Badminton rules & scoring.

Modern badminton uses rally scoring, which means every rally produces a point regardless of who served. From 2006 onwards the BWF moved away from the old side-out system (where only the serving side could score) to rally scoring in order to make matches shorter and more TV-friendly. Every point now counts.

To win a game, you need to reach 21 points and be ahead by 2. So 21-19, 21-15, 21-10 all finish the game. 21-20 does not — play continues. The side that wins a rally gets the point and also gets to serve the next rally. There is no "winning a point but losing the serve" in modern badminton.

At our live demo below, the scoreboard is ticking through points to 21 on a loop. It uses the same rally scoring logic you'll use in a real game — every tick is a rally won, no matter who served it.

At 20-20 the game enters what tennis players would call deuce: you now need a 2-point lead to win. So 22-20 wins. 21-20 doesn't. 24-22 wins. 23-22 doesn't. This can theoretically go on for a while.

However, badminton has a hard cap at 30. If the score reaches 29-29, the next point wins the game outright — 30-29 finishes it, with no "win by 2" requirement at that final point. This rule exists so games cannot drag on indefinitely, and it creates some of the most exciting sudden-death moments in the sport.

• — Below 20-20: first to 21 wins, win-by-2 required, hard cap irrelevant.
• — At 20-20: win-by-2 required, play continues past 21.
• — At 29-29: next point wins, no win-by-2. Game over at 30-29.

A badminton match is best of 3 games. The first player or pair to win 2 games wins the match. There is no fourth or fifth game — ever. This is true at the Olympics, at the All England Open, at BWF World Tour events, and at pretty much every club night.

Between games, players change ends and get a 2-minute interval. There is also a 1-minute interval in the middle of each game when the leading side reaches 11 points — it's a built-in breather for towel-downs and tactics, and it's one of the few mid-game stoppages you'll see in racquet sports.

The serve is where badminton's rulebook gets strict. Every serve must meet these conditions:

• — Both feet must remain in contact with the floor and inside the correct service court.
• — Neither foot may touch any service court line at the moment of contact.
• — The racket head must be pointing downwards at the moment of contact.
• — The contact must be on the base (cork) of the shuttle first.
• — The entire shuttle must be below 1.15 metres from the floor at the moment of contact (see section 5).
• — The shuttle must travel diagonally into the opposite service court, clearing the net.

Unlike tennis, you only get one serve attempt. A faulty serve in badminton gives the point straight to the opponent — there is no "second serve" safety net.

Before 2018, the rule was that the shuttle had to be struck "below the waist", which officials interpreted roughly as the lowest rib. This was inconsistent — a tall player's waist is significantly higher than a short player's, so taller players could legally serve from a higher point and therefore flatter.

In 2018, the BWF introduced a fixed 1.15-metre rule. At the moment the shuttle is struck, the entire shuttle must be below 1.15 metres above the playing surface. Umpires at tour level use a literal physical post of that exact height as a reference. The rule is measured, not estimated, which makes service faults easier to call.

At recreational and club level, nobody measures this — "keep it below your waist and hit down on it" is the usual call. But if you play in an umpired match, expect it to be enforced against the 1.15m standard.

In singles, the service court geometry changes depending on your score. If your score is even (0, 2, 4, 6…), you serve from the right service court diagonally to your opponent's right service court. If your score is odd, you serve from the left. Your opponent's score doesn't matter — only yours.

The singles service court is long and narrow: it uses the long service line at the back (same as the back boundary) and the singles sideline. So you have a deeper service box but a narrower one than in doubles.

Doubles uses a wider, shorter service court: the wider doubles tramline on the side, and the short service line at the back (about 76 cm in from the baseline). So the doubles serve box is wider left-to-right but shallower front-to-back than in singles.

Service rotation in doubles is based on the serving side's score — even scores serve from the right court, odd scores from the left. Only the player on the correct side serves; their partner stays out of the service action. When the serving side wins a rally, the server switches courts (they keep serving, but from the other side). When the serving side loses a rally, the receiving side takes over the serve and the player whose turn it is (based on their score) serves next.

• — Server serves until they lose a rally — then the serve switches sides.
• — Within the same service turn, the server alternates courts (right, left, right…) as their side wins rallies.
• — Partners never swap during a single service turn, only the server moves between courts.
• — When the serve passes to the other side, whoever is standing in the correct court (based on that side's score) serves.

A fault gives the point to the other side. The most common faults you'll see at club level are:

• — Shuttle lands out of bounds.
• — Shuttle is caught or "held" on the racket rather than struck cleanly.
• — Double hit — the same player contacts the shuttle twice in a row.
• — A player touches the net with the racket, body, or clothing during a rally.
• — A player reaches over the net to make contact before the shuttle has crossed.
• — An illegal serve (too high, feet out of position, wrong court).

A let is called when the rally has to be replayed with no point awarded — for example, if the shuttle hits a ceiling obstacle in an indoor hall where the local rules allow it, or if play is disturbed by an external shuttle landing on court. Lets are rare in modern play.