How the points race works
Updated October 31, 2026
A match in this app is not “first to win five racks.” Each player has a points total based on skill level. Balls 1 through 8 are worth one point. The 9 is worth two. A full rack is always ten points, scored by someone or marked dead. You win by reaching your own total before your opponent reaches theirs. A higher-rated player has to score more balls.
The app does not watch the table. You tap what was pocketed, and you mark safeties and fouls. It will not tell you that someone hit the wrong ball first. Your league’s sheet still wins if a number here ever differs.
Points required to win
Enter the skill level your league assigned. The app looks up the race from this chart, which is the same chart on the Rules tab.
| Skill level | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points to win | 14 | 19 | 25 | 31 | 38 | 46 | 55 | 65 | 75 |
A skill level 3 needs 25 points. A skill level 6 needs 46. They can be on the same table, and the match ends the moment either player’s own number is reached, even if the other player is only partway there. The balls left on that last rack are not played out.
One ordinary rack
Sam won the lag, so Sam breaks. Jordan shoots second.
Sam pockets the 1 and the 3 on the break and keeps shooting, then misses the 5. Sam has 2 points.
Jordan pockets the 5 and the 6, then plays a safety. Jordan has 2 points, and one defensive shot. Because Jordan is the player who shoots second, that safety also completes inning 1.
Sam pockets the 2, the 4, and the 7. Sam now has 5. Sam then fouls. The 8 did not fall, so nothing is marked dead. Jordan has ball in hand.
Jordan pockets the 8 and the 9. That is 1 plus 2, so Jordan finishes the rack with 5. Every ball is down. The rack is 5–5, and 5 + 5 = 10.
The next rack starts with Jordan breaking, because Jordan pocketed the 9. The app switches the breaker for you when the rack ends.
Dead balls
A dead ball stays down and scores for nobody. Two situations produce them.
- A ball pocketed on a foul. Mark it with Dead Ball before you go back to normal scoring. Those points count toward the ten in the rack, but neither player’s score moves.
- Balls still on the table when the 9 drops. The rack is over. The app marks whatever is left as dead so the rack still adds to ten.
The 9 is never dead in this app. If you try to mark it dead, the app refuses and tells you the 9 spots after a foul. That matches the sheet: a 9 made on a foul comes back up.
Sam breaks and the only ball that falls is the 9. You tap the 9 with nothing else marked. The app asks whether that was a 9 on the snap or a 9 made early. You choose snap. Sam scores 2. Balls 1 through 8 are eight dead points. 2 + 8 = 10, and Sam’s snap count goes up by one.
Fouls
A scratch, a failure to hit the lowest ball first, or a ball that never touches a rail after contact is ball in hand for the opponent. There is no point deduction. Tap Foul / Scratch, then mark any object ball that fell on that stroke as dead. The incoming player can place the cue ball anywhere.
This format, as the Rules tab states it, has no push-out and no three-foul loss of rack. The app has no button for either one. If your room plays those rules, do not use this scorer for that match.
Innings
An inning here is one visit for each player. It closes when the player who shoots second — the lag loser, the bottom of a paper sheet — misses, plays a safety, or fouls. The breaker’s miss does not close the inning by itself. The app increments the inning counter in that one case, including on later racks, using whoever lost the original lag. It does not reset the count when the breaker changes.
A rack that ends on a made 9 does not, by itself, add an inning. Only the end of the second player’s turn does.
Defensive shots
A defensive shot is a shot played with no intent to pocket a ball legally. It ends the turn, it can close an inning, and it must be marked. Tap Defense, not Miss. A miss is a failed attempt to score. A safety is a choice. The count matters because leagues use defensive shots when they look at whether a handicap is honest. The app stores the count on the match and in each saved player’s career line.
Early 9 and a break-and-run
Pocketing the 9 before the rest of the rack is cleared ends the rack. Leftover balls go dead. That is not automatically a snap.
- 9 on the snap means the 9 fell on the break stroke. It is worth the usual 2 points, plus any other ball that fell on that same break.
- 9 made early means the 9 fell later on a combo, carom, or kiss, with balls still sitting. Those balls are dead. It is not a snap.
- Break and run means the breaker cleared the rack without the opponent ever taking a shot. The app only offers that label when the breaker pocketed the 9, other balls were already marked, and the opponent never shot in that rack.
The button-by-button version of those three cases is on Keeping a match in the app. When the match actually ends, the 20-point split is a separate step, covered in Reading the 20-point match split.
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