Table Tennis ON SPORTSBUDDY

TABLE TENNIS, SCORED POINT BY POINT.

SportsBuddy scores table tennis on the ITTF shape: games to 11 won by two with no ceiling, best of five, and one time-out per player for the whole match rather than one per game. Every point is credited to a player, spectators follow the game-by-game score live in a browser, and the tournament table ranks on game difference automatically.

Table tennis looks like the easiest sport to score and is quietly one of the easiest to score wrongly. Eleven points, but win by two with no cap, so a game can run to 19-17. Best of five, so the match score matters as much as the game score. And exactly one time-out per player for the entire match, which does not come back when the next game starts.

That last one is where generic scoring apps fall over: they hand out an allowance per game because that is what every other racket sport does. SportsBuddy counts the table tennis time-out against the match, so a player who took theirs in the first game does not silently get another in the fourth.

The rest is deliberately quick. A rally is over in seconds and the scorer has no time for a form — one tap for who won it, one for how, and the app keeps the games, the deuce and the match state straight underneath.

SCORING

The scoring screen

Fast enough to keep up with a rally that lasted four shots.

Two taps a point

WHO SCORED? for the player and POINT TYPE for the shot — WINNER, SERVE ACE, OPPONENT ERROR or FAULT. That is the whole interaction, which is what it has to be at eleven points a game.

Deuce with no ceiling

At 10-all the game keeps going until someone leads by two, however long that takes. There is no cap to argue about, and the screen says DEUCE for as long as it lasts.

One time-out, for the match

The allowance is counted against the whole match, not per game — take it in game one and it is gone for games two through five. The time-out pips on the scoreboard show what is actually left.

Game point and match point

Flagged as they arrive, in a sport where a two-point swing at 10-10 decides a game and the game decides a best-of-five.

Corrections and retirements

CORRECT SCORE puts a drifted scoreboard right. END MATCH EARLY closes a retirement out with the score as it stood, and FINALIZE MATCH files the result when the last game is over.

Pick the match up on another device

Open the match under IN PROGRESS on a second phone and the games won, the current score and the point history rebuild — then carry on from the current point.

RULES

Format set per tournament

Best of five to 11 is the ITTF default and the app's. League nights and office ladders play something else, so every number moves.

Points per game

Eleven by default. Set it to 21 for a club that still plays the old scoring, and every fixture in the tournament follows.

Games in a match

Best of five as standard — the shape that makes table tennis a match rather than a game. Shorten it to best of three where the schedule demands, per tournament.

Win by two, or sudden death

Standard play needs the two-point margin with no cap. Switch the win condition and the first to the target takes the game outright, which is how you finish a 64-entry office event in one evening.

The time-out allowance

One per match is the default and it is deliberately not per game. Change the number if your competition differs, or set it to zero to remove the button entirely.

Singles and doubles

Lineups nominate one player a side or two. Set them before the match from the team dashboard, or let the scorer set or skip them on their own screen.

SPECTATORS

What everyone watching sees

Six tables in a hall with no room to stand behind them. The link is the seat.

The live score

Games won, the current game at full size, and the state of the game as it moves — within seconds of the tap at the table.

A tab for every game

Each game played keeps its own scoreline, so a match that went the distance reads as five games rather than a single aggregate number.

Point by point

The selected game rally by rally with the shot type, the player and the running score — the record of how a 12-10 actually happened.

No account, no install

One browser link for spectators, family and anyone following from the office. Nothing to download to see the score of the final.

ORGANIZERS

For whoever is running the tournament

Tables, rotas and the standings.

Standings on game difference

Points on your own per-win numbers, ties broken on games won minus games lost across every completed match — recalculated as each result lands.

Groups then knockouts

One table per group with the qualifying places marked, and group results kept out of the bracket they feed.

A scorer per table

Assign each fixture to whoever is umpiring that table. It appears in their assignments and can be reassigned when the rota moves on.

Entries and squads

Clubs and teams register themselves and you approve or reject; owners build their own squads. Your evening is not spent transcribing names.

One page for the event

Fixtures, live scores, results and tables on a single link that everyone in the hall can open at once.

TABLE TENNIS QUESTIONS

TABLE TENNIS ANSWERED.

Asked most often about table tennis on SportsBuddy. The screen-by-screen version of every flow lives in the step-by-step guides.

Does SportsBuddy score table tennis to 11, best of five?

Yes. Games run to 11 and the match is best of five by default, matching the ITTF shape. At 10-all the game continues until one side leads by two, with no upper cap, and the screen flags deuce, game point and match point as they arrive.

How does the table tennis time-out work?

The allowance is counted against the whole match rather than per game, which is what separates table tennis from the other racket sports. One time-out is the default, so a player who uses it in the first game has none left for the rest of the match, and the pips on the scoreboard show what remains.

Can I change the table tennis format for my tournament?

Yes. Points per game, the number of games in a match, the win condition and the time-out allowance are all tournament settings. A club still playing games to 21, or a one-evening ladder on best of three, is configured once at the top and applies to every fixture.

Does the app record which player won each point?

Yes, when a lineup is set. Every point is credited to a player and filed as a winner, serve ace, opponent error or fault, which builds a per-player record across the tournament. Without a lineup the scorer records team points instead, so a match never waits on a team sheet.

Can spectators watch table tennis matches online?

Yes. Every public match has a web page with the live score, games won, a tab for each game with its scoreline and the full point-by-point feed. No login and no install, so one link covers everyone watching from outside the hall.

How are table tennis standings worked out?

Teams are ranked on points from your tournament's own per-win configuration, with ties broken on game difference — games won minus games lost across every completed match. Groups get one table each with the qualifying places marked.
downloadGET STARTED — FREE

YOUR SPORT.
YOUR ROLE.

Download SportsBuddy, pick your role, and get started in under 2 minutes. No subscription needed to play.

Player

Player

Organizer

Organizer

Scorer

Scorer

Viewer

Viewer

Summary

Summary

🏆

Organizer

Create & run tournaments end-to-end

🛡️

Team Owner

Manage squad & join tournaments

🏅

Player

Build your profile & track stats

📋

Scorer

Score matches live from the field

👁️

Viewer

Follow live scores in real-time

Search for "The Sports Buddy" on Google Play or the App Store — that's us.

Just want to watch? Follow live scores on the website →