Time-outs, medical breaks, switching ends and substitutions
Four things that interrupt a match and how the console handles each — plus the switch-ends marks for the common game sizes.
Updated 9/27/2026
60 seconds
One time-out
5 minutes
One medical break
60 seconds
Switching ends mid-game
30 seconds
Each substitution
Time-outs
Each team has its own button on that team's side of the bottom bar, in the team's colour, showing the number left. Pressing it makes the system deduct one on the server and open a full-screen countdown.
When they run out the button locks itself — you don't have to count in your head. How many are allowed is set by the tournament's format, and can differ between ordinary and deciding rubbers.
Open Play matches have no time-outs, so this button doesn't appear.
Medical breaks
The Medical button has a written label rather than a bare icon — pressing it by accident opens an overlay covering the whole court, so it needs to be harder to hit by mistake.
Pressing it opens a 5-minute clock. A medical break does not use up a time-out and has no limit on how many times it can be used from the console. The clock has Add 30 seconds and End early buttons.
Both clocks count against real timestamps, so the seconds stay correct even if the app goes to the background and comes back. At 10 seconds left the number turns red and the device vibrates once.
Switching ends mid-game
The console pops up the switch-ends overlay when the leading team reaches the mark, with a 60-second clock. The mark is half the winning score, rounded up:
- An 11-point game → switch at 6
- A 15-point game → switch at 8
- A 21-point game → switch at 11
Under the playing rules, switching ends mid-game only applies to the deciding game — game 3 of a best-of-three, game 5 of a best-of-five, or the game itself if the match is a single game. In other games, the switch-ends menu item is locked with the reason shown.
Switching ends only flips the picture on screen. Scores, line-ups and the serve stay as they are; there is nothing to re-enter.
Taking over mid-game means the overlay won't pop up
The console only pops the switch-ends overlay if it saw this game below the mark with its own eyes. If you pick up the device mid-shift when the score has already passed the mark, it stays silent — deliberately, so it doesn't invite a tap that would flip the real ends. If you need to switch, open the three-dot menu and choose switch ends, or tap the coloured reminder strip on the bottom bar.
Substitutions (rubbers with a rotation)
These only appear in rubbers with a rotation rule, such as a Dream Breaker-style decider. Each time the required number of points is reached, the console pops up a SUBSTITUTION overlay with a 30-second clock, naming who is coming on and who they replace on each side of the court.
This overlay is drawn left / right exactly as you are looking at it, not in the app's team order, so there is nothing to convert in your head.
Confirm and Skip do exactly the same thing — both just close the overlay so you can keep scoring; after 30 seconds it closes itself. This clock is a reminder, not an enforcement. Who is actually on court is derived from the score, so undoing a rally also steps the rotation back.
Frequently asked questions
If two overlays are due at once, which one shows?
The console only allows one overlay at a time. The priority order is the clock, then the game result, then substitutions, then switching ends, then the coin toss, then the rules panel, and finally the menu. Substitutions rank above switching ends because the two marks very easily coincide in a deciding rubber.
Do medical breaks go into the match record?
The medical clock runs on your device and the console states that right under the clock. Time-outs are sent to the server, because they deduct from a quota.
I missed the switch-ends mark — how do I open it now?
Open the three-dot menu and choose switch left/right. That item compares with greater-than-or-equal, so it still opens if you're a few points late. If it is locked, the console states the reason right under the label.
I tapped Skip after a substitution by accident — is that a problem?
No. The two buttons do the same thing and send nothing to the server. To look at the current rotation again, open the three-dot menu and choose substitution.
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