Keeping Tabs: Scoreboards in Basketball

Now, if you are like most basketball enthusiasts, you dream of the day when you can have that big scoreboard that sits alongside your court at home to keep track of the game. The good news is, you don't have to wait too long to get an effective scoreboard that will keep track of the game that you can use with your court at home that will enhance its appeal and make the game a little more competitive when the situation calls for it.

By far, the easiest and cheapest way to get a scoreboard for your home basketball court is to use one of the readily available chalk-based scoreboards. The downsides to this type of scoring boards is that someone must constantly update the score. If you are playing one-on-one this can take up a lot of time and difficult to keep up with. However, they are a great way to at least get a scoreboard going for your setup with minimal money and time. If you find you want to move up to the next level, there are a number of electronic scoreboardsthat range anywhere in price from a $100 up to several hundred depending on the dimensions and how many features you want to add to it. Some of these even run off solar power, meaning you don't have to worry about batteries or finding a nearby power outlet. They work by having someone manually push a button depending on who made the basket, and how many points it was worth.

Being electronic, they are also a high-tech touch that adds to the overall appearance of your court setup. If you want to go even further, and have the money, the next level is automated score keepers. These work by means of a sensor placed on the basket that can trigger when a ball goes through. You will still need to manually adjust by point type, but some even let you input the number of points a basket is worth if you are playing a straight game at a fixed-point rate per basket. Be warned, these guys typically require a little bit of technical know-how to get setup as you will be wiring your hoops as well as the board.

Before you run out and spend a bunch of money, you should also know about a third option ¨C building your own. Many of the sensors for basketball hoops and electronics are available at retailers such as Radio Shack and others. Numerous plans are available for free online showing you how others have doing it. You can setup your own electronic scoring system for a little under $100 in most cases if you have the technical know-how to go about doing it. Of course, sometimes the score just doesn't matter. Basketball can be about fun and getting out and getting physically active. Score or no score, there is a lot of fun waiting for you out on the court.

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