What we'll cover

What you're actually doing at the desk
The 5-minute walkthrough
Action button cheat sheet
Picker modifiers — the checkboxes that matter
Common mistakes and how to fix them
End Game flow with referee sign-off
What the public page shows

1. What you're actually doing at the desk

You've been handed a tablet. Maybe also a stopwatch and a clipboard. A coach is yelling something at you from the bench. There's a kid in the stands waving. Welcome to the desk.

Your job is simpler than it looks: tap a button when something happens in the pool. A goal. A save. A foul. A kickout. The app handles everything downstream — the score, the player stats, the public box score, the standings, the bracket. You don't have to do math, write anything down, or remember anything from one game to the next. You just observe and tap.

Here's the actual list of things you are responsible for, in priority order:

The score is correct. If goals are scored, you tap Goal. If a goal gets disallowed, you tap Undo or Delete. The score on the tablet should always match the score on the deck.
The clock period is right. Each quarter end, you tap to advance the period. Eggbeater shows P1, P2, P3, P4, OT — match what's actually happening in the pool.
Major fouls are logged. Kickouts (KO) and common penalties (CP) get tapped so the box score reflects who's in foul trouble.
Saves and steals if you have time. These build the player stats. Nice to have, not critical to the result of the game.
End Game with referee sign-off. When the final buzzer goes, the head ref signs off in the app and the score locks.

Everything else — assists, sprint wins, field blocks, FBU steals, Inside-2m saves — is gravy. If you can capture them, the box score gets richer. If you can't, the score is still correct and the game is still scored. Don't beat yourself up about missing a steal because you were getting the goal logged.

2. The 5-minute walkthrough

Here's the actual sequence of what you do, start to finish.

Open the Eggbeater app on the desk tablet. If it's not already installed, the tournament director will have set up a home-screen icon. Just tap it.
Tap the tournament name. You should see the schedule for the day with all upcoming and in-progress games.
Find your game on the schedule and tap it. The director's instructions will say which game(s) you're scoring — match the time, the pool, and the team names.
Enter the game-desk unlock code. The director hands this out at the start of the shift. It puts the app into Score mode and prevents accidental edits by spectators.
Tap Start Period when the referee blows the whistle. This sets the period to P1 and starts the game clock. Eggbeater shows the home/away score, the period, and the action buttons.
Tap the action buttons as plays happen. Goal → tap Goal → tap the scorer's cap number → tap the assist (or Skip). Save → tap Save → tap the goalie. Excl → tap Excl → tap the player → confirm Kickout vs Common Penalty. (Section 3 has the full cheat sheet.)
Tap Next Period at the end of each quarter. P1 → P2 → P3 → P4. If the score is tied at the end of P4 and the tournament rules call for a shootout, the app will prompt you.
Tap End Game when the final buzzer goes. You'll see a review screen with the final score and box score. Confirm everything looks right.
Hand the tablet to the head referee for sign-off. They'll enter their name in the sign-off field. The score locks, a green pill appears on the public page, and you're done.

That's the entire workflow. Five steps to enter the game, four steps to score it, and one step to lock it. Most volunteers have it down by the second period.

🕐 Stress-free option: Clock OFF mode

If you're a casual / parent scorer and the auto-clock makes the screen feel busy, tap the 🕐 Clock: ON pill in the scorer header to flip it to 🕐 Clock: OFF. The auto-clock display, Sprint Won button, Pause/Resume, Reset, and quarter-break controls all disappear. The period bar (P1–P4) stays, and so does every action button (Goal, Assist, Excl, Steal, Save). Events still record real timestamps and broadcast in real time — they just don't show clock-time labels in the play-by-play. Per-device, persists in localStorage until you flip back. Tournament desks default to ON; home / casual scorers usually flip OFF the first time.

3. Action button cheat sheet

Here are the buttons you'll see on the score screen, what they mean, and what they ask you for next.

Button	What it means	What it asks next
Goal	Open-play goal scored	Scorer's cap → Assist (or Skip)
5m	5-meter penalty shot — made	Shooter's cap
5m miss	5-meter penalty shot — missed/saved	Shooter's cap → Goalie's cap (if saved)
Shot Att	Shot attempt, no goal	Shooter's cap
Save	Goalkeeper save	Goalie's cap
Steal	Defender took possession	Stealer's cap → FBU? (modifier)
Field Block	Field defender blocked a shot	Defender's cap
TO	Turnover (lost possession)	Player's cap (or Team)
Excl	Player excluded — sent off 20 sec	Player's cap → Kickout vs Common Penalty
Earned Excl	Player drew the exclusion (was fouled)	Player's cap
Sprint	Sprint won at start of period	Player's cap
Undo	Reverses the last action	(no prompt)
Delete	Removes any logged event from the timeline	(opens timeline picker)

You will not need every button every game. Goal, Save, Excl, and Undo are the four you'll use constantly. The rest are for richer stats; capture them if you can keep up.

4. Picker modifiers — the checkboxes that matter

When you tap an action button, the player picker often has small checkboxes underneath the cap-number grid. These are modifiers that turn a basic Goal into a 6-on-5 power-play goal, or a basic Save into an Inside-2m save. They're optional but they make the box score much richer.

6-on-5 Power-play modifier (on Goal)

Check this if the goal was scored while the other team was a player short due to an exclusion. Power-play efficiency is one of the most-watched team stats in water polo — checking the box matters.

CA Counter-attack modifier (on Goal)

Check this if the goal was scored on a fast break — the team won the ball, pushed it up the pool, and scored before the defense could set up. Distinguishes transition offense from set offense.

FBU Forced Ball Under (on Steal)

Check this if the defender forced the offensive player to push the ball under the water (which is a turnover) rather than picking off a pass. FBU is a more-aggressive defensive play than a passive interception steal.

I-2m Inside-2m (on Save / Turnover)

Check this if the save or turnover happened in the dangerous attacking zone right in front of the cage. Inside-2m saves are highlight saves; Inside-2m turnovers usually mean an offensive foul on the set position.

KO Kickout vs Common Penalty (on Excl)

This is the only modifier that matters for the rules, not just the stats. Kickout counts toward the 3-strike disqualification rule; Common penalty doesn't. If you're not sure which one the referee called, ask at the next dead ball — never guess. (Our FINA rules guide has the full breakdown.)

EE Earned Exclusion (separate button)

Earned Exclusion isn't a modifier — it's its own button. Two players are involved in every exclusion: the one excluded (Excl) and the one fouled (EE). If you have time, log both. If not, prioritize Excl; EE can be added later via Delete + re-enter, or skipped entirely.

For the deep dive on every stat and what each modifier means, see our water polo stats explained guide. It's the canonical reference for the abbreviations on the box score.

5. Common mistakes and how to fix them

Every volunteer makes these mistakes. The fix is almost always Undo or Delete.

Wrong scorer tapped on a goal

Easiest fix: tap Undo immediately. That reverses the last action, and you can re-enter with the right cap number. If a few events have happened since, use Delete to open the timeline, find the wrong goal, and remove it — then re-enter the correct goal. The score updates instantly.

Tapped Goal when it should have been Shot Attempt (or vice versa)

Same fix — Undo if it was the last event, Delete from the timeline if not. Don't try to "leave it and adjust later" because the score will be wrong on the public page until you fix it.

Wrong team scored

This sounds dumb but it happens — especially when both teams are wearing dark caps and you're scoring under fluorescent lighting at 7 AM. Undo, then re-enter on the correct team's panel. If you notice 30 seconds later, Delete the event from the timeline.

The "wrong game" panic

Less common but it does happen: a volunteer scores 2 goals into the wrong game on the schedule. The fix is not to keep scoring and hope nobody notices. Stop, find the director, and they'll move the events to the correct game (or the development team will help if it's complex).

Player isn't on the roster

If a cap number is missing from the picker, it usually means the team's roster wasn't fully imported before the tournament. The director can add the player from the admin panel in a few seconds. Until they do, you can log the event against "Team" instead of a specific player — the score is correct, the player stats just won't be attributed.

The big one — don't forget to tap Save. The single most common volunteer mistake is forgetting to log goalkeeper saves, because saves happen many times per game and a goal happens once every few minutes. The Sv stat is a huge piece of the goalie's box-score line. If you do nothing else for the goalies, just tap Save every time the goalkeeper stops a shot. The rest of the goalie stats will fall into place.

6. End Game flow with referee sign-off

The last 30 seconds of your shift are the most important. When the final buzzer goes:

Tap End Game. Eggbeater shows a review screen with the final score, the period scores, and the full box score for both teams.
Skim the review screen. Final score correct? Period scores add up? Both goalies have non-zero saves (assuming both faced shots)? If anything looks wrong, this is your chance to fix it before locking.
Hand the tablet to the head referee. They tap into the sign-off field, type their name, and tap Sign Off. The score locks; the public game page gets a green pill showing the referee's name and the timestamp.
Confirm the green pill is visible on the public page (the same URL families are watching). If it's not, the sign-off didn't go through — try again.

That's it. The game is locked; the standings update; the bracket pulls in the result. You're free to grab a coffee.

7. What the public page shows

You've just spent 45 minutes tapping buttons. What did the rest of the tournament see?

Live score updated within ~5 seconds of each tap. Parents in the stands and grandparents at home are watching the same numbers you're tapping.
Live box score for both teams — every goal, save, exclusion attributed to a specific player.
Period-by-period scoring summary so spectators can see the flow of the game (who led at the half, who broke it open in the 4th).
Game timeline — a chronological list of every event you logged, like a mini play-by-play.
Standings update the moment you tap End Game. The pool table reflects the new W/L record and the goal-differential math.
Bracket reveal — if this was a bracket-determining game, the next round populates with the winner immediately.
Push notifications — families who follow this team get pinged when the game ends with the final score.

That's why the desk job matters: you are, in real time, the entire data layer between the kids in the pool and the families across the country watching from a phone. No pressure.

Print the trilingual game-desk reference card

Eggbeater publishes a printable two-page game-desk reference card in English, Spanish, and French. Tape it to the desk on tournament day and a first-time volunteer can score a game without having seen the app before. There's also a Hydres-themed version for clubs running the white-label setup.

Open the printable scorer guide →

The TL;DR

Open the app, unlock the game, tap buttons when things happen, end the game, get the referee to sign off. Everything else is gravy. If you remember nothing else, remember Goal, Save, Excl, Undo — those four buttons handle 90% of a normal water polo game. You can learn the rest as you go.

Volunteer scorer onboarding: the 5-minute version