How to Use a Live Basketball Scoreboard

1. Go to the Free Scoreboard page on JudgeMate.
2. Select Basketball from the 22 available sports (as of 2026).
3. Tap "Create Scoreboard".

The system instantly generates two links:

• Admin link (with a secret token) — this is your control panel. Only you can change the score, clock, and fouls.
• Spectator link (no token), this is the read-only view for fans, displayed on phones, tablets, TVs, or projectors.

Important: Bookmark or save your admin link immediately. If you lose it, you cannot regain control of the board. The spectator link can be shared freely — anyone with the link sees the live score.

Before the game starts, you'll see the Setup Screen:

• Team names — type up to 20 characters per team (default: HOME / GUEST). Use the actual team names for the best spectator experience.
• Team colors, choose from 12 presets: red, orange, amber, lime, green, teal, cyan, blue, purple, pink, gray, white. Colors appear on both the admin panel and the spectator view.
• Tap "Start Game" when ready.

While you're in setup, spectators see a waiting screen: "Game Starting Soon — Waiting for the host to start..."

Once you tap Start, the board goes LIVE and spectators see the score, clock, and quarter number in real-time.

Basketball scoring in JudgeMate uses three buttons per team to match real basketball scoring:

• +1 — Free throw (1 point)
• +2, Two-point field goal (layup, dunk, mid-range)
• +3, Three-pointer

Each team also has a minus (−) button to correct mistakes. The score can never go below 0.

Every tap updates the spectator screen instantly — there is no delay. If you accidentally add the wrong points, tap minus to subtract and then add the correct amount.

Tip: During fast breaks and quick possessions, the +2 button is your most-used control. Keep your thumb near it for speed.

Basketball uses a countdown clock — it starts at 10:00 (FIBA) and counts down to 0:00.

Basic Controls

• START (blue button) — starts the clock counting down.
• PAUSE (yellow button), pauses the clock. Use this on every whistle (fouls, out-of-bounds, timeouts, free throws).

Adjusting the Clock

Tap "Adjust clock" under the clock. A sheet opens with six steps: −1:00, −0:10, −0:01, +0:01, +0:10, +1:00. The steps add up, and a preview shows the corrected time before you apply it.

Use it to sync the scoreboard clock with the official game clock if they drift apart, or to set the remaining time when you take over a game mid-quarter.

Important: The clock does not stop by itself at 0:00. When the quarter ends, pause it, then tap "End period" and tap again to confirm. The board moves on to the next quarter.

Basketball games follow a fixed period structure:

Advancing Periods

Tap "End period", then tap again to confirm. The board advances: Quarter 1 → 2 → 3 → 4 → Overtime 1 → Overtime 2...

When you advance to overtime, the clock automatically changes from 10:00 to 5:00 (the FIBA overtime period length).

What Happens on Period Change

• The clock resets to the period length (10:00 for quarters, 5:00 for OT).
• The quarter label updates on both admin and spectator screens.
• Fouls follow FIBA carry-over rules (see Foul Tracking section below).

There is no limit on overtime periods — you can keep advancing as long as needed until the game is decided.

The shot clock is a separate timer that tracks the 24-second possession limit. JudgeMate gives you two reset buttons, 24s and 14s, and Article 29 of the FIBA rules decides which of the two is correct in any given stoppage.

The Two Reset Buttons

• 24s — full reset. The opponents gain the ball (steal, made basket, defensive rebound), or the team keeping the ball restarts from its own backcourt.
• 14s — partial reset. The same team keeps the ball and restarts in its frontcourt (subject to the 14-second rule below), or its shot touched the ring and it regained the rebound.

The Two Details Operators Get Wrong

It is the ring, not the rebound. Art. 29.2.7 resets the shot clock only after the ball has touched the ring of the opponents' basket — to 24 seconds if the opponents gain control, to 14 if the shooting team regains it. An air ball that never touches the ring resets nothing at all: the clock keeps counting down from where it was, and a team can be whistled for a 24-second violation moments after grabbing its own offensive rebound. "Tap 14s on every offensive rebound" is the single most common mistake behind a scoreboard.

14 or more means no reset at all. When a referee stops the game for a foul or violation by the team not in control, the ball goes back to the team that already had it. If that throw-in is in its frontcourt, Art. 29.2.2 splits on what the display shows: with 13 seconds or less the shot clock is reset to 14; with 14 seconds or more it is not reset and continues from where it stopped. In that second case the 14s button is wrong — leave the clock alone. In the backcourt the answer is 24 — unless the game was stopped for a reason connected with neither team, or a reset would disadvantage the opponents, in which case Art. 29.2.2 lets the clock continue.

When the throw-in instead goes to the opponents, after a foul or violation by the team that had the ball, Art. 29.2.3 is simpler and has no threshold: 24 seconds in their backcourt, 14 in their frontcourt.

Art. 29.2.6 and the New Foul Types

The OBR 2026 write the new foul names straight into the shot clock article. Note what this is and is not: FIBA's summary of the 2026 rule changes does not list Article 29 among the changed articles, so treat 29.2.6 as reworded rather than new in substance — the 14-second throw-in-line restart is the one the abolished unsportsmanlike foul already carried, now attached to the two fouls that replaced it. When a team is awarded a throw-in from the throw-in line in its frontcourt opposite the scorer's table as part of the penalty for a disruptive, flagrant or disqualifying foul, the shot clock is reset to 14 seconds — with no threshold, whatever the display showed when play stopped. The Official Basketball Rules Interpretations 2026 walk the same throw-in line through worked examples 12-8, 12-19 and 12-10(b), each of which ends on 14 seconds.

One asymmetry is worth knowing at the table: the interpretations state that a disruptive foul cannot occur during an interval of play, while a flagrant foul can (OBRI 12-10). A disruptive foul whistled as the quarter-end signal sounds is therefore disregarded, and the next quarter starts normally from the centre line with 24 seconds. A flagrant foul in that same instant is not disregarded: 2 free throws are taken before the quarter starts, and play then resumes at the throw-in line with 14 seconds.

How It Works on the Board

The shot clock runs independently of the game clock, but JudgeMate keeps the two in step: pause the game clock and the shot clock pauses with it, start it again and the shot clock follows.

• Tap 24s after every change of possession — the most frequent action of the game.
• Tap 14s after a rebound of a shot that hit the ring, not after every offensive rebound.
• The shot clock display is visible to spectators alongside the game clock.
• If you miss a reset, adjust manually — for recreational play, shot clock accuracy is a convenience rather than a game-breaker.

For how those free throws land on the scoreline see how basketball scoring works; for the officiating side of the same restarts see the basketball referee guide.

JudgeMate tracks team fouls with a single counter per team — one number per side, no foul types and no individual player fouls.

Adding and Removing Fouls

• + button — add a team foul
• − button — remove a team foul (for corrections)

Bonus Indicator

The bonus indicator turns red when a team's counter reaches 5 team fouls in the current quarter. Under FIBA Art. 42 a team is already in the team-foul penalty situation once it has committed 4 team fouls in a quarter, and every foul from the fifth on — even on a player not in the act of shooting — is punished with 2 free throws instead of a throw-in.

Read the light as a confirmation rather than a warning: it appears alongside the foul that has already earned free throws. The team worth watching is the one sitting on 4.

The indicator shows on both the admin panel and the spectator view, so people in the hall can see which team is in the penalty situation.

When the Counter Resets

The board zeroes both foul counters at exactly two moments: entering the second half (Q2 → Q3) and entering every overtime (Q4 → OT1, OT1 → OT2, and so on). Across Q1 → Q2 and Q3 → Q4 the fouls carry over.

FIBA counts differently, and the gap matters if you are keeping the score for an official game.

Correction (27 August 2026): earlier versions of this guide presented the board's reset pattern as the FIBA rule. It is not. Under FIBA Art. 42 the team-foul count resets at the start of every quarter, and fouls committed in an overtime are treated as fourth-quarter fouls, so overtime carries the Q4 count forward instead of clearing it. If you are running a FIBA-rules game, tap − down to zero at the start of Q2 and Q4, and re-enter the fourth-quarter total when overtime begins.

Why this matters: a team on 4 fouls late in a quarter is one whistle from giving away free throws on every contact. Under FIBA that pressure is released at the next quarter break; on the board, unless you clear it manually, it survives into Q2 and Q4.

On 1 October 2026 the FIBA Official Basketball Rules 2026 replace the 2024 edition worldwide. For the person running a scoreboard the scoreline is untouched — a free throw is still 1 point, a field goal 2 or 3, and the penalty situation still begins after the fourth team foul of a quarter. What changes is the foul log: which fouls exist, what they are called on the scoresheet, and which of them can end a player's game.

The Unsportsmanlike Foul Is Gone

FIBA has removed the unsportsmanlike foul and split it in two. The disruptive foul (Art. 37) covers tactical contact — a defender who is not legitimately playing the ball stopping a transition attack, killing the clock at the end of a quarter, or hitting an opponent from behind on a clear path to the basket. The flagrant foul (Art. 38) covers contact that is not a legitimate basketball play, is reckless, violent or dangerous, or is excessively hard.

Both are charged to the offender and both count as one of the team fouls, and their free-throw penalties are word-for-word the old unsportsmanlike penalty: 2 free throws on a player not in the act of shooting, the goal plus 1 free throw if the basket counted, and 2 or 3 free throws if it did not. Your score column therefore behaves exactly as it did before.

Two Categories of Technical Foul

Technical fouls are now graded by severity. Category 1 covers behaviour — dissent towards officials, taunting an opponent, blocking an opponent's vision, swinging elbows without contact, faking being fouled. Category 2 covers administration — delaying the game, hanging on the ring, or goaltending the last free throw, where the offensive team is awarded the point before the technical penalty is applied.

Only category 1 counts towards game disqualification. A player is disqualified for the rest of the game on two category 1 technicals, two flagrant fouls, or one of each — a deliberately looser threshold than the old rule, which ejected a player for any two technicals or unsportsmanlike fouls in combination.

What Actually Touches Your Counter

A technical foul charged to a player counts as one of the team fouls. A technical foul charged to anyone on the bench goes to the head coach and does not count as a team foul (Art. 36.3.1). That one line decides whether your team-foul counter should move at all.

The scoresheet markings are new as well: DI for a disruptive foul, FL for a flagrant foul, T for both technical categories, C and B for coach and bench technicals, and a new BD for a disqualifying foul against an accompanying delegation member — with the principle that any foul counting towards game disqualification is circled.

JudgeMate's free scoreboard deliberately keeps one number per team, so the DI/FL/T distinction lives on the official scoresheet rather than on the board. Track it on paper anyway: it is what tells you when a player is out. Appendix A of the OBR 2026 already carries new referee signals for the disruptive foul, the flagrant foul and delay of game. FIBA has since published the Official Basketball Rules Interpretations 2026 (v1.0, dated August 2026), which state that they supersede every previously published FIBA interpretation and take force alongside the rulebook on 1 October 2026.

The interpretations matter at the table for one reason beyond the foul markings: both new fouls send the ball to the throw-in line opposite the scorer's table with 14 seconds on the shot clock (Art. 29.2.6). If you are running the clock as well as the score, read the shot clock section above before 1 October.

For the officiating side of the same change see the basketball referee guide, and for how these free throws land on the score see how basketball scoring works.

Tap the "Share" button in the top bar to open the share modal:

• QR Code — spectators scan it with their phone camera. Perfect for gyms and venues where fans are physically present.
• Link, copy and send via WhatsApp, Messenger, SMS, email, or any other channel. Works for remote spectators too.
• Native share, use your phone's built-in share sheet (if supported by your device).

The spectator link looks like: judgemate.com/{language}/scoreboard/live/basketball/{boardId}

Font Size Remote Control

As admin, you can control the text size on spectator screens:

• A− / A+ buttons or a slider
• Range: 50% to 300% of the default size
• Perfect for adjusting readability on big screens, projectors, or gym scoreboards

Spectators can also tap their screen to reveal a local font slider (70%-160%), but the admin's setting takes priority.

No Login Required

Neither you (the admin) nor the spectators need an account, app download, or login. Everything works in a standard web browser on any device.

Ending the Match

The board never ends the match by itself. When the final buzzer sounds:

1. Tap "End match" at the bottom of the panel.
2. Tap it again within 4 seconds to confirm. The button needs this second tap, so a stray touch does not end the match.

Once ended:

• The score is frozen for spectators, and no more points can be added.
• Spectators see the final score under a "Final Score" label.
• The clock stops.

After the Match

The panel shows a "Match ended" card with the final score and the winner. Further down, "Match summary" lists every event of the match in order.

• "Share" sends the final score to fans, team chats, or social media.
• "Save to my matches" keeps the match in your account. If you are not logged in, you see "Log in to keep this match" and "Not now" instead.
• When you are logged in, "My matches", "My leagues" and "Add to a league" appear as well.

There is no rematch button. For the next match, create a new board.

Board Expiration

Completed scoreboards you have not saved remain accessible for up to one week. After that, the board expires and spectators see a "Session Expired" message. Save or screenshot the final result if you need a permanent record.