Game development classes for kids in Canada

-- LeafScore (ours): a Script in ServerScriptService. Written for Roblox Studio; not run outside it.
local Players = game:GetService("Players")

Players.PlayerAdded:Connect(function(player)
	local stats = Instance.new("Folder")
	stats.Name = "leaderstats"          -- Roblox's docs: a leaderstats folder drives the in-game rankings
	stats.Parent = player

	local leaves = Instance.new("IntValue")
	leaves.Name = "Leaves"
	leaves.Value = 0
	leaves.Parent = stats
end)

-- MapleLeaf (ours): a Script inside each leaf Part. Written for Roblox Studio; not run outside it.
local Players = game:GetService("Players")
local leaf = script.Parent
local collected = false                 -- the debounce: one touch, one point

leaf.Touched:Connect(function(hit)
	if collected then
		return
	end
	local player = Players:GetPlayerFromCharacter(hit.Parent)
	if player then
		collected = true
		player.leaderstats.Leaves.Value += 1
		leaf.Transparency = 1
		leaf.CanTouch = false
		task.wait(5)                    -- the leaf grows back after 5 seconds
		leaf.Transparency = 0
		leaf.CanTouch = true
		collected = false
	end
end)

The line that matters most is local collected = false, and the check at the start of the function. Without them, one touch can score many points.

# Our simulation of why a Roblox leaf needs a debounce (plain Python, not Roblox code)
touches = [0.00, 0.03, 0.05, 0.11, 0.16]   # made-up times in seconds: one foot landing makes several touches

def score(touch_times, debounce):
    points = 0
    busy_until = -1.0
    for t in touch_times:
        if debounce and t < busy_until:
            continue                        # the leaf is already collected; ignore this touch
        points += 1
        busy_until = t + 5                  # the leaf grows back after 5 seconds
    return points

print("without a debounce:", score(touches, False), "points")
print("with a debounce:   ", score(touches, True), "point")

without a debounce: 5 points
with a debounce:    1 point

The five touch times are made up for the simulation. The real number of touches in Roblox varies; the point is that it is more than one.