ISAAC WOOTEN
Digital Pool
The scoreboard for competitive pool. Software, apps, hardware and streaming.
Running a pool tournament used to mean a paper bracket on the wall, matches called by hand and players waiting hours to hear their name. I founded Digital Pool to take the paper away for directors and the waiting away for players: live brackets, table assignments and results on every phone, plus in-venue scoring and broadcast. As founder and CEO I set direction, design the product and build across the stack, with a team of seven.
From one tournament in 2020 to 105,450. 4.9M matches scored live, with results reported to FargoRate and events like the World Pool Championship on the platform.
The product
Designing the tournament, and what AI does next
Running a pool tournament used to mean paper brackets and a lot of waiting.
Directors ran events off a bracket on the wall and called every match by hand, and players waited around for hours to hear their name. Digital Pool took the paper away: brackets, table assignments and results live on everyone’s phone, so the event runs smoothly and the player experience gets much better.
The next step is using AI to automate more of it, from setting up the tournament to running it: estimating match times to answer the question players ask most, “when am I up next?”, and giving every player stats on how they played and what to work on to improve.
Before
- A paper bracket on the wall
- Matches called by hand
- Players wait around for hours
- Results typed in afterwards
With Digital Pool
- A live bracket on every phone
- Tables assigned, players texted
- An estimated start time for each match
- Results reported automatically, stats for every player
The director and players
- Choose the event, the format and the rules
- Make the judgement calls on the day
- Play, and decide what to work on next
The platform
- Build the bracket and assign tables
- Estimate when each match will start
- Report results to FargoRate
- Turn each player’s matches into stats and pointers
The hard part: a predicted time is a promise. If it says a player is up at 3:40, they plan their afternoon around it, so the estimate has to stay honest as the day slips and say so when it changes.
The calls I made
Build the audience instead of buying it
A platform nobody has heard of does not run tournaments. I built the channels alongside the product, so the reach is ours and not rented: 32.5K on Instagram, 18K on Facebook, 5.5K YouTube subscribers and more than 25M lifetime views, with nothing spent on paid acquisition, ever.
Keep the free tier free
The platform stays free to run events on. An ad network I built on top of our own channels pays for it, serving about 19M impressions a year.
How I built it
From a scoring app to a company thousands of players rely on every week.
Digital Pool grew one layer at a time, and I designed and built across every one of them: the app, the platform, the hardware in the room and the broadcast on the stream.
- 012011The Scorekeeper app for iPhoneMeDesigned and built it
- 022020The first tournament on the platformMeDesigned the product and built across the stack
- 03In the roomAll-table scoring displays and live broadcast overlaysMeSet direction for a team of seven
- 04NextRebuilt AI-native, with prediction and automation in the coreMeLead the rebuild
Evidence
The job was to take the hand work and the waiting out of running a tournament. These say it worked.
And the scale behind it.
One tournament in 2020. Thousands a month now, across the US, Vietnam, Canada and Taiwan, run by 6,000+ tournament directors and 900+ league operators in 1,300+ rooms with tables.
Role
Digital Pool is a company, not an app: a tournament platform, native apps, custom hardware and live streaming for competitive billiards.
As founder and CEO I set direction, design the product and build across the stack. A team of seven, thousands of events a month, and the scoring platform under events like the US Open and the World Pool Championship. Beyond software: an ad network I built serves ~19M impressions a year, and permanent all-table scoring and streaming hardware is going into pool rooms around the country.
Platform & Software
The tournament engine: live scoring, brackets, table assignments, FargoRate reporting, payments and predicted match times.
Apps
Web, iOS and Android, kept in sync for players and operators.
All-Table System
In-venue displays that put live scores on every table.
Broadcast & Streaming
Live overlays, multi-table boards and stat sheets, used on the World Pool Championship and World 10-Ball Championship.
Brand system
Logo system, product surfaces, print, packaging and out-of-home for Digital Pool.
Brand world · rendered from the locked brand DNA
In the room
The product on the floor: table displays, the room board, broadcast and the operator desk at events like the US Open and the Derby City Classic.
From a 2011 iPhone scoring app to a company thousands of players rely on every week.
Running it
Scope
Live scoring & brackets
Real-time match scoring with brackets that update as results come in.
Table assignments & alerts
Automated table assignments with text notifications so players know exactly when and where they're up.
Automatic FargoRate reporting
Results report straight to FargoRate, no manual entry for operators.
Digital payments
Entry fees and payouts handled in-platform.
AI-predicted match times
Models estimate when each match will start, so players can plan their day.
Cross-platform
One product across web, iOS, and Android, kept in sync.
- Web · iOS · Android
- Real-time scoring & brackets
- Notifications & messaging
- Digital payments
- FargoRate integration
- AI match-time prediction
- Product design
- Full-stack engineering
Reach
A platform nobody has heard of does not run tournaments. I built the audience alongside the product, so the channels are ours and the reach is not rented. The ad network that keeps the free tier free runs on top of it.
On the record
Two interviews with the billiards press, talking through how the platform works and how it got built.
What I’d tell you over coffee
Build the audience with the product.
A platform nobody has heard of does not run tournaments. So the channels grew alongside the software, and Digital Pool has never paid for a user. When your audience is a community, owning the reach is not marketing; it is part of the product, and it is what keeps the free tier free.
Next
Rebuilding Digital Pool AI-native, with prediction and automation in the core rather than bolted on.
Visit digitalpool.com ↗