Badminton scoring rules explained

Badminton uses rally point scoring: every rally wins someone a point, whoever served. Here is everything you need to keep score in singles and doubles, based on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Laws of Badminton.

How a badminton match works

A standard match is the best of three games. The first side to win two games wins the match, so a match lasts two games if one side wins both, or three if the games are split 1-1.

Every rally scores a point. It doesn't matter who served: if you win the rally, you get the point and you serve the next rally. This is called rally point scoring, and it has been the official system since 2006, when it replaced the old 15-point system where only the serving side could score.

How to win a game

The first side to reach 21 points wins the game, as long as it is at least 2 points ahead.

• If the score reaches 20-20, play continues until one side leads by 2 points, for example 22-20 or 25-23. Players often call this deuce.
• The game can't go on forever: if it reaches 29-29, the side that wins the next rally wins the game 30-29.

Intervals and changing ends

• In each game, when the leading score reaches 11 points, players get an interval of up to 60 seconds.
• Between games there is an interval of up to 2 minutes.
• Players change ends after the first game, after the second game if a third is needed, and in the third game when the leading score reaches 11.

Who serves, and from which side

• The side that wins a rally serves the next rally.
• The server serves from the right service court when their score is even (0, 2, 4…) and from the left service court when it is odd (1, 3, 5…).
• The serve goes diagonally across the net to the opposite service court.
• The side that wins a game serves first in the next game.

In singles that's all there is to it. Doubles adds rules about which partner serves and receives: see doubles serving rules for a step-by-step example.

Singles vs doubles scoring

The scoring is exactly the same in singles and doubles: best of 3 games to 21 with rally point scoring. What changes is the court. For the serve, singles uses a long, narrow service court (out to the back boundary line, but not the outer side lines), and doubles uses a short, wide one (out to the outer side lines, but only as deep as the doubles long service line). Once the serve is returned, singles is played inside the inner side lines and doubles uses the full court.

Common faults

You lose the rally, and the other side scores a point, if you commit a fault. The most common are:

• Serving with the whole shuttle above 1.15 m from the court surface at the moment it is hit.
• The shuttle landing outside the court lines, or failing to pass over the net.
• Touching the net with your racket, body or clothing while the shuttle is in play.
• The shuttle touching you or your clothing.
• The same player hitting the shuttle twice in a row, or partners both hitting it in succession.

Shorter games for casual play

Clubs and casual players often play shorter games, for example to 11 or 15 points, with the same win-by-2 rule and a lower maximum. In DeucePoint you can choose 11, 15, 21 or any target from 5 to 50, and the maximum scales with it (21 caps at 30, 15 at 21, 11 at 16).