Game day lights: team colors that celebrate when your team scores

How do I get my lights in team colors?

This part is easy with almost any smart light. Most brand apps let you pick colors and save them as a scene. A few tips so it looks right:

• Pick two colors, not five. Team colors read best as a strong main color and one accent.
• Skip the white if you can. On many lights, white washes out the other color. Use it as the accent, not half the wall.
• Check the shade. Navy, maroon and dark green can look dim on LEDs. Bump them a touch brighter than you think.
• Save it as a scene. Then game day is one tap, every week.

Can my lights react when my team scores?

This is the harder part. A scene sits still. To celebrate a touchdown or a goal, the lights need to know the score as it happens, which means an app that follows live games. That is less common, and some people end up building their own with score feeds and code. If you just want it to work on game day, look for an app that has live scores built in.

How do I set up lights at a tailgate?

• Power first. Battery-powered curtains make it easy. Otherwise, plan your power source before you plan the show.
• Bring your own network. A phone hotspot puts your laptop and lights on one network with no stadium Wi-Fi needed.
• Shade the screen. A canopy helps the lights pop before sunset.
• Tie it down. Curtains catch wind. Clip the bottom so it does not swing.

How GlowBop handles it

GlowBop turns your wall into a scoreboard. Tap SPORTS on the rail and pick a mode. It runs on a Windows laptop, and you run it from your phone. It works on a living room wall on a Sunday and on a curtain under a tent in the parking lot.

Live Fan: follow a real game

Tap Live Fan, pick a league, then your team, and tap Follow this team. During the game the score updates live, and when your team scores, the wall celebrates in their colors. There are 44 leagues in five groups:

• Pro: NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, UFL, CFL, Premier Lacrosse League and USL Championship.
• Women: WNBA, NWSL, England Women's Super League, Women's Champions League and Women's World Cup.
• College: football, basketball, baseball, softball, hockey, volleyball, lacrosse and field hockey.
• World soccer: Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1, Liga MX, Champions League, World Cup and more.
• More of the world: AFL, Rugby World Cup, FIBA Basketball World Cup and Indian Premier League cricket.

Live stats come along too: in baseball, the count, runners on base, batter and pitcher; in football, down and distance and a red-zone alert. The last play scrolls across the wall, and the Game Center on your phone shows the linescore, leaders and records.

Golf, racing, tennis, UFC and F1

Golf shows the tournament leaderboard, with your favorite player always on the wall. Racing covers NASCAR Cup, O'Reilly and Truck series, and IndyCar, with the running order and the flags. Tennis shows ATP and WTA singles, and UFC shows the card with the round and clock. F1 gets its own live board: running order, tyres, pit stops, fastest lap, DRS and rain, with NEW LEADER and WINNER in the driver's team colors.

Tonight's list

Big night of games? Pin them. Tap the pin on any game or race in Live now and start the rotation. Pick Full wall, where each game takes the wall in turn, or Cards over music, where the light show keeps playing and scores pop in as cards. Finished games drop off by themselves, and the list clears at 6 AM. Turn on Show behind the scores and the show keeps dancing behind the scoreboard, dimmed so the numbers stay sharp.

Keep score yourself

Kids game, cornhole or a backyard match? Game Day mode covers 15 sports, from soccer and basketball to pickleball and cornhole, with a clock that counts down or up, periods, timeouts, fouls, possession and undo. Every score gets a celebration on the wall.

At the field

Bring the laptop, turn on your phone hotspot, connect the laptop to it, then open the remote on your phone. Battery-powered curtains make this easy. Want team colors when the game is over? The fireplace has a Team colors setting, and the Game Day holiday show brings waving flags. Scores need the laptop online, since they come in live.

Which lights work today? Twinkly curtains and strings, Nanoleaf string lights and the LIFX String. A curtain is a grid of pixels, so it can draw real numbers. Govee works as a one-color wash, so it can glow in team colors but cannot show a score. See supported lights.

Try it

Watch a pretend touchdown in the live demo, read the full sports guide, then start the 7-day free trial on the pricing page. Sports are in every plan, including Home DJ. Lights acting up at the field? See why smart lights keep going offline.

Questions people ask