Badminton Scoring Rules, Explained Simply

Twenty one points wins a game, a match is the best of three games, and every rally scores a point no matter who served. That is the whole modern system in one sentence. The detail underneath is what catches new players out, nearly always over the same two things: which court to serve from, and what happens in doubles when the serve changes hands.

The short version

• A game is played to 21 points and a match is the best of three games.
• Every rally wins a point, whichever side served it.
• The side that wins a rally serves the next one.
• At 20 all you must lead by two points to take the game, capped at 30.

Everything else in the laws hangs off those four lines. The rest of this guide unpacks them in the order they tend to confuse people on court.

A point on every rally

Badminton uses rally scoring: the winner of a rally scores, full stop. It does not matter who served. This replaced the old system in 2006, where only the serving side could score. If a veteran at your club mentions "setting", or remembers when you could not score on your opponent's serve, they learned under the old laws.

Rally scoring changes how a game feels. There are no free rallies, because a loose shot costs a point even when you are receiving, so a serve return deserves the same care as game point.

Even score, right court. Odd score, left court

This is the one rule to memorise. Look at the serving side's score. If it is even (0, 2, 4 and so on), the serve comes from the right service court. If it is odd, it comes from the left. A game starts at 0, which counts as even, so the first serve of every game comes from the right.

In singles the receiver stands in the box diagonally opposite, so the server's score tells both players where to be. When the score is called, the server's score comes first: "eleven eight" means the server is on eleven.

Serve rules that end arguments

The serve must travel diagonally, from one service court into the box opposite. Beyond that, four rules settle most club disputes:

• Contact is made below the waist with an underarm action. Professional badminton fixes this as a height of 1.15 metres, measured at the instant the shuttle is struck. At club level, below the ribs is the working rule.
• Part of both feet, for the server and the receiver, must stay on the floor and still until the serve is hit. No walking serves, no hopping.
• A serve that clips the tape and drops into the correct box is live. Badminton has no service let, so play on.
• The boxes change shape between formats. Singles uses the long, narrow court, so a serve may land right on the back boundary line. Doubles uses the short, wide court, where the rear limit is the inner back line.

Doubles: one server at a time

Modern doubles has no "second server". Each side gets one service turn, and the rotation follows the score:

• If the serving pair wins the rally, the same player serves again, swapping between right and left courts as the score ticks between even and odd.
• If the receiving pair wins the rally, they take the point and the serve. The player already standing in the correct court for their side's score (right for even, left for odd) delivers it.
• Receivers never swap boxes just because the serve moved. Partners change courts only when their side wins a point on its own serve.

If you hold onto one sentence, make it this: you change service courts only when your side scores while serving.

20 all, 29 all and the cap

At 20 all the game is not over. Play continues until one side leads by two points, so 22-20 wins it but 21-20 does not. The laws put a ceiling on it: at 29 all, the next point decides the game and the winner takes it 30-29. No badminton game goes past 30.

Breaks and changing ends

When the leading score reaches 11 in any game, both sides can take a short interval of up to 60 seconds. Between games the break is up to two minutes. Ends are changed after each game, and in a deciding third game the players change ends again when the leading score reaches 11.

Making it stick

Reading the laws is one thing. Calling scores out loud is what makes them stick. Try a few conditioned games at club night: serve, call the full score before every rally, and let the even and odd rule place you. Mistakes surface fast and get corrected faster.

You will get through shuttles doing it, which is no bad thing. A shuttle with tired feathers wobbles off the serve and makes every line call harder, so keep a fresh tube in the bag. A tube of Victor NCS PRO shuttles, Speed 77 at £20.99, is a solid place to start, and the rest of our shuttlecock range covers club play and long practice sessions alike.

Related reading: What String Tension Should You Use in Badminton? and How to Choose a Badminton Racket: Weight, Balance and Flex Explained