Help & How-To
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.
Side games
StakeMarker runs up to nine 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.
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.