Referee guide for a Team PCL match
Officiating a rubber from checking line-ups, roll call and the coin toss through to scoring and closing it — plus how to handle the situations that come up courtside.
Updated 9/27/2026
Before the match
A Team PCL match has up to 5 rubbers. Which rubber goes on which court and who officiates it is arranged by the tournament's referee coordinator — you just need to open the rubber you were assigned.
The rubber you pick is pinned to the screen, so the console won't fall back to a different rubber when you rotate the device or reopen the app. When you enter a rubber, the system automatically records your name as its referee — this is only a display label; it does not lock anyone out of scoring.
The real safeguard is the start button: if another device already started that rubber and recorded points, your device is refused with a warning that another referee may be officiating it. Do not override — verify first.
This article only covers what is specific to Team PCL. Using the console in general — scoring, undo, closing a game, handling problems — is covered in the Referees & running a tournament set.
Officiating a rubber, step by step
Check both line-ups
With a line-up missing, the console blocks and the button changes to «Submit line-up». That is the captain's job — you cannot start until both are in.
Open the rubber you were assigned
Each rubber card shows the name, the rules, both line-ups, the status and the court. Pick the rubber for the court you are standing on.
Pick / confirm the court
Choose a court from the list the organisers set up. The court also drives recording; you can still score without one, you just get no video.
Call both teams onto court
Do the roll call before choosing ends. If a team is missing, handle it at this step with a walkover or a no-contest.
Coin toss
Tap «Toss for choice». The winning team chooses to serve or chooses ends. You can skip this and name the server directly.
Choose ends, then set positions
Tap the half of the court matching where the players actually stand, then at the «Set court positions» step name who stands in the even (right) box. This can only be edited BEFORE you start.
Press start
⚠️ Starting the FIRST rubber of the match LOCKS the line-ups for the whole match, both teams. Check once more before you press.
Score each rally
Tap the half of the court belonging to the team that WON THE RALLY. Each tap = 1 point, because PCL uses rally scoring. The call is two numbers. Use undo if you tap wrong.
Switch ends at the mark
The console pops up the switch-ends overlay when the leading team reaches 6 (doubles) or 11 (Dream Breaker), with a 60-second clock. Once per rubber.
Time-outs and medical breaks
Time-outs: 2 per team per doubles rubber, 3 in the Dream Breaker, 60 seconds — the remaining count shows on the button and it locks when they run out. The medical button opens a clock and writes to the match record.
Press «Close» when the rubber ends
⚠️ Reaching the target score is NOT the end. A rubber only counts once you press close. Closing the final rubber makes the system compute the match winner and advance the bracket.
Not closing a rubber = the group is stuck
If you leave the console with a rubber at its target score but not closed, the system asks «The game has reached its score but isn't closed» with the options «Leave anyway» and «Stay and close». Choose to stay. An unclosed match locks the standings of the entire group and every bracket slot feeding from it — with no error shown anywhere. The system deliberately does NOT close it for you: this is your only window to fix a rally you scored wrong.
Handling common situations
- The score on the device differs from the server. Your device and the server disagree (patchy network, or another device is recording too). Don't keep scoring: resync, then check the score against the flip board before recording the next rally.
- “This game is already being scored”. Another referee has started this exact rubber. Check whether you are on the rubber you were assigned.
- “This game has ended”. The score is complete and the system won't take more rallies. Press close.
- “This match has ended”. The match is closed and the bracket has advanced. It can only be reopened through the reopen-match function, which is logged.
- Taking over mid-rubber. If the score already passed the switch-ends mark earlier, the console does not pop the overlay up (to avoid inviting a tap that would flip the real ends) — the reminder strip on the bottom bar is still there if you need to switch.
- A dispute on court. Open the console menu → “Match record” to see the log of every rally, every time-out, medical break and end switch, including who was serving and receiving at each moment.
The tournament rules are the final authority
This article describes exactly how the Pickleball Superstar system scores and ranks. If anything here differs from the rules the organisers published, tell the organisers or the referee team to reconcile it before play continues.
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