ScrambleFrequently asked questions
The short answers. Longer guides live in Guides.
Do players need to download an app?
No. ScrambleBoard runs in the phone's web browser. Players scan the QR poster, or type the short join code at scrambleboard.com, claim their name, and start scoring. There is nothing to install, and a player does not need an account to score.
Does it work on all devices?
Yes. ScrambleBoard is web-based, so anything with a browser works: iPhones, Androids, tablets, laptops, and the clubhouse TV. Organizers usually set up on a computer, players score on their phones, and the TV board runs fullscreen in any browser.
Who needs an account, and what is Kinde on the sign-in page?
Only the organizer needs an account. Players and spectators join, score, and follow the board without one. Kinde, a dedicated authentication service, handles sign-in. Your password stays with Kinde and does not reach ScrambleBoard's servers. We store your name and email, no passwords and no payment details. After you sign in, the how-it-works page shows the whole flow and ends at Run an event. Your first event is free.
Does it work if the course has no cell signal?
Yes. Every score saves to the phone immediately and syncs when signal returns. The scoring page keeps working in dead zones, even after a page refresh. A status chip shows what is still waiting to send, so a rural back nine does not block scoring. The paper scorecard at the turn-in table stays your fallback.
How do players see the leaderboard?
Everyone with the join link sees the live leaderboard on their phone: players, spouses, sponsors, and the beer cart. For the clubhouse, open the TV board URL in any browser and press fullscreen. You don't need casting hardware. The Results tab beside it reads the scores the other way: front nine, back nine and total per card, a hole-by-hole grid you can tap into, and every player's full scorecard.
What formats are supported?
Scramble, Chapman, alternate shot, best ball (one, two, or three balls counting, which is also how a shamble is scored), stroke play, match play, and Stableford - standard, Modified, your own point table, or Quota, where each golfer plays to a target set by their handicap - with gross or net scoring and flights. One event can run many rounds (a 36-hole day, a 3-day trip), totalled by adding the rounds or as an eclectic of each golfer's best holes, and a league season runs its weeks on one join code. Ties can be shared or decided by card countback. Skins, closest to the pin, and long drive are included with every paid event.
How do I get my players in, and can I import a spreadsheet?
There are three ways. Type or paste names, and handicaps parse out of the list. Upload an Excel workbook, a CSV, or a TSV; attendee exports from Eventbrite, GolfStatus, and Square import as they are, including who has paid. Or photograph the paper sign-up sheet and let in-browser OCR read the names. The roster and import guides give the details.
Can I reuse the same player list for every event?
Yes. Save it as a group. Groups keep names, handicaps, and emails, and a GHIN club-roster CSV imports directly. Any event can pull the whole group onto its roster in one click. You can also save a finished event's roster back into a group for next time.
Can I print scorecards and cart signs?
Yes. The Report Center prints tournament-style scorecards, cart signs for each team (with each player's personal QR if you want it), an alphabetized check-in sheet with paid status, sponsor signs, and the final results. Each print carries your event title, and your sponsors print along the foot of the cards. Save the design as a template and reuse it.
How do handicaps work, and is there a GHIN integration?
ScrambleBoard does not connect to GHIN directly. Type each player's Handicap Index when you build the roster, or import a GHIN club-roster CSV into a saved group and pull that group into your event. From the index, ScrambleBoard calculates each player's course handicap for their tee, with slope and rating, and allocates the strokes hole by hole - with the allowance, rounding, and allocation rules yours to set.
Where does the course data come from?
The course library is national and grows on request: pick your course in the wizard, and if it is missing, email us - we usually load it the same day, with the par, yardage, and stroke index for each hole. You can also enter or correct a card yourself with the event's own course editor. Each tournament snapshots the course at creation, so a later re-rating does not change past results.
Can players post their scores to GHIN?
Not automatically yet. After the round, ScrambleBoard gives players a "copy to GHIN" summary with what they need to post the score themselves. We label estimated values clearly and do not present them as an official Handicap Index®. Automatic posting depends on USGA program access and is on the roadmap.
What does it cost?
You don't start with a subscription. Your first event is free. If you need to redo it, or run a second one the same weekend, anything you publish in the 72 hours after that first event is free as well. After that, one event costs $10 at any number of players, and one event that also sells entries online is $149. The Organizer plan covers every event and trip you run for $49 a year, and the League plan adds league seasons for $199 a year. Courses that run a full calendar use the Course plan at $1,999 a year. The pricing page has the details.
Per event or a plan, which should I buy?
Go by what you run. For one outing, pay $10 for that event. If you run several events a year, or a trip of three or more rounds, the Organizer plan covers all of them and adds saved player groups, Run again, and co-organizers. If you run a league season, you need the League plan. A course or club with a full calendar of outings, leagues, and member events fits the Course plan.
Does the price change with the number of players?
No. An event costs $10 whether 8 people play or 144. The Organizer and League plans have no player limit either, and players who join by QR code on the day do not add a charge.
Can I show sponsors?
Yes. Add each sponsor once, with a logo if you have one, and they appear in four places: along the foot of every printed scorecard and cart sign, on sponsor signs you print one per page or four to a page, and on the TV board, which gives them their own panel in the rotation. A sponsor with no logo file prints as its name, set in type. You can tag a sponsor with a hole number and a tier, which print on the sign.
Can I use this for a charity fundraiser?
Yes. Charity scrambles run on ScrambleBoard like any outing: the live board, printed scorecards and cart signs, skins and challenge holes, and sponsor logos on every print and on the TV board. You can also sell entries, hole sponsorships, dinner seats, and donations on a public sign-up page: golfers pay by card, the money goes to your own Stripe account, and every paid golfer lands on your roster. ScrambleBoard adds no platform fee - the card fee is Stripe's. Prefer cash and checks? You can still mark players paid in the roster so check-in knows who is settled.
How do refunds and disputes work on entry payments?
You refund from the event's Registrants list, in full or in part. A full refund frees the golfer's spots and offers them to your waitlist. One cost to know up front: Stripe keeps its processing fee when you refund a charge, so a refund costs you about 3% of the amount out of pocket. Entry money goes into your own Stripe account, which makes you the merchant of record: if a golfer disputes a card charge, the dispute arrives in your Stripe dashboard and Stripe's dispute process applies. Email support and a real person will walk you through either one.
Do you support season-long leagues?
Yes. A league season is one event: the weeks are its rounds, one QR code on the clubhouse wall works all season, and the leaderboard grows a Season tab that totals weekly points - position-based or your own points table, best-N counting weeks, subs and missed weeks handled. Nine-hole league nights, weekly skins, and weekly closest-to-the-pin all work. A season runs on the League plan, at any field size. Head-to-head match play works too: set the week up as match play or a cup, and the board folds every match from the same scores.
I'm colour-blind - can I read the scorecard?
Yes. The results page colours each score by how it went against par, and beside the key there is a Shapes button that swaps the colour for the marks a paper card uses: birdies circled, bogeys boxed, a second ring for an eagle or a double, and the rarest scores filled in solid. Circles and squares survive any kind of colour blindness, and a photocopy. The setting is remembered on that device, so you set it once. Text size has its own button beside it, with three steps above standard - the top one grows the buttons with the type, for gloves and glare.
How do I delete an event, and what does Archive do?
Archive and delete are separate. Archiving moves a finished event off your events list onto the Archive page, where the board, results, and printed cards stay readable for as long as you want - nothing is ever deleted on its own, so you can keep years of history. Deleting is a second step on the Archive page: type the event's join code to confirm, the players' links stop working right away, and the event waits in Recently deleted for 30 days, where you can still restore it. After 30 days it is permanently removed. Receipts for paid events stay on your billing history either way.
How do I get support?
Email support@scrambleboard.com. A real person reads everything. Are you running an event today and stuck? Put "event today" in the subject line and we will get to it fast. Longer answers live in the Guides and the Help Center.