Score Doctor Guide
Learn how to use iBowlTournaments' built-in Score Doctor to record your games, track your stats, and improve your game.
Getting Started
The Score Doctor lets you record bowling games frame by frame using an interactive pin deck, just like the pros. Here's the basic flow:
Sessions & Groups
What is a Session?
A session represents a single trip to the bowling center. It contains all the games you bowled that day on those lanes. Each session tracks:
- Date — When you bowled
- Bowling Center — Search from existing centers or add a new one
- Lane Numbers — e.g. "23-24" (optional)
- Oil Pattern — e.g. "House Shot", "PBA Cheetah" (optional)
- Session Name — A custom label like "Monday Night League Week 12" (optional)
- Games — 1 to 12 games per session
What are Groups?
Groups let you organize sessions into categories so you can filter and view stats for specific activities. For example:
When you assign a session to a League or Tournament group, the session type is set automatically — no need to pick it separately.
Creating a Session
- Go to My Scores and click New Session
- Fill in the date, center, and other details
- Select a Group (or leave as "No group" for one-off practice)
- Choose the number of games (default is 3)
- Click Start Session — you'll go directly to scoring your first game
Editing a Session
Click the pencil icon on any session card to edit its details, including changing the group, center, date, or notes.
Managing Groups
Click the Groups button above your sessions to create, edit, or delete groups. Deleting a group does not delete its sessions — they become ungrouped.
Scoring a Game
The Pin Deck
The interactive pin deck shows 10 pins arranged in the standard triangle:
Pin Entry Modes
You can choose how you want to enter pins:
| Mode | How It Works |
|---|---|
| Tap Pins Knocked Down (default) | Tap each pin you knocked over. Pins you tap turn dark to show they're down. |
| Tap Pins Left Standing | Tap only the pins still standing. Everything else is counted as knocked down. Useful for spare shots when only a few pins remain. |
Toggle between modes using the mode button below the pin deck. Your preference is saved to your profile.
Quick Action Buttons
| Button | What It Does |
|---|---|
| X Strike | Records all 10 pins knocked down — marks the frame as a strike |
| / Spare | Knocks down all remaining pins on shot 2 — marks the frame as a spare |
| G Gutter | Records zero pins knocked down |
| Clear | Resets pin selections for the current shot (before submitting) |
| Submit | Submits the current shot and advances to the next frame or shot |
Step-by-Step Scoring
- Shot 1: Tap the pins you knocked down (or left standing, depending on mode), then press Submit
- If you get a strike, the frame advances automatically (or use the Strike button)
- Shot 2: The deck shows only the pins left standing. Tap what you hit, then Submit
- The score sheet below updates with the running score automatically
- Repeat through all 10 frames
Splits
The system auto-detects splits based on the pin pattern left after your first shot (headpin down with a gap between remaining pins). You can also manually toggle the split checkbox below the score sheet if the auto-detection misses one. Split conversions are tracked separately in your stats.
Ball Tracking
If you've added balls to your My Equipment page, a ball selector appears below the pin deck. Select which ball you threw for each shot. This lets you track performance per ball over time.
Navigating Between Games
Use the Prev and Next buttons at the top of the scoring page to move between games in the same session. You can go back and review or adjust a previous game at any time.
Completing a Game
After all 10 frames are scored, a Save Game button appears. Click it to finalize the game. Your total score is saved and the game appears on your scores dashboard.
Reading the Score Sheet
The traditional 10-frame score sheet displays:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| X | Strike — all 10 pins on the first shot |
| / | Spare — remaining pins cleared on second shot |
| - | Gutter or miss — zero pins knocked down |
| 1-9 | Number of pins knocked down on that shot |
The bottom row shows the running cumulative score through each frame. Bowling scoring uses look-ahead: a strike adds the next 2 shots as bonus, and a spare adds the next 1 shot as bonus.
My Scores Dashboard
The My Scores page is your main hub. At the top, quick stat cards show your overall:
- Average — Your all-time average across completed games
- High Game — Your highest single-game score
- Games Bowled — Total completed games
- Strike % — Percentage of frames with a strike
Below the stats, your sessions are listed with:
- Session name, center, date, and group badge
- Individual game score buttons — click to review or continue scoring
- Series total for multi-game sessions
Session Actions
| Icon | Action |
|---|---|
| Game | Add another game to the session |
| Edit session details (date, center, group, notes) | |
| Print a detailed session report with score sheets and pin diagrams | |
| Delete a session or individual game |
Filtering by Group
If you have groups, filter buttons appear above your sessions. Click a group name to see only sessions in that group, or click Ungrouped to see sessions not assigned to any group.
Stats & Reports
The My Stats page gives you a deep dive into your bowling performance:
- Overview cards — Average, high game, low game, total games, 200+ games, strike %, spare %, split conversion %
- Score trend chart — See how your scores change over time
- Monthly average chart — Track your monthly performance
- Score distribution — Breakdown of your games by score range
Printing Session Reports
Click the print icon on any session to generate a printable report that includes:
- Full 10-frame score sheets for each game
- Pin leave diagrams showing which pins were left standing and picked up
- Series totals and session notes
The report opens in a new window — click Print or save as PDF.
My Equipment
Track your bowling ball arsenal on the My Equipment page:
- Ball Name — e.g. "Hyroad Pearl" (required)
- Brand — e.g. "Storm"
- Weight — 6-16 lbs
- Type — Strike, Spare, or Both
- Core & Coverstock — Symmetric/Asymmetric/Pancake, coverstock material
- Notes — Layout, surface prep, drill date, etc.
Once you add balls, they appear in the ball selector dropdown during scoring. This lets you log which ball you used for every shot.
Your Data & Privacy
The only exceptions:
- Leaderboards — High game and 3-game series records may appear on public leaderboards (name and score only)
- Community Stats — Anonymous aggregate statistics (site-wide averages, total games tracked) are calculated from de-identified data with no user information attached
For full details, see our Privacy Policy.