Badminton Scoring And Rules: A Beginner's Guide
Badminton scoring looks confusing when you first watch a game, but it follows a few simple rules. This guide explains how points are won, when a game ends, where you serve from, and which faults lose a rally, using the official laws, so you can follow the score from your first lesson in Singapore.
In badminton scoring, every rally wins a point for one side, whoever served. A game goes to the first side to 21 points, and a match is the best of three games. At 20-all you need a two-point lead, and at 29-all the side scoring the 30th point wins. You serve from the right when your score is even and from the left when it is odd.
Badminton uses rally scoring. The BWF Laws of Badminton say the side winning a rally adds a point to its score, so you can score whether you served or received.
You win a rally when your opponent commits a fault, or when the shuttle lands inside their court. That means every rally counts in badminton scoring, and a game can turn quickly when one side strings a few points together. Our guide on how to play badminton correctly covers the other basics you need alongside the score.
A game is won by the side that first scores 21 points, and a match is the best of three games unless the organisers arrange otherwise. Win two games and you win the match, so a third game is only played when the score is one game each.
The side that wins a game serves first in the next one. For beginners, this is a simple way to keep track of the order between games.
If the score reaches 20-all, the game carries on until one side gains a two-point lead, such as 22-20 or 24-22. This extra stretch is often called deuce, and it is where your concentration matters most.
The laws also set a limit for badminton scoring at the top end. If the score reaches 29-all, the side that scores the 30th point wins the game, so 30 points is the highest score a game can reach.
In singles, you serve from your right service court when your score is zero or an even number, and from your left service court when it is odd. Your opponent receives in the service court diagonally opposite.
If you win the rally as the server, you score a point and serve again from the other service court. If your opponent wins the rally, they score the point and become the new server, again choosing the side by their own score.
Badminton scoring in doubles works the same way, and the serving side again picks the right or left service court by its score. A player of the serving side serves from the right when the side’s score is even and from the left when it is odd.
When the serving side wins a rally under doubles badminton scoring, the same player serves again from the other service court. When the receiving side wins, it scores the point and becomes the serving side. Our guide to badminton court size shows the shorter doubles service box you serve into.
At the moment you hit a serve, the whole shuttle must be below 1.15 metres from the court surface, and your racket must first hit the base of the shuttle. Your racket keeps moving forwards from the start of the serve until the shuttle is struck.
The shuttle must travel upwards off your racket and over the net, so that it would land in the receiver’s service court. Once both players are ready, the serve should go ahead promptly.
A rally ends in a fault when the shuttle touches the ceiling or side walls, touches a player’s body or clothing, or is hit twice in succession by the same player. In doubles, it is also a fault if you and your partner hit the shuttle one after the other.
A let stops play, the rally since the last serve is replayed, and the server serves again. The laws allow a let in cases such as an unexpected disruption. Our article on choosing the right badminton shot helps you pick safer shots that keep the shuttle in play.
Players change ends at the end of the first game, and at the end of the second game if a third game is needed. In a third game, you also change ends when the leading side first reaches 11 points.
Changing ends leaves the badminton scoring unchanged, but it keeps the match fair when one side of a hall has more glare from lights or windows. In our group badminton lessons, coaches use short games at the end of a session, so you practise scoring and changing ends as you play.
Most players learn badminton scoring fastest by playing it, and coaches call out the score so you hear how badminton scoring sounds in a real game. Our kids badminton lessons and pair badminton lessons mix drills with games, so serving from the right side by your score soon becomes second nature.
Lessons for kids and adults run on weekdays and weekends, starting from as early as 8am every day, with 2 hours as the standard session, on public courts, such as ActiveSG sport halls and community club halls, that we book close to home.
WhatsApp us with your age or your child’s age, playing level, preferred time and preferred location. We will reply with a class you can join or a court we can book for your lessons.
Yes. In wheelchair badminton, the whole shuttle must be below the server’s armpit at the moment the racket hits it, in place of the 1.15-metre height used in standing play, as the BWF laws set out.
A shuttle that touches the head and the strings of the racket in one stroke is a legal hit, so a mishit off the frame stays in play as long as it crosses the net.
A player may follow the shuttle over the net with the racket only after first hitting it on their own side. Reaching over to strike the shuttle on the opponent’s side is a fault.
In a casual game, the players keep score themselves and call lets, so many players announce the server’s score first before each serve, which keeps both sides agreed throughout the game.
