a bowler deletes their frames, so do it between games.
Questions and answers
Why is my strike frame blank until I bowl again?
Because a strike is not worth ten — it is worth ten plus your next two balls, and until those balls are thrown the frame genuinely has no total yet. Real lane displays leave it blank for the same reason. The number at the right-hand end of your row still moves, because it counts every bonus ball you have already bowled.
What is a turkey?
Three strikes in a row. Bowlers also call four in a row a four-bagger or a hambone, and five a yahtzee; the terms are tradition rather than rules, and none of them change the arithmetic. Each of those frames is still worth 10 plus the next two balls, which is why a run of strikes adds up so quickly.
How is a spare scored in the tenth frame?
You get one bonus ball, bowled on a full fresh rack, and the frame is worth 10 plus that ball. So 9 / 3 is 13 and 9 / X is 20. A strike with the first ball of the tenth earns two bonus balls instead, which is how X X X reaches the maximum of 30.
Can I bowl a 300 on this board?
Yes — tap X twelve times and the sheet shows 300. That is the only way to a perfect game: nine frames worth 30 each, plus 30 in the tenth. If a ball goes astray, “Correct last roll” takes back the last one you entered without clearing the game.
Does it handle handicap or team totals?
Not yet. The board scores scratch games exactly as USBC rules define them, one row per bowler. League handicap is a fixed number added to each bowler's scratch score afterwards, so it is easy to work out from what you see here.