Free-form Points Rules — How to Play and Score
This is the blank sheet, and it is a feature rather than a fallback. Every group has a game the app has never heard of: a house rule invented on holiday, an old board game whose pad ran out, a drinking game with a scoring system somebody's uncle made up. Free-form Points gives you columns, rows and a running total, and stays out of the way.
Score a game of Free-form Points →
Overview
This is the blank sheet, and it is a feature rather than a fallback. Every group has a game the app has never heard of: a house rule invented on holiday, an old board game whose pad ran out, a drinking game with a scoring system somebody's uncle made up. Free-form Points gives you columns, rows and a running total, and stays out of the way.
Setup
Add the players, name the rounds if you like, and decide whether high or low wins. Set a target or a fixed number of rounds if the game has one. Everything else can be changed halfway through without losing what you have already entered.
How to play
After each round, enter one number for each player. The app keeps the running total, highlights the current leader and moves to the next player automatically so a round takes a handful of taps. Skip a player by leaving the cell blank, which counts as no entry rather than as zero.
Scoring
A player's total is their starting score plus every round entry, plus the bonus column if it is switched on. Nothing else is applied, and no round entry is rejected other than by the negative-numbers switch.
If the final round multiplier is set above one, every entry in the last round is multiplied by it before being added. With a fixed round count the last round is known in advance; with an open-ended sheet the multiplier applies to whichever round turns out to be the last.
A blank cell is not zero. It is left out of the total and the round is treated as still in progress for that player, which is what lets somebody join late or step outside for a phone call.
Late joiners start on zero, on the current lowest total, or on the average, depending on the app-wide setting for that.
Ending the game
The game ends when the round count is reached, when a target is set and somebody's total reaches it, or whenever you decide you have had enough. With high score winning, the highest total takes it. With low score winning, the target is a ceiling that stops the game and the lowest total wins, which is a distinction worth reading twice. Equal totals share the win rather than being broken arbitrarily.
Common variations
Almost every use of this sheet is a variation. The two most common shapes are a straight race to a target, and a fixed number of rounds where the totals are compared at the end.
Scoring at a glance
| Who wins | Highest score |
|---|---|
| Score sheet | One number per player per round, with a running total |
| Typical round score | -50 – 100 |
| Negative scores | Possible |
| Worth knowing | One plain number per player per round, with no rules attached. Negative entries are allowed by default because house games often penalise as well as reward. |
Free-form Points — score sheet
Worked example
Settings: targetScore: 0 (no target), roundCount: 0 (open-ended),
allowNegative: true, finalRoundMultiplier: 1, startingScore: 0,
bonusColumn: false. Win condition: highest.
Players: Anna, Ben, Cara, Dan.
| Round | Anna | Ben | Cara | Dan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | 8 | −3 | 0 |
| 2 | 5 | 20 | 7 | 11 |
| 3 | −8 | 4 | 15 | (blank) |
| 4 | 10 | 0 | 6 | 9 |
Dan's round 3 cell is blank, not zero — he stepped away for the hand.
Running totals:
| After | Anna | Ben | Cara | Dan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | 8 | −3 | 0 |
| 2 | 17 | 28 | 4 | 11 |
| 3 | 9 | 32 | 19 | 11 |
| 4 | 19 | 32 | 25 | 20 |
Expected standings after round 4: Ben 32 (rank 1), Cara 25 (rank 2), Dan 20 (rank 3),
Anna 19 (rank 4). finished: false — with targetScore: 0 and roundCount: 0 there
is no end condition, so the sheet runs until someone stops it.
What this catches:
Blank is not zero. Dan's total after round 3 is 11, the same as after round 2 — his blank contributes nothing and does not reset him. Ben's round-4 entry is zero, a deliberately scored nothing, and it is stored and displayed differently from Dan's blank. Every template in this app depends on that distinction; this is the smallest place to test it.
No end condition is a valid configuration. targetScore: 0 and roundCount: 0
both mean "unset". isFinished must return false forever rather than treating 0 as a
target that everyone has already passed — which would end the game before it started.
Negative running totals are normal. Cara sits at −3 after round 1 and finishes second.
This is the game that catches everything else. Free-form is the fallback for every
game not in the catalogue, so it must handle any player count from 1 to 20, arbitrary
round counts, negatives, blanks, and both win directions. If a UI bug exists anywhere
in the rounds template, it shows up here first.
House rules and settings
Every table plays Free-form Points a little differently. These are the 8 rules groups argue about. Each one is a setting in the app — and changing it recalculates a match that is already in progress, which is the thing no other score keeper does.
End the game at: what is the default in Free-form Points?
The game finishes as soon as any player's total reaches this number. Leave it at zero to keep playing until you decide to stop. When low score wins, this acts as a ceiling and the player with the lowest total is the winner.
Default: 0. Adjustable from 0 to 10000 in steps of 5.
In the app: “End the game at”.
Number of rounds: what is the default in Free-form Points?
Stop the game after this many rounds. Zero keeps the sheet open-ended so you can add rounds for as long as you like.
Default: 0. Adjustable from 0 to 100 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Number of rounds”.
What to call a round: what are the options in Free-form Points?
Changes the word used for each row so the sheet reads like the game you are actually playing.
Default: Round. Seven options:
In the app: “What to call a round”.
Allow negative scores: on or off in Free-form Points?
Lets you enter minus numbers for penalties. Turn it off if your game only ever adds points and you want to avoid mistyping.
Default: on.
In the app: “Allow negative scores”.
Last round is worth: what is the default in Free-form Points?
Multiplies every score in the final round, a common house rule for making the last hand decisive. Leave it at one for no multiplier.
Default: 1. Adjustable from 1 to 5 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Last round is worth”.
Extra bonus column: on or off in Free-form Points?
Adds a second column per player for a separate bonus or penalty that is not part of any round, added to the total at the end.
Default: off.
In the app: “Extra bonus column”.
Everyone starts on: what is the default in Free-form Points?
The score every player begins with. Useful for games that count down from a starting stake rather than up from nothing.
Default: 0. Adjustable from -500 to 1000 in steps of 5.
In the app: “Everyone starts on”.
Show running totals: on or off in Free-form Points?
Keeps a live total under each column. Turn it off if you would rather add up only at the end and keep the tension.
Default: on.
In the app: “Show running totals”.
Variants of Free-form Points
Low score wins
The same sheet with the direction reversed, for games where points are a penalty.
Countdown from a stake
Everyone starts on a set number and scores are subtracted until somebody reaches zero.
Free-form Points is also known as
Blank Scoresheet, Just Count Points, Custom Game. These are the same game — the rules and the score sheet above apply to all of them.
Keep score offline
The sheet above works in your browser. Cardzo for iPhone remembers your players, survives a closed tab, and works in a field with no signal.
Coming to the App Store.