The 10 scoring mistakes we see at every table (and how to avoid them)
When you build a score counter for ten games, you end up seeing the same mistakes turn up everywhere: they are not addition errors, they are half-known rules. Here are the ten we come across most often, the ones that ended up dictating the way the counter is built.
In short
Scoring mistakes are almost never addition errors but half-known rules: forgetting to double on a tie in Skyjo, missing the dix de der in Belote, a failed contract miscounted in Contrée (160 + contract), a bonus counted on a failed bid in Skull King, the ×2 applied after the modifiers in Flip 7, the 55 counted as 5 in 6 nimmt!, shooting the moon scored the wrong way round in Hearts, the Yahtzee bonus granted at 62, a Barbu salad that doesn’t add up, and scores written down before being checked.
1. Skyjo: not doubling on a tie
The player who ends the round must have strictly the lowest total. If they tie with another player, their score is doubled. Most tables miss it the first time, and the rule always sparks an argument when it is discovered 30 points from the end. An often-forgotten corollary: a negative or zero score is never doubled. See the Skyjo rules.
2. Belote: forgetting the dix de der, or counting it twice
The last trick is worth 10 points on top of the cards it contains. A mène (a deal) therefore adds up to 162, not 152. The simplest check: the two scores of the deal must always total 162 between them (182 with a declared belote, 252 on a capot, all the tricks). If they don’t, someone has forgotten the dix de der, the last-trick bonus… or counted it twice.
3. Contrée: miscounting a failed contract
When the contract fails, the defence does not score its actual points but 160 plus the value of the contract (plus the belote if it holds it). A failed 90 is therefore worth 250 to the defence, 500 doubled, 1,000 redoubled. Many tables write down the points the defence actually made, which makes Contrée far less tense than it should be.
4. Skull King: counting a bonus on a failed bid
The bonuses (14s captured, a mermaid taken by a pirate, a pirate taken by the Skull King, the Skull King taken by a mermaid) only count if the bid is made. A player who misses their bid by two tricks and captured the Skull King with a mermaid scores −20 per trick off, not +40. Second mistake in the same game: a zero bid scores 10 points per card in the round, not 20 per trick. Our detailed rules are on the Skull King page, and the counter locks the bonuses when the bid is not made.
5. Flip 7: applying the ×2 after the modifiers
In Flip 7, you add up the number cards, double that total if you have the ×2 card, and only then add the +2, +4, +6, +8 and +10 modifiers and the 15-point bonus for seven different numbers. Doubling after the modifiers inflates scores by 10 to 30 points a round. The other classic confusion: a duplicate loses you the whole round, modifiers included; you score 0, not the total of the modifiers.
6. 6 nimmt!: counting the 55 as 5 bullheads
The 55 is a double (5 bullheads) and a multiple of 5 (2 bullheads): it is worth 7 bullheads, the most expensive card in the game. The other doubles (11, 22, 33, 44, 66, 77, 88, 99) are worth 5, multiples of 10 are worth 3, multiples of 5 are worth 2. Count the bullheads printed on the cards rather than working it out: the result is always right.
7. Hearts: getting shooting the moon the wrong way round
The player who takes all 13 hearts and the queen scores 0, and each of the others takes 26. The round then totals 78 with four players, instead of the usual 26: that is normal. The opposite mistake is to give 26 to the player who took everything, which amounts to punishing the shooter. The counter checks that a “normal” round does total 26 and offers shooting the moon automatically when a player enters 13 hearts and the queen.
8. Yahtzee: the bonus at 62, or forgotten
The 35-point bonus requires an upper-section total of at least 63. At 62, nothing. It is also very often forgotten when the final addition is done by hand, because it matches no line on the grid. Our score sheet gives it a line of its own.
9. Barbu: a salad that doesn’t add up
In the salad, you add up the penalties of every contract: tricks, hearts, queens and Barbu. The total for the round must therefore equal the sum of the totals of each contract taken on its own (with the usual scoring table of 2 per trick, 5 per heart, 25 per queen and 80 for the Barbu: 26 + 65 + 100 + 80 = 271). If your salad does not come to that total, a card has been counted twice or left out.
10. Every game: writing it down before checking
The most common, and the most costly: the scores get written down while someone is still sorting their cards, and on the next turn you discover that a value was missing. Once it is written under the next line, nobody knows any more what was counted. That is why the counter requires you to confirm each round explicitly and offers a step-by-step undo: you can correct the last round without breaking the ones that follow.
The safeguards it made us build
Each of these mistakes matches a check in the app: caps per round (13 tricks, 13 hearts, 4 queens, 1 king of hearts; 26 points in Hearts), automatic zeros once everything has been allocated, bonuses locked until the bid is made, mandatory round confirmation and an editable log. The aim is not to do the sums for you — an 8-year-old does them perfectly well — but to stop a half-known rule slipping through unnoticed.
Frequently asked questions
How do you quickly check a Belote score sheet?
Add the two scores of each deal: 162, or 182 with a belote, or 252 on a capot. Any other total flags an error on that line.
How do you check a round of Hearts?
The points of the round add up to 26 (13 hearts at 1 point and the queen at 13), except when someone shoots the moon, where they add up to 26 times the number of players minus one.
What if the mistake is discovered three rounds later?
On paper, correct the line and recalculate the running totals below it. In the counter, open the log and edit the round concerned: the totals that follow are recalculated.
Published on 29 September 2026, updated on 13 October 2026.