Complete guide to using Tournament Hub — for directors and bowlers alike.
New to Tournament Hub?
Take the interactive tour to learn the basics in 2 minutes.
A step-by-step walkthrough of creating and managing a bowling tournament from start to finish.
Click 'Sign In' on the homepage to authenticate. Once signed in, you'll land on the Director Dashboard — your central hub for managing all tournaments, seasons, and bowler profiles.
Navigate to Tournaments and click 'New Tournament'. You have two options:
Use a saved template to pre-fill format, divisions, squads, and handicap settings. Just set the name and date.
Configure everything manually — name, date, location, bowling center, format, oil pattern, and optional description.
After creating the tournament, go to the Divisions tab. Add one or more divisions (e.g., 'Open', 'U18', 'Seniors'). For each division you can configure:
If you've set entry fees, go to the Payments tab to connect your Stripe account. This lets online payments go directly to your bank account.
Click "Connect Stripe Account" and complete the onboarding. Once connected, bowlers who choose to pay online will have their entry fees deposited to your account.
Bowlers can also choose "Pay at Door." Their status will show as "Cash Pending" until you mark them as paid during check-in.
There are multiple ways to add bowlers to your tournament:
In the tournament Overview tab, toggle 'Registration Open' to generate a unique registration link. Share this link or its QR code with bowlers.
Go to the QR Codes tab to create access tokens for different roles:
On tournament day, use the Check-In tab to mark bowlers as arrived. This helps you track who's present and who's missing. For cash-paying bowlers, you can mark their payment as received right from the check-in screen.
Open the Scoring page from the tournament detail. Scores can be entered game-by-game for each bowler. The leaderboard updates in real time — anyone watching the live leaderboard link will see standings refresh automatically.
For team divisions using Baker style scoring, each team bowls as a unit with bowlers rotating through frames. Use the Baker Scorer for frame-by-frame entry.
How Baker Scoring Works
In Baker format, each team member bowls specific frames (e.g., Bowler 1 bowls frames 1 and 6, Bowler 2 bowls frames 2 and 7, etc.). The team's score is calculated as one game with proper bowling math — strikes, spares, and 10th frame bonuses.
Entering Baker Scores
From the Score Entry page, select a Baker division to see the Baker scoring tab. Choose a team, select the game, and enter pins frame-by-frame using the pin pad. The bowler rotation is shown above each frame. You can also use the mobile Baker Scorer via QR code.
Baker Leaderboard
The live leaderboard automatically shows Baker Team Standings for Baker divisions, with game-by-game breakdowns, series totals, and team averages. Viewers can expand each team to see individual game scores.
For Stepladder, Eliminator, and Match Play formats, use the Finals tab to seed and run bracket matches. Finals brackets are displayed live on the leaderboard for spectators.
The lowest-seeded qualifiers bowl first, with the winner advancing to face the next seed. A vertical ladder bracket shows round-by-round progression with live/final status badges and a champion callout.
All finalists bowl each round, and the lowest scorer is eliminated. The bracket shows round columns with surviving and eliminated bowlers (strikethrough), scores, and the eventual champion.
Head-to-head bracket with quarterfinals, semifinals, and championship. The tournament-style bracket is scrollable for larger fields and shows match results with winner highlights.
After running a tournament, save it as a template to reuse the same format, divisions, squads, and settings for future events. This saves significant setup time for recurring tournaments.
Create a Season to group multiple tournaments together. Assign tournaments to a season and configure a points system. Season standings accumulate automatically across events, making it easy to crown division champions at the end of the year.
Toggle 'Public' on your tournament to list it on the Explore page. Parents and bowlers can browse upcoming tournaments by name, location, or format — and register directly without needing a shared link.
Use the touch-optimized scorer view on your iPad or iPhone. Walk lane to lane and tap scores on a large numpad. Swipe between bowlers, switch games with tabs, and see instant visual feedback.
Tournament Hub offers flexible pricing for directors. Start free with 1 tournament per month, or upgrade for more features:
1 tournament/month, basic features, 5% platform commission on online payments.
10 tournaments/month, seasons, bowler profiles, templates, CSV export, 3% commission.
Unlimited tournaments, all features, 0% platform commission, priority support.
Create team-based divisions for doubles, trios, or full team events. Set the team size and scoring method when adding a division.
Division Setup
When creating a division, select a Team Size (Doubles, Trios, Team of 4, or Team of 5) and choose the scoring method — Total Pins (combined individual scores) or Baker Style (alternating frames).
Registration
Bowlers registering for a team division can either create a new team (and name it) or join an existing team from a dropdown. Teams fill up automatically based on the team size limit.
Team Management
Use the Teams tab in your tournament dashboard to create teams manually, assign unassigned bowlers, and manage rosters. The leaderboard automatically shows team standings for team divisions.