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Why does the live scoreboard ask me to pick a pocket every rack?

At the start of a rack, once the current breaker has this switched on, the live scoreboard shows two buttons — Left and Right — sitting above the usual five scoring buttons, on iPhone, iPad and the web app alike. Tap one to log the breaker's pocket, or leave it and carry on — Undo, Switch, Point, Opp. pt and Foul all work exactly as normal whether or not it's been answered. Once a pocket is chosen for that rack, the prompt clears until the next one.

It's always the breaker's own pocket for that rack, not whoever happens to tap the answer in. If you're breaking, it reads "Your pocket this rack." If the other player is breaking, it names them instead: "{Name}'s pocket this rack." On a new match you both see the prompt, so either of you can answer it; if you both tap at once, only the first answer counts. Either way, underneath it always says "As the breaker sees it."

That line matters because left and right look opposite depending which end of the table you're standing at. Naming it as the breaker's own left and right, every time, removes that ambiguity for good — whether you're breaking yourself or answering for the other player.

Whether you actually see it depends on a standing preference each player sets for themselves — it isn't decided fresh at the start of a match, and it isn't necessarily the same for both of you. Once you've answered either way, that choice sticks for every match after this one, not just this one. Answering is optional either way: you can skip it and get straight on with scoring, and nothing about logging the match itself needs a pocket choice to keep moving.

Skipping a rack only leaves that one rack unanswered — the prompt comes back next rack regardless. To stop it being asked altogether, use "Ask for the pocket each rack", a setting under Settings → Privacy on iPhone and iPad, or Profile → Privacy on the web app. Switch it off and the prompt stops appearing on every rack you break, on any device, until you switch it back on.

The first time you're the breaker and this hasn't been decided yet, the two-button prompt is replaced — just that once — by a card headed "Why we ask about the pocket." It explains what the answers are used for and that answering is optional, then offers the same choice the Settings toggle does: Ask me each rack, or Don't ask. Whichever you pick is saved as your standing preference from then on, exactly as if you'd set it yourself in Settings → Privacy. This card only ever appears on the breaker's own phone, the first time you're breaking — never on the other player's phone, and never on an invited scorer's.

If the current rack's breaker hasn't turned this on, you won't just find a silent gap where the Left/Right row would be. There's a short line explaining it instead — "You haven't turned on the pocket question" if you're breaking too, or naming them if it's someone else: "{Name} hasn't turned on the pocket question." Either way, scoring carries on exactly as normal underneath it.

It's there to build a genuine, complete picture of how pocket choice relates to how a rack goes — the kind you only get by asking consistently, not just when someone happens to remember.

Your own answers feed your personal Pocket play numbers in Activity, and — once enough members across the community have contributed — a suppressed, community-wide breakdown too. See Where do I see my own pocket-play stats? and What is "Pocket stats — all members", and who can see it?

Tapped the wrong side? Undo works on a pocket choice exactly the way it works on a point or a foul — tap it, and the choice is removed. The prompt reappears straight away so you can pick the right one.