Every game that you add to Versus will automatically take on default settings. These will work for many games but if the way you play a match does not involve 'points' and 'games', or you need to count down instead of up, then there are numerous settings that will allow you to create the correct scoring settings for each of the sports and games that you play.

This part of the tutorial will guide you through all of the available options and give you some ideas about how best you might use Versus to record you game scores.

Remember, you will not want to (or be able to) score every game in 'real time' so you need to think about when you will add the scores in as this might affect the detail that you might want to capture.

Default: 2 levels

The number of scoring levels that you choose will depend on how you want to score your 'match' and how much detail you want to record. For example, if you play a points-based game such as Scrabble you can either count a match as an individual game, where the winner is the person with the most points, or you might have a 'best-of-3' match where the winner is the first person to win 2 games. For the first example you would use only one scoring level (points) and the second you would generally use two (points and games)*. For a more detailed description see the scoring levels blog post.

* though you might just use one (games) if you are not interested in using Versus to capture the points in each game. The more detail that you add to Versus though the more that you will be able to analyse / export.

Note: One of your levels should not be 'match'. A match is the default level of each Versus instance and so having match as a scoring level does not really make any sense.

Default: 'Points' and 'Games'

The units that you set here will be used in the scoring and analysis pages within the app (and be included in any data export). For example, depending on your game, you might use:

Default: Up (from 0)

Most games and sports count upwards however there are several where you need to count downwards. For example 'Darts' or any game where you lose 'lives'. If you are counting down then you can also tell Versus what starting score to use (i.e. in Darts you might use 501 as the starting point in each game).

Default: Highest

In most games the winner will be the person with the most points (or goals or shots etc). However in many games the winner is the person with the lowest score. Some examples are Darts and Golf (Strokeplay) though there are many others.

Default: Standard

To score a game you can choose to either increment the current score by 1 (simple scoring) or you can type in the score using some pre-determined values (standard scoring).

For games where the value changes by one point (or goal or frame) at a time (and you are scoring the game in real-time) then simple scoring is the most appropriate option. If the value could be anything (or you are adding the final score after the match has taken place) then standard scoring would be the most appropriate.

Default: N/A

If you use simple scoring (i.e using +1 and -1 buttons to adjust the score) then there is also the option to include a zero button too. This simply gives you the option of recording a zero score (i.e. no change) and you want to record that a shot has been taken. This is unlikely to be required for most games but there are some where this would be useful (perhaps if using Versus to record a Matchplay game of golf).

Default: Small

If you are using standard scoring (i.e. not just using buttons to increment the score by 1) then you can also choose which set of pre-determined buttons to use.

'Small' includes buttons for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10

'Big' includes buttons for 1, 5, 10, 50 and 100

You should select whichever range will make it easier for you to use when scoring a match.

Default: Yes

This function selects the next player as soon as a score has been submitted (as opposed to you having to select the next player). This is a great time saver for all turn-based games.

Default: No

There are some games (generally point-based board games) where it might be desirable to not see each player's running points total. This option hides the score until the end of the game has been reached.

If you are scoring a game in real time (i.e. as you play it) then Versus offers a number of accessories that you might find useful when playing the game.

If you activate a match timer then Versus will alert you when the time has expired. Within the game you can pause or restart the timer at any point. You can also opt to continue playing after the alert has happened if you wish to.

Note: The timer starts as soon as the scoring page has been launched.

Default: No

In games where you might traditionally use an egg-timer to time a player's shot, you can opt instead to use a nice graphical timer that will count down from however many seconds you specify.

Note: this function is activated manually, when required, not by default for every shot.

Default: No

For games that require the use of a dice then you can opt to use Versus instead. You can choose 1 or 2 dice.

Note: You may even find having a dice useful to determine things like who starts first etc.