Timeouts
Timeouts are configured during setup and used during play.
Setting them
The Timeouts setting is the number allowed per team, not in total. So setting 2 gives each side two.
- ›0 disables timeouts entirely
- ›3 is the maximum
Using one
Call a timeout during play and the app records it against your team's allowance. Once you've used your allocation, you're out for the rest of the game.
The count is per game, not per session — a new game restores both teams' allowance.
Choosing a number
0 — casual play. Most drop-in games don't want them. Nobody's coaching, nobody's stalling, and the game flows better without the option. This is the right default for a park game or a court with people waiting.
1 to 2 — competitive play. Enough to stop a run or catch your breath in a long game, not enough to disrupt the rhythm.
3 — long or high-stakes games. Worth it at a target score of 21, where fatigue genuinely becomes a factor, or in a final.
What they're actually for
Two legitimate uses:
Stopping momentum. The other side has won five straight. A break interrupts the rhythm and gives you a moment to change something.
Recovery. In a long game in heat, thirty seconds matters more than people expect.
And one worth naming: stalling. A timeout called purely to break an opponent's flow at match point is within the rules and universally disliked. Your call.
In an event or league
Whether timeouts are available, and how many, is set by the organizer when the event is created, and applies to every match.
If you're organizing, this is worth thinking about against your format. A round robin with many short games runs better with 0 or 1 — timeouts multiply across a schedule and push the whole day back. A single-elimination final can afford more.
On a court with a queue
Same consideration, sharper. If there's a queue waiting, every timeout extends the wait for everyone in line. Courts with people waiting tend to run at 0.