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Sports where the score goes forwards and backwards

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    Sports where the score goes forwards and backwards

    Random enquiry - is Tennis the only one that does this? You get to advantage, lose the next point and you go back to deuce. And this keeps going backwards and forwards, potentially for ever, until someone wins two in a row from deuce to win a game. It actually messes with the only representation of the game, as things like flash score boxes tend to highlight the player who has won the last point, which works OK for 15, 30, 40, the first deuce and advantage, but at that point it will highlight the player whose score has changed, i.e. the one who was ad up but now isn't, and that is not the player who has won the rally!

    Other racquet sports have their equivalents of deuce, all of them in fact require a player to be two points clear to win a game (and equally the game can theoretically go on for ever) but the score keeps on accumulating so you know how long it has taken and how many points each player has won to still be even steven. And there are some sports that count down but those tend to only count downwards.

    The closest I can come up with is darts where it's first to zero to win a leg, but the legs and sets count upwards. However that also has internal consistency that Tennis lacks as it only counts down and never up inside the leg, and only counts up and never down for the legs in total. I'm struggling to think of any other which counts up and down within the same unit of it's scoring system. Anyone?

    #2
    Well, I guess, darts does count down and then reset if someone scores higher than they need for zero.

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      #3
      There doesn't seem to be any reason why tennis doesn't call deuce at 30-30, either.

      - If A wins two points from 30-30, A wins the game.
      - If A wins a point from 30-30, then B wins a point, it's deuce.

      - If A wins two points from deuce, A wins the game.
      - If A wins a point from deuce, then B wins a point, it's deuce.

      30-30 and deuce are identical.

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        #4
        If you just record shots taken, then golf is standard cumulative. But if you record score against par, it goes up and down.

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          #5
          And matchplay golf. Win a hole, gain a point. Lose a hole, lose a point.

          Edit, hmm, not quite losing a point though, is it.

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            #6
            Actually, on third thoughts, I think matchplay probably is similar to tennis. It's just it's possible to go advantage, double advantage, triple advantage etc, but if your opponent wins a hole it brings you back down.

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              #7
              Originally posted by Kevin S View Post
              There doesn't seem to be any reason why tennis doesn't call deuce at 30-30, either.

              - If A wins two points from 30-30, A wins the game.
              - If A wins a point from 30-30, then B wins a point, it's deuce.

              - If A wins two points from deuce, A wins the game.
              - If A wins a point from deuce, then B wins a point, it's deuce.

              30-30 and deuce are identical.
              French differentiates between 40-40 and deuce (where deuce is the score after an advantage has been pulled back)

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                #8
                Originally posted by Kevin S View Post
                There doesn't seem to be any reason why tennis doesn't call deuce at 30-30, either.

                - If A wins two points from 30-30, A wins the game.
                - If A wins a point from 30-30, then B wins a point, it's deuce.

                - If A wins two points from deuce, A wins the game.
                - If A wins a point from deuce, then B wins a point, it's deuce.

                30-30 and deuce are identical.
                And indeed the French don't call égalité until what in English is the second deuce. Their version of the scoring system runs trente-A, quarante-A, avantage, égalité. I was going to say this is more logical, but we still have a scoring system that replaces 1, 2 and 3 with 15, 30 and 40 and then goes backwards and forwards so it's less illogical to only call equality once the thing starts rocking. Even if 30-A, 40-Al and égalité are effectively the same position.

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                  #9
                  Er, what he said.

                  I think strokeplay works better than matchplay as a golf example, because it does both. Matchplay goes up and down, but doesn't have the cumulative counting preceding it. Strokeplay both has a count up system (total shots taken), and a count up-and-down (score against par) going on at the same time.

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                    #10
                    What a fascinating thread. More please.

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                      #11
                      Bowls and curling are in this category, aren't they, at least within each end? The person bowling the first bowl automatically holds one (unless they stick it in the ditch). Their opponent then bowls and can either go closer (so they hold one) or not. The lead player goes again and after two bowls each one or the other could be holding one or two. At a given point in some ends a player could go from holding three or four to just one, or even their opponent holding one or more (depending on the outcome of the next delivery). In both, the position can never be equal, unless there are no bowls on the green or stones in the head (the latter is much more common in curling than bowls).

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                        #12
                        In both rowing and rugby, you have to go backwards, to go forwards.

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                          #13
                          And maybe cycling, when talking about gaps between the leaders. The time gap goes forwards and backwards.

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                            #14
                            Yes, a lot of forms of racing - motor racing for example does too - have that dual count (total time and time gap).

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                              #15
                              In the Tour de France, you gain the yellow jersey then lose it.

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