How to Make a Basketball Scorecard

Most basketball score sheets let you list only the players in the game and how many points they score individually. There's no way to mark down a play-by-play of the game, like you can on a baseball scorecard.

Things You'll Need

  • Notebook paper
  • Printer paper
  • Dark ink writing pen
  • Fine-tipped marker
  • Scissors
  • Glue or tape
  • Ruler
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Instructions

  1. Creating the Scorecard

    • 1

      Start with a sheet of college-ruled notebook paper. This is good to use because it already has the horizontal lines you'll need to make your "score box."

    • 2

      Trace over 11 lines with a regular pen, using a ruler to keep the lines straight. Then use a fine-tipped marker to trace over the first and last line you drew and the paper's red vertical lines.

    • 3

      Separate the top five writing rows from the bottom six with another marker line. Then draw a vertical line down the middle of the bottom six rows to separate them into two columns.

    • 4

      Cut out the entire "score box" you've drawn along the border lines you marked in Step 2. Make at least one photocopy of it and then glue or tape both sets to a sheet of printer paper.

    • 5

      Border two more rows from the notebook paper and cut them out. Draw a vertical line about one third of the way from the left, then four more lines equidistant from each other. Affix this to the top of the printer paper.

    • 6

      Photocopy the completed sheet as many times as you like for as many scorecards as you want.

    Using the Scorecard

    • 7

      Write down the team names in the set of two rows placed at the very top, putting one name in each of the large boxes to the left. You can also write a team name above each of the big "score boxes."

    • 8

      List each team's players within the bottom sections of each score box--the sections you divided into two columns. You can just write the starting lineups to begin with and add players as they come in.

    • 9

      Take down a play-by-play for each team in the top sections, starting with the very first row. You can use any system of marking plays that you want--the following is just one example.

    • 10

      Mark the jersey number of a player who takes a shot, and draw a slash through it if the player misses. Circle the number if it was a three-point shot. Mark vertical lines on the number for free throws, slashing the lines for misses.

    • 11

      Use a dash after a missed shot if the team got an offensive rebound and kept the ball. Mark down an "X" if they turned the ball over.

    • 12

      Move down to the next row when the next period of the game begins. The last row will be for overtime. Also, write how many points were scored in the last period in the next available box of those top two rows.

    • 13

      Put down the final score in the last box of the top rows. You can also record how many points the players scored next to their names in the bottom sections.