DIY "TT Scoreboard" I've made over Christmas holidays

[JKSniper]

Hey everybody,

I'd like to share the project that I've just finished. It's standalone electronic scoreboard, that follows ITTF rules of counting, exchanging serves and sides. It also randomly selects player sides, and first to serve and in case of 3 players it assigns one random player to wait and then it exchanges players after match so nobody is waiting more than 1 match. It also nicely handles douce, match/game points, change side in deciding match as first player reaches 5 points, etc. When point is added it has sound effect for better feedback feel, and it does vocal announcements (in English, for now).

The scoreboard can be either hung on the wall or set at table/tripod.

Board enclosure is meant to be 3D Printed on standard 3D printer, therefore it's made in sections, that are screwed together.

Harware is screwed together by M3 screws:

Adding some details

Buttons are Bluetooth and run on CR2032 coin batteries. They are always running with expected lifetime of battery of around 1 year. That is very convenient to use, as you only need to turn on the board and it's ready to play in seconds.

Buttons too have a nice 3D printed cases. Player button is on each side of the table (center, below or around the corner), while referee button is anywhere in ~50m distance from the board.

Multiple modes are programmed, and much more (I'm at 10% of available memory space) can be added. For example time display, warm-up routine, commercials, text other informations etc.

To have a bit of rest from medical and industrial projects that I normally work on and since we started actively play TT at home, I've decided to build electronic scoreboard in my free time over christmas holidays. I will see if that board will be available as open-source project, a buyable PCB with files/instructables to DIY build or even as commercial scoreboard. But for now, it's solving one of the hardest things of our TT garage plays - accurately and fast keeping score

Best regards,
Jure Korber

 

[Tyce]

Hey everybody,

I'd like to share the project that I've just finished. It's standalone electronic scoreboard, that follows ITTF rules of counting, exchanging serves and sides. It also randomly selects player sides, and first to serve and in case of 3 players it assigns one random player to wait and then it exchanges players after match so nobody is waiting more than 1 match. It also nicely handles douce, match/game points, change side in deciding match as first player reaches 5 points, etc. When point is added it has sound effect for better feedback feel, and it does vocal announcements (in English, for now).

View attachment 40213

The scoreboard can be either hung on the wall or set at table/tripod. View attachment 40206


Board enclosure is meant to be 3D Printed on standard 3D printer, therefore it's made in sections, that are screwed together. View attachment 40207

Harware is screwed together by M3 screws: View attachment 40208

Adding some details
View attachment 40209

Buttons are Bluetooth and run on CR2032 coin batteries. They are always running with expected lifetime of battery of around 1 year. That is very convenient to use, as you only need to turn on the board and it's ready to play in seconds.
View attachment 40210

Buttons too have a nice 3D printed cases. Player button is on each side of the table (center, below or around the corner), while referee button is anywhere in ~50m distance from the board.
View attachment 40211
View attachment 40214
Multiple modes are programmed, and much more (I'm at 10% of available memory space) can be added. For example time display, warm-up routine, commercials, text other informations etc.
View attachment 40215

To have a bit of rest from medical and industrial projects that I normally work on and since we started actively play TT at home, I've decided to build electronic scoreboard in my free time over christmas holidays. I will see if that board will be available as open-source project, a buyable PCB with files/instructables to DIY build or even as commercial scoreboard. But for now, it's solving one of the hardest things of our TT garage plays - accurately and fast keeping score

Best regards,
Jure Korber

Very nice! I miss one big feature though, can you undo a point?

 

[JKSniper]

Very nice! I miss one big feature though, can you undo a point?

Oh yes! I've forget to mention. I did it this way:
Player button:
- short press - it will add point and make a "click" sound.
- long press - it will undo point (his or opponents) and make different "chirp" sound.

Referee button:
- short press = +1 point, long press = -1 point. He can adjust score freely to any player, not just undo last point.

Button on the board itself: It will skip to next match or go back to main menu, cycle through menu and select a mode/match. This is separated from other buttons so players or referee can't accidentaly reset the whole match.

 

[Tyce]

Awesome! Nice project, nice outcome

 

[tzifos]

Excellent! How much did it cost (roughly)?

 

[Jslick89]

where can i purchase? lol

 

[piligrim]

Missing remote control ))

 

[Jslick89]

Missing remote control ))

It looks like the buttons are attached to the table. you push the button after you score. having it on the table is actually better than a remote in your pocket IMO.

 

[pong99]

It can be a fun hobby to build some stuff and code it yourself, but most people aren't going to DIY this hardware. This is a good way to teach kids how to build things.

Why not code an app for a tablet that does the same thing? Then you don't have to build anything. Shouldn't be too hard to port the code to IOS or Android.

Remote buttons could be a phone. Most people have an old tablet and phone that could be used for this. A phone/tablet also means you might be able to use voice commands or hand gestures for control.

 

[JKSniper]

Awesome! Nice project, nice outcome

Thank you!

Excellent! How much did it cost (roughly)?

Now that is very difficult question. I had to buy much more PCBs than I needed, due to minimal order qty, I've also "killed" some things on the development, so I'd say it was a bit more expensive than my racket.

where can i purchase? lol

Currently it's not purchasable. I'll see if there is some cooperation desires, maybe it will be open-sourced, maybe I'll sell electronics (+ hardware) kit, maybe as a product - I'm not sure yet. For now, it's doing exactly what I wanted it to do - count scores, swap sides, indicate serves etc. for us

It looks like the buttons are attached to the table. you push the button after you score. having it on the table is actually better than a remote in your pocket IMO.

Yes exactly. Low-power buttons which doesn't have to be turned off/on are attached by double-sided tape to the table, just around the corner is the spot we have them right now. It works very well, and very easy to reach that way.

It can be a fun hobby to build some stuff and code it yourself, but most people aren't going to DIY this hardware. This is a good way to teach kids how to build things.

Why not code an app for a tablet that does the same thing? Then you don't have to build anything. Shouldn't be too hard to port the code to IOS or Android.

Remote buttons could be a phone. Most people have an old tablet and phone that could be used for this. A phone/tablet also means you might be able to use voice commands or hand gestures for control.

Well yes and no. This whole scoreboard is as simple as possible, minimalistic and dedicated for the purpose. Flick the power switch, one long press at either of the buttons and you're in game. It's super super super reliable and not annoying after 45 matches. Anything else, like old tablet, phones, hand gestures, voice commands, small screens, chargers, cables, android, wifi - is just too unreliable, too unconvenient and also too expensive. If you happen to have the right combo at home (compatible phones, tablets, .....), maybe that would work for you, but it wouldn't for most. I've made this to as perfectly and cheaply as possible can fullfill the need that I have. There are voice activated apps for this, but such small screen, such unreliable operation.... you can't even listen to music next to it. It was a no for me.
What could be done - and may be done in future as hardware is prepared - to be able to control and fine tune it with phone, customize names, organize tournaments, maybe even network multiple for multi table setup, get statistical data back, etc. etc.

 

[golden_son]

Hey everybody,

I'd like to share the project that I've just finished. It's standalone electronic scoreboard, that follows ITTF rules of counting, exchanging serves and sides. It also randomly selects player sides, and first to serve and in case of 3 players it assigns one random player to wait and then it exchanges players after match so nobody is waiting more than 1 match. It also nicely handles douce, match/game points, change side in deciding match as first player reaches 5 points, etc. When point is added it has sound effect for better feedback feel, and it does vocal announcements (in English, for now).

View attachment 40213

The scoreboard can be either hung on the wall or set at table/tripod. View attachment 40206


Board enclosure is meant to be 3D Printed on standard 3D printer, therefore it's made in sections, that are screwed together. View attachment 40207

Harware is screwed together by M3 screws: View attachment 40208

Adding some details
View attachment 40209

Buttons are Bluetooth and run on CR2032 coin batteries. They are always running with expected lifetime of battery of around 1 year. That is very convenient to use, as you only need to turn on the board and it's ready to play in seconds.
View attachment 40210

Buttons too have a nice 3D printed cases. Player button is on each side of the table (center, below or around the corner), while referee button is anywhere in ~50m distance from the board.
View attachment 40211
View attachment 40214
Multiple modes are programmed, and much more (I'm at 10% of available memory space) can be added. For example time display, warm-up routine, commercials, text other informations etc.
View attachment 40215

To have a bit of rest from medical and industrial projects that I normally work on and since we started actively play TT at home, I've decided to build electronic scoreboard in my free time over christmas holidays. I will see if that board will be available as open-source project, a buyable PCB with files/instructables to DIY build or even as commercial scoreboard. But for now, it's solving one of the hardest things of our TT garage plays - accurately and fast keeping score

Best regards,
Jure Korber

Sweet project! I work at a place with 1) a TT table, and 2) the materials and/or ability to source materials for something like this. (Not at scale, but certainly for one.) If you were willing to share your blueprints and code for the controller I would love to build one of these before our next company tournament. At the very least you've inspired me to start talking to a couple of our engineers... 😄