Horseshoes Scoreboard
Horseshoes scorer for 2 players with ringer and closer points, true cancellation scoring, and games to 21 or a 40-shoe count-all match. Works offline.
Built by the AbraCalc team
How to play
- Enter both player names, pick a target score (21 or 40) and toggle cancellation and exact-landing rules to match your game.
- For each inning, mark both of each player's shoes as ringer, closer, or miss on the pad.
- Tap Submit Inning to score the round — cancellation is applied automatically across both players at once.
- Reach the target score to win, or tap Undo Last Inning if a shoe was logged wrong.
Name your two players, choose a target score of 21 or the longer 40-shoe count-all match, and decide whether you're playing cancellation rules, then tap ringer, closer, or miss for each of the two shoes thrown per inning. With cancellation on, the tool applies the real rule correctly: equal ringers from both players cancel out and score nothing, while unequal ringers only award the net difference to whoever threw more, and a tied inning only scores if one side also has a closer the other doesn't. Turn cancellation off and both players simply bank every point they earn in the same inning instead. If you enable the 'must land exactly' option, an inning that would push a score past the target busts and the points don't count, matching the stricter house rule some groups play. Undo pulls back the entire last inning for both players in one tap.
Frequently asked questions
- How exactly does cancellation scoring work?
- Ringers cancel one-for-one between the two players first: if you both throw 2 ringers, they fully cancel and nobody scores that inning. If the ringer counts are unequal, only the player with more ringers scores the net difference, worth 3 points each. If ringers are tied (including a 0-0 inning), only a single closer shoe can score, and it only counts if just one player has one — if both players have a closer too, those cancel out the same way.
- What's the difference between playing to 21 and the 40-shoe count-all option?
- Games to 21 use whatever scoring mode (cancellation or count-all) you've selected and end as soon as either player reaches 21 points. The 40-shoe count-all option is the alternate format some groups prefer, playing every point straight without cancellation until someone reaches 40, which tends to run longer and reward consistent ringer-throwing more heavily.
- What happens if 'must land exactly' is turned on and I overshoot the target?
- With that option enabled, any inning whose points would push a player's total past the target score busts entirely — none of that inning's points are added and the score stays exactly where it was. It's a stricter house rule some horseshoe pits use so a big inning can't 'overshoot' the win; without it, reaching or passing the target wins normally.