Brand New and need a little guidance

My teenage son and I are diving in to learning a little about chess. Or at least playing each other and having fun doing it. We love the idea of speed chess from Bobby Fischer movie, and I was curious what the standard way to do the timer-clocks in regular games versus speed-chess would be?

Is it as simple as just putting less and less time on the clock or how does it work?

And what happens if the times both run out and there is no check mate, do we count the points on the board still alive and that player is the winner?

I can't find a definitive rules guide for such things.

Forgive me for the complete NEWB question. I appreciate your patience.

This should help...

https://support.chess.com/article/330-why-are-there-different-ratings-in-live-chess

Oh and if your time runs out, you lose...

First about who wins when the clock runs out, because that's the easiest to answer.

There are two clocks, yours and your opponent's. The important fact is your clock only counts down when it's your turn to move and the same is true for your opponent. So only one clock can reach zero. If a clock does reach zero, then the game ends as a loss for that player regardless* of what the position is on the board, even if white is 1 move away from checkmating the black king, if white runs out of time then white loses.

*If a player only has a king, and no other piece, then it's impossible for them to win via the clock. If their opponent's clock reaches zero then the game ends as a draw.

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Loosely defined, "speed chess" is any time control where each player has less than 60 minutes for the whole game. I see you have a US flag. So I should mention that to complicate matters FIDE (the international chess organization) and USCF (the national chess federation of the US) don't agree when it comes to time controls, but loosely we can just say any game less than G/60 is "speed chess."

Online, and in movies, "speed chess" is often far less than G/60 (pronounced "game in 60" where each player has 60 minute to start). The most popular time control online is 10|0 meaning each player starts with 10 minutes and there is no increment*. You could also call this G/10 or "game in 10."

*Increment means each time a move is made, that player has X number of seconds added to their clock.

It doesn't stop at 10|0. "Speed chess" is divided into different categories. 10|0 is "rapid" while 5|0  and 3|0 are "blitz" and 1|0 is "bullet" ... Games where each player starts with less than 1 minute on their clock may be unimaginable, but such games exist, and are usually called "hyperbullet."

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When players are new to the game, FIDE regulation time controls are too long. For example when the world champion defends his title, his games can conceivably last 6 hours, 7 hours, even more. When beginners play, I think a good time control is 30|0. Again, that means each player starts with 30 minutes on their clock, and zero seconds are added after each move. The game can last a maximum of 1 hour.

Hope that helps. It's great you and your son are enjoying the game. Have fun with chess!

Both of these answers are wonderfully magnificent! Thanks everyone  

Now, another question. We want the old school clock that makes the click sound and is wooden. Are the ones on amazon for 35-40 dollars all about equal? Do you recommend any clock over any other. To me, I feel like the kinesthetic quality of the click sound and the weight of it seem more important than the bells and whistles for me. 

Adding the increments I am sure will be something down the line but I think my son and I just want to play like they play in the park in Bobby Fischer at first, you know? We both want to learn the finer points of openings and puzzles and what not, but we love the idea of rapid chess with mistakes and recovery and talking to get in each other's heads etc... hahaha. 

Probably best to start a thread over here, and since all the threads are archived, maybe do a search as well...

https://www.chess.com/forum/category/chess-equipment

When I went to my first tournament, I brought a clock just like that. They're called "analog clocks" which are separate from those with digital displays which are unsurprisingly called "digital clocks."

The tournament director chuckled a bit, and said that's what he used to play with too, but then replaced our clock with a digital one... one reason digital is preferred for tournament use is because you can be sure both players will have exactly the same time. With analog clocks, their speed depends on physical mechanisms which wear down over time, such as the clock's spring.

In any case, the ticking analog clocks are great fun, and I can understand the aesthetic appeal. Obviously you and your son are not going to tamper with the spring to cheat each other... but unfortunately since my clock experience is entirely with tournament chess, I can't recommend one analog clock over another.

I will re-organize my question to the Equipment Board!! I am just now navigating the site and it's not super easy to figure out where and how to go everywhere!  I haven't done much internet message boarding since the VBulletin days back almost 17 years now! THANKS everyone.

Here's a thread to start with...I think this is the one where Shelby mentioned he still had some original wooden analogs for sale.

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/analog-chess-clock

Bottom of page 5....

Time Controls - Everything You Wanted To Know...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/time-controls-everything-you-wanted-to-know

a good site for chess clocks...USCF...

https://www.uscfsales.com/chess-clocks.html

I have a wooden BHB mechanical-analog chess clock which I purchased in 1989.  Still works great.  The essence of simplicity -  "Takes a lickin and keeps on tickin!"...

lots of stuff here to help you get better at chess....browse...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell

I've had several analog clocks, and now play with a digital. If you're going to buy a clock, I highly recommend a decent digital, which you can get for around $50. As you and your son get more involved in the game, you'll find that experimenting with time controls can be a lot of fun--10/0 or 15/10, whatever you like. You can set the clock to add time after each move or to delay by a set number of seconds before starting to count down.

But the biggest reason to get a digital is that tournaments (if you ever decide to go to one) don't accept them anymore.