Help & How-To

Everything you need to start a round, run the side games, and share live scoring across devices.

Getting started

StakeMarker is a live scorecard with side games built in. A new round takes a few taps:

• Start a round: open the app — the scorecard is the home view. A fresh round is ready to fill in right away.
• Add players: tap a name field on the scorecard to type a player's name. Add or remove players from the player controls; most side games key off how many players are in the round.
• Pick a course: choose a course to pull in its pars and stroke indexes automatically, or enter pars by hand. Course data drives net scoring and which holes give strokes.
• Enter scores: tap any scorecard cell and type the strokes for that player and hole. Every game on screen recalculates instantly as you go.

That's the whole loop — pick who's playing, pick the course, tap in scores. Everything below layers on top of that scorecard.

Custom game creation

Composer lets you make a side game that is not included in the standard games list. Open the app's hamburger menu and choose Composer, or open My Custom Games directly. Your saved games live in your account library, where you can edit, rename, share, delete, or activate one for the current round.

Describe the game with AI

Composer uses one creation path: describe the game in plain English and let AI turn it into a complete, testable definition.

• Describe with AI: explain the game in plain English. Include who competes, how a hole is won, what happens on a tie, how handicaps work, and how points or money should settle. You can refine the draft before saving it.
• Answer follow-up questions: Composer asks focused questions when a material rule choice is unclear.

Review and test the rules

Before saving, read the generated rulebook from top to bottom: setup, participants, scoring, cross-hole state, settlement, and player experience. Composer compiles the AI draft and runs its executable examples before you save.

Complete rules JSON is an expert import surface, not a beginner logic builder. It expects a complete custom-game definition; users do not need to know the underlying fields or write JSON for ordinary custom games. The JSON is validated and compiled in the browser before it opens, so unsupported fields or mechanics fail immediately.

Save, share, and use a custom game

• Save to your library: sign in with an eligible account when you are ready to keep the game. AI generation and library saving require the account access shown by Composer.
• Activate for a round: from the in-app custom game library, choose Activate for this round. The game then appears with the round's other games.
• Share a definition: enter the recipient's email from the saved game's Share action. Sharing the definition lets the recipient use that custom game; it does not share your scorecard or change the round's edit/view permissions.

AI generation uses the same shared AI-credit balance as other AI features, including scorecard tools and tournament game building. The app shows your current balance and explains any eligibility or credit issue. For the complete creation and review flow, see Composer Help.

Tournaments

A tournament combines several groups' rounds into one event. Each group scores in its normal StakeMarker round, while the tournament page pulls the groups together into shared standings, side-game boards, a tee sheet, announcements, and optional public viewing. Tournament creation and management require a signed-in Ultra account.

Create the tournament

1. Open the app's hamburger menu and choose Tournaments, then tap + New.
2. Enter the tournament Name and Date.
3. Choose a course from Search StakeMarkerDB, or enter the course name and each hole's par and stroke index manually. Optionally enter the course's Slope / Rating to power the Course Handicap helper later.
4. Choose the Overall board's Scoring Mode: Gross, Play Off Low, or Raw Handicap. Then choose the event Format: Stroke Play, Stableford, or a saved Custom Format.
5. Optionally enable tournament-wide Skins or Best Ball, configure the Skins settings, and add a payout settlement sheet. Payouts are calculations for the leaderboard only; StakeMarker never moves money.
6. Tap Save Tournament.

Add groups and set the tee sheet

Open the saved tournament and go to Groups & Tee Sheet. Tap + Add Group, give the group a name, choose 1–8 players, enter the roster, and tap Create Group Round. Each group becomes a linked StakeMarker round, so players enter scores in the familiar scorecard while the tournament leaderboard collects the results.

• Set each group's tee time and starting hole in Tee Sheet, or use Shotgun Start to assign holes 1–18 across the day's groups.
• For a multi-day event, use + Start Day 2 (and the day controls that follow) to create the next day's pairings.
• Course and tournament-wide side-game settings lock after the first group is created. After that, only the tournament name, date, and scoring mode can be changed, so finalize those choices first.

Use the tournament tabs

• Leaderboard: view the overall standings and a board for each enabled tournament-wide game. Use day and Gross/Net controls when available, then Refresh, Export CSV, or Print.
• Players & Flights: review registered players, apply course handicaps, mark a player Withdrawn or Disqualified, and create flights/divisions that partition the Overall board.
• Announcements & Sharing: post updates such as weather delays. Enable a Public Spectator Link for a read-only leaderboard that does not require sign-in; copy it, show its QR code, open TV Mode, or disable/regenerate it later.
• Admin: add co-admins, manage a reusable Custom Tournament Format, configure Honeypot side pots, and review the Activity Log. Use Finalize when results are official; Reopen is available if an admin needs to correct a finished event.

Custom formats and tournament-wide games

Select Custom Format during tournament setup and choose a format from your library, or create one from the tournament's Admin tab. Describe a New Format is the AI-assisted path for rules outside the standard formats. Review generated rules before applying them. Manual tournament setup and the regular Stroke Play or Stableford formats do not use AI credits.

Only games that work across the whole field are offered as tournament-wide games. A group can still turn on games such as Banker, Vegas, or Wolf for itself from the in-round Games menu. If a tournament option or tab is unavailable, check that you are signed in as the tournament owner or an admin and that your plan includes tournament management.

Side games

StakeMarker runs up to eleven side games alongside the scorecard. Add the ones you're playing from the games bar; each has its own results card and an Options panel for handicap mode, stakes, and teams. Here's how each one works.

Junk / Dots

Award "dots" for achievements on each hole. Base dot values are configurable for birdies, eagles, albatrosses, and pars, plus an optional auto-Skins layer that hands out skin dots using Skins-style rules. Play it as individuals or in handicap-paired teams, set a value per dot, and use net scoring to apply handicap strokes.

Skins

Every player risks a set value on each hole, and the hole's outright winner collects from everyone else. When a hole ties, the stake carries over into the next hole's pot (toggleable), so the next won hole can be worth several holes at once. You can also press individual holes to override their value.

Match Play

Two players head-to-head: each hole is won by the lower score or halved on a tie. The status line tracks who's up and through how many holes, and shows the closeout when a lead exceeds the holes remaining (e.g. "wins 4&3"). An optional carry-over makes tied holes accumulate onto the next decisively won hole.

Best Ball

Two 2-player teams. Each hole's team score is the lower of its two members' balls. Run it as match play (lower team score wins the hole, closed out when the lead exceeds holes left) or stroke play (lowest total of per-hole best balls wins). In net play, strokes are applied per player first, then the better net is taken.

Vegas

Four players in fixed 2v2 teams (2–3 players use a ghost partner scoring par). Each hole, a team's two scores are sorted low-to-high into a two-digit number — lower number wins. Birdies and better can flip the losing team's digits and double the multiplier, so a single hole can swing big. Points convert to dollars at a value you set.

Nassau

Requires four players, split into two teams (auto Hi-Lo pairing of lowest + highest handicap, or pick your own matchup). Three games run at once — Front 9, Back 9, and the Full 18 — each worth its own unit. Every hole awards two points, one for each team's low ball and one for the high ball, with optional auto-presses when a team sweeps a hole or falls two points down.

Banker

One player is the Banker each hole and sets the maximum bet. Everyone else bets between the minimum and that max, and either side can double after hitting — players double their own bet, the Banker can double all outstanding bets at once. The lower score wins; par-3s can use a higher multiplier when a double is flipped.

Wolf

Requires four players, with the Wolf rotating hole to hole. After watching tee shots, the Wolf either picks a partner (2v2), goes it alone as Lone Wolf (1v3), or declares Blind Wolf before anyone tees off (1v3, doubled stakes). Lower team ball wins; going it alone and winning pays the most.

9-Point

A three-player game that splits nine points across the field every hole: 5 for the best score, 3 for the middle, 1 for the worst. Ties pool the contested points evenly. Set a dollar value per point and the table settles to zero, so every point one player gains another loses.

Stableford

An individual points leaderboard, not stroke totals. Every hole scores points off net-vs-par: 5 for an albatross or better, 4 for an eagle, 3 for a birdie, 2 for par, 1 for a bogey, 0 for a double bogey or worse. Points add up across the round, and the most points wins — a blow-up hole only costs you that hole's points, not extra strokes on your total. Choose Gross or one of two net handicap modes.

Bingo Bango Bongo

An individual points game with no scores compared at all. Every hole has three awards the group taps in live as they happen: Bingo (first ball to reach the green), Bango (closest to the pin once everyone is on), and Bongo (first ball in the hole). Each is worth a point you can adjust, and they add up across the round — most points wins.

Live sharing & sync

A round can be shared so the whole group sees scores update in real time on their own phones.

• Edit code vs view code: sharing a round gives you two codes. The edit code lets someone open the round and enter scores; the view code is read-only for spectators who should see the round but not change it.
• Joining on another device: enter the edit or view code on a second phone to open the same round. Anyone with the edit code is on the same shared scorecard.
• Live multi-device sync: once joined, score entries, game options, and results sync between every device on the round — tap a score on one phone and it appears on the others within moments. Sync needs a network connection; offline edits reconcile when you reconnect (see Offline & guest mode).

Handicaps

Most games offer a per-game handicap mode — typically Gross, Play Off Low, or Raw Handicap, plus Hi-Lo for the team games. This choice is part of the round, so it syncs to everyone sharing the round: change a game's handicap mode and the rest of the group sees the same setting and the same net results.

The Stroke Indicator — the little marks that show where strokes fall on the scorecard — is a separate per-device display preference. It only changes how strokes look on your own screen and is not synced to the rest of the group, so each player can set their own preferred indicator without affecting anyone else's scoring.

Voice scoring & scorecard scan

Two optional shortcuts speed up score entry. Both are native-app features (the iOS and Android apps) and are per-account — they're tied to your signed-in account rather than shared with the round.

• Voice scoring: speak a score or game action (for example, "hole 5, Daniel had a 4") and the app turns it into a score update you review before it's applied. Only the resulting text is used to fill in scores.
• Scorecard photo scan: snap a photo of a paper scorecard and the app reads the names, pars, and per-hole scores, then lets you review and confirm them before they land on your scorecard. Scanning requires a signed-in account.

Both are conveniences — the entire app works with manual entry if you'd rather not use them. See the Privacy Policy for exactly what's processed when you do.

Offline & guest mode

StakeMarker works fully offline, and you don't need an account to use it.

• Guest mode: open the app and start scoring immediately — no sign-in required. All the side games and scoring work without a connection.
• Rounds save locally: finished rounds are kept in My Rounds on your device so you can reopen them later, even with no network.
• Sign in to sync: when you sign in, your rounds sync to the cloud — so they're backed up and available across your devices, and you can share them for live multi-device scoring (see Live sharing & sync).

Subscriptions

The core scorecard and side games are usable for everyone; paid tiers raise limits and unlock the extra conveniences. Two rules are worth knowing because they decide who gets what:

• In-round games are unlocked by the round owner's plan and shared with everyone holding the edit code. If the person who created the round has the games unlocked, every player they invite plays them too — the whole table gets the games, regardless of each guest's own plan.
• Voice scoring and scorecard scan are per-account. They unlock for the signed-in account that has them, on that account's device — they're not shared through the round's edit code the way games are.

Current tiers, what each includes, and pricing live on the in-app paywall. For billing, refunds, or subscription questions, see Support.