How squash scoring works.

Modern squash is scored using PAR 11 — Point-A-Rally to 11. The first player to reach 11 points wins the game, but they must win by a margin of at least two clear points. A match is best of five games at the professional level, and best of three at most clubs.

Point-a-rally is exactly what it sounds like: every rally produces a point for somebody. It does not matter who served. If you win the rally, you win the point. This is the single biggest thing to know about squash scoring, and it is the rule that trips up anyone who learned the game more than fifteen years ago.

Until 2008-09, professional squash used the older "Hand-In-Hand-Out" (HiHo) system, where only the server could score. The PSA switched to PAR 11 to make matches faster, more TV-friendly, and easier to follow. PAR is now the standard everywhere — clubs, tournaments, leagues, juniors, the lot.

You lose the rally — and concede a point — if any of the following happen:

• — The ball bounces twice on the floor before you hit it.
• — Your shot hits the tin (the metal strip along the bottom of the front wall).
• — Your shot goes "out" — above the out line on any wall, or off the back of the court.
• — Your shot fails to reach the front wall before bouncing.
• — You hit the ball twice (a double-hit) or carry it on the strings.
• — You hit your opponent with a shot that was not heading direct to the front wall on a clean swing — that is a stroke against you.
• — You serve a fault (more on serving below).
• — You fail to make a good return after a "no let" decision.

If none of those things happen, you keep rallying. Squash scoring is gloriously simple once you internalise it: hit the front wall above the tin, below the out line, before the ball bounces twice. Repeat until somebody fails. That player loses the point.

Squash serving rules are short, but every one of them matters. To serve a legal squash serve:

• — You must have at least one foot inside the service box, not touching any line, at the moment you strike the ball.
• — The ball must hit the front wall first, above the service line and below the out line.
• — After hitting the front wall, the ball must land in the opposite back quarter of the court (the receiver's side).
• — You can serve forehand or backhand from either box. There is no overhead motion required — most players serve underarm or sidearm.

The first server is decided by spinning the racquet, the same way tennis players spin for serve. The winner of the spin picks which service box to start in. After winning a point on serve, the server switches sides for the next serve. If they lose the rally, the opponent serves from whichever side they choose to start in, and then alternates from there.

One foot fault, one ball that lands on the wrong side, one shot above the out line on serve — all the same outcome. The rally is over and the receiver wins the point. There is no second serve in squash.

This is the part that confuses every newcomer, so it is worth spelling out clearly. In squash, the server calls the score before each serve, and the server's score is always called first. So if the server has 6 and the receiver has 4, the call is "six, four". If the server has 4 and the receiver has 6, the call is "four, six". Same numbers, different call, depending on who is serving.

When the score is tied, you call the number followed by the word "all". So 8-8 is called as "eight all". 10-10 is "ten all". The score 0-0 at the start of a game is called "love all".

When the server is one point away from winning the game, you announce "game ball" after the score. When they are one point away from winning the match, you announce "match ball". So at 10-7 in the fifth, the server would call "ten, seven, match ball". It is a small thing, but calling the score properly is one of the things that separates a casual hitter from someone who actually plays squash.

Squash is played in a small box with two people swinging racquets, so interference is constant and unavoidable. The rules give the striker (the player about to hit the ball) three possible outcomes when they ask for a let:

• — Let — the rally is replayed. Awarded when there was interference, the striker could have made a good return, and the opponent made a reasonable effort to clear.
• — Stroke — the point is awarded to the striker. Used when the opponent failed to clear, or when the striker would have hit a winning shot direct to the front wall.
• — No let — the point is awarded to the opponent. Used when there was no real interference, or the striker could not have made a good return anyway.

In casual play without a referee, players self-call lets. The convention is generous: if there is genuine doubt and a clearable obstruction, you play a let. Strokes are reserved for clear cases of being directly in the way of a winning shot.

If the score reaches 10-10, the game does not end at 11. You must win by two clear points. There is no sudden-death cap, no first-to-15 tiebreak — you keep playing until one player has a two-point margin. In tight matches this can stretch out: 13-11, 14-12, 15-13 are all common, and the longest professional tiebreaks have gone well past 20.

The score is still called server-first during the tiebreak. "Ten all" becomes "eleven, ten" or "ten, eleven" depending on who won the next rally.

Best of five is the standard at PSA tournaments and most serious club and league play. The first player to win three games wins the match.

Best of three is common in casual matches, social leagues, time-limited club nights, and most junior events. First to two games wins.

You will occasionally meet older players who reference best of three games to 15 using PAR scoring — a transitional format from when the sport was moving off HiHo. It is rare now but still legal in some recreational settings.

Between games you get a 90-second break. Between the second and third game in some tournament formats it is two minutes. Use them. Drink water. Towel off. Squash punishes bad pacing.

Squash was scored using Hand-In-Hand-Out (HiHo) for most of its history — also known as English scoring. Games went to 9. Only the server could score a point; if the receiver won the rally, they did not get a point, they just got the serve ("hand-out"). The receiver could also call "set two" at 8-8, extending the game to 10.

HiHo produced beautifully tactical, slow-build matches but was a nightmare to broadcast — games could last 25 minutes with the score barely moving. The PSA introduced PAR 11 in 2008-09 and never looked back. Today HiHo only really survives among older recreational players and a handful of traditional clubs.

If you ever play someone who insists on "English scoring to 9", you now know what they mean. Politely suggest PAR 11 instead, or humour them — it is the same sport underneath.