How to make scoring parts for your ladder(s)

[Steve King (Admin)]

All that you need is either a) 2 different colored permanent markers (for team play) or b) some laminated label making tapes with 2 different colors (~1 inch wide) to mark the rungs with numbers. You will also need 2 rubber O-rings smaller than the diameter of the rung to use as slide markers. These can be purchased at any hardware store.

See the below pics for examples.  CLICK TO ENLARGE,



Feel free to ask if you have any questions. These scoring parts won't affect play of the game one bit like other extruding scoring parts may.

Steve

[Buggs41]

Great idea Steve! I will definitely add that to my game set.

[Steve King (Admin)]

Thank you. I wanted to come up with an idea that wouldn't affect the game play when the bolas were thrown. This seemed like the best avenue and is super cheap to do, especially if you opt to do the permanent marker route. You just need to have a steady hand and a flexible ruler to make it look good.

Steve

[Buggs41]

Steve, I finally added the scoring tapes to my 1/2" PVC ladders. I used 1/2" wide tape. One has black printing on white background. The other has red printing on white background. I bought some O rings, then discovered that the ones included inside the union fittings I use worked just fine. Since my ladders are all glued, I even added some extra O rings on the pipe to cover possible breakage in the future. If I run out of the spare's, a PVC coupling can always be added after new O rings have been installed.

[Steve King (Admin)]

I thought about doing a glued set, but I don't want them to take up that much room. I suppose they could be hung from the rafters in the garage. The military has made me into such a neat freak, lol. I'm glad the o-ring idea worked out for ya.

Steve

[Buggs41]

In using my scoring labels, I found that the o ring seems to rest better on the 'double digit' numbers, than the single digit ones. This is due to the washer wanting to 'rest' in the same state it was manufactured in. If I make more labels, the single digits will include a 0 in front of them.

Instead of: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21
It will be: 01-02-03-04-05-06-07-08-09-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21

[Steve King (Admin)]

Ahhh yes my friend, I did notice this too, but failed to report my findings. You are very correct in stating that placing a zero before the single digits will remedy this minor issue. On my tape, if I did that, I would have had to make my font smaller though so the tape with the extra zero's would fit the rung. However, some have stated that they would put this on a vertical piece of pipe or on one of the legs, which may fit without going to a smaller font size.

Steve

[Buggs41]

Steve, can your labeler print vertically on the tape? By accident, mine printed alpha characters vertically along the tape. Not what I wanted at the time, but it worked. I wonder if this can be accomplished with a two digit number?

ie:
I wanted : "Buggs41" printed across the label.
What I got instead was:
B
u
g
g
s
4
1


Now I am really scratching my head on the possibility of this working corectly for a two digit number.

Brad

[Steve King (Admin)]

I'm pretty sure it can like so:

01
02
03
04
05
etc.

Unfortunately, I ran out of tape and am too cheap to drop the $20 bucks or so to buy a new roll right now, since I'd rather sink the moola into our new house. )
Since the laber maker is packed right now still, I will get back with you on this at a later date, so I can verify by looking into the manual.

Steve

[Buggs41]

And then again, we might just have the same problem with how the O ring rides on those labels.

Someday, We will have this all figured out. I just hope it isn't too soon. I love thinking about new ways to improve what we already have.

[Jon McCann]

I have used a small piece of 1/4 inch plywood about 6 inches by 1 foot stuck in a notch cut out of a piece of leftover PVC I angle cut the bottom so it could be stuck into the ground easier. I then wrote the numbers 1-21 vertically on either side of the scoreboard and i use two plastic clothespins slid up and down to mark the score. Hope this helps.

[cobeez]

My ladders are already glued and I didn't think to put the scoring tape and o-rings on. Is there anyway to get an o-ring on now without cutting the pvc? Can a rubber o-ring be cut and clued back together and still work? I really like that idea for the scoring.

[Steve King (Admin)]

Unfortunately no. However, I know you said that you don't want to cut the PVC, but if you get 2 PVC couplings (see pic below), then you can cut the top rung off and do as the below pic shows.

CLICK TO ENLARGE



Coupling Pic: