Badminton Rules: Scoring, Serving, and Match Play

Badminton Fundamentals

Understanding Core Badminton Rules

Players score points by striking the birdie with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their opponents' side of the court. Each side may only strike the birdie once before it passes over the net. A rally ends once the birdie has struck the floor, or if a fault has been called by either the umpire or service judge, or, in their absence, by the players.

Each game is played to 21 points, with players scoring a point whenever they win a rally, regardless of whether they served. A match is the best of three games. If the score reaches 20-all, then the game continues until one side gains a two-point lead (such as 24-22), up to a maximum of 30 points (30-29 is a winning score).

At the start of a match, the birdie is tossed in the air and the side towards which the birdie is pointing serves first. Alternatively, a coin may be tossed, with the winners choosing whether to serve or receive first, or choosing which end of the court to occupy, and their opponents making the remaining choice.

Serving Regulations

At the start of the rally, the server and receiver stand in diagonally opposite ***service courts***. The server tries to hit the birdie into the receiver's **service court**. The serve must be hit below waist height. The server and receiver must remain within their service courts, without touching the **boundary lines**, until the server strikes the birdie. The other two players may stand wherever they wish, as long as they do not block the vision of the server or receiver.

When the serving side loses a rally, the serve immediately passes to their opponent(s). (This differs from the old system where sometimes the serve passed to the doubles partner for what was known as a "second serve").

Singles Play Rules

In singles, the server stands in their right service court when their score is even, and in their left service court when their score is odd.

Doubles Play Rules

In doubles, if the serving side wins a rally, the same player continues to serve, but they change service courts so that they serve to a different opponent each time. If the opponents win the rally and their new score is even, the player in the right service court serves; if odd, the player in the left service court serves. The players' service courts are determined by their positions at the start of the previous rally, not by where they were standing at the end of the rally. A consequence of this system is that, each time a side regains the service, the server will be the player who did not serve last time.