Badminton Rules – The Court & Scoring

Badminton rules can be tricky to understand at first if you’re new to the sport! Well don’t worry, we have you covered! Below you’ll find enough information to get on the court and playing! (You know after all this craziness is over)!

While there are many rules which are applicable to both single and doubles, there are some which are unique to each of these disciplines. These are to do with the size of the playing area of the court. We’ll get onto that a little later.

Basic Aim Of Badminton

Hit the shuttle over the net and don’t let the shuttle hit the floor on your side. Have I lost you yet? No? That’s good!

Obviously, there’s a lot more to it than that but when you dumb it down, that’s the gist of it! There are actually quite a few regulations of badminton but I don’t want to bore you with them all here! We’ll go through the important rules to get you started!

Court Terminology

First things first, the court! Below you’ll find the image (I artistically drew) of a badminton court. The blue line indicates the net. Let’s just go over some quick terminology which will help you learn the court and understand some of the rules of badminton.

1. Outer Tramline: The outermost boundary running the length of the court.
2. Inner Tramline: The second line moving inwards from the outer tramline that runs the length of the court.
3. Base Line: The furthest line that runs across the top of the court connecting the tramlines.
4. Short Service Line: The is the line that is closest to the net and runs the width of the court between the two outer tramlines.
5. Long Doubles Service Line: The line that runs the width of the court which you’ll find in the rear court preceding the baseline.
6. Centre Line: The line down the middle of the court connecting the short service line to the baseline.

This information will come in handy later!

The Five Disciplines Of Badminton

Officially badminton rules dictate that the sport is played between two and four people. The singles format consists of two players playing against each other on either side of the court.

Doubles consists of a pair of players on either side of the court competing against each other. These are also split by gender so you have:

• Women’s Singles
• Men’s Singles
• Women’s Doubles
• Men’s Doubles
• Mixed Doubles

Of course, you can play however you like! You can play men’s doubles vs women’s doubles, doubles vs singles or any other combination! Most players, however, stick to the above formats.

Scoring

A typical game of badminton is played to 21 points. Lets describe how points are won from a players perspective. A point is won if:

• The shuttle lands on the floor on your opponent’s side within the singles or doubles boundary.
• The opponent’s shot does not cross the net or is played into the net
• The opponent’s shot lands outside of the boundaries of singles or doubles on your side of the court.
• The shuttle is struck multiple times by the opponents. It must only be hit once.
• The opponent commits a fault. (We’ll talk about these in a later article)

If the shuttle hits the net but goes over, as long as the shuttle lands within the boundaries of singles or doubles, it is a valid shot and you win the point. The important point is that the shuttle crossed the net, regardless of the nets interference.

In the past, you could only win a point if you were serving. So if you weren’t serving and you won the point, you only won the right to serve, not the point itself! In 2006 the rules changed to the ones we know today!

Winning A Match

The professional circuit and most amateur leagues adopt a best of three games format. So if one player or partnership win two games out of three they have won the match.

In the situation in which a player wins the first game and their opponents win the second game, a third and deciding game is played. The winner of the third game will win the match.

Areas Of Play In Singles And Doubles

Singles and doubles both have different areas of play both during the service and the ensuing rally.

Just to give you some context, the shuttle must be served diagonally. So let’s assume you’re serving from the left service court, you serve diagonally to your opponent standing on the right side of their court from your perspective.

The below video shows this in action. The direction of the serve applies to doubles singles and to long and short serves.

There’ll be more on the service rules later. If you’re interested in how the serve is used tactically please see the below articles:

1. Serving In Singles
2. Serving In Doubles
3. Serving In Mixed Doubles

Rules Where The Shuttle Must Land In Singles Vs Doubles

The image below shows the difference between singles and doubles in terms of playing area on the court.

Let’s look at this in a little more detail.

Singles Serve & Playing Area

Serving Area In Singles

1. The serve must go over the net and land on or past the front service line. Anything short of this is out.
2. The shuttle must land between the centre line and the inner tramline on the side that you are serving to. If it lands on either of those lines it’s in.
3. The length of the service must land on or before the rear baseline as demonstrated in the above image.

After The Serve In Singles

After the serve is played, the whole red area highlighted above is the playing area for singles. Notice how it’s narrower than the full width of the court with the boundaries being the full length of the court and the inner tramlines. This area includes the lines themselves. If a shuttle lands outside the red area, it is considered out.

Doubles Serve And Playing Area

Serving Area In Doubles

1. The serve must go over the net and land on or past the front service line. Anything short of this is out.
2. The shuttle must land between the centre line and the outer tramline on the side that you are serving to. If it lands on either of those lines it’s in.
3. The shuttle must land on or before the doubles service line as depicted above. If it lands past this, it is out.

After The Serve In Doubles

After the serve is played, the whole purple area above is the playing area for doubles. Unlike singles, the full width and length of the court is available. Any shuttle which lands outside of this area (which is outside of the court) is out.

Badminton Rules – Court Area & Scoring

To summarise, points are won in singles and doubles in exactly the same way.

However, it’s the serving area and playing area that change in Singles and Doubles. Serving in singles is often said to be long and thin. The width of the singles court extends as wide as the inner tramlines but the serving area extends right to the rear baseline from the short service line.

In contrast, in doubles, the service area can be called short and wide. The length of the service cannot extend as far in singles, only to the long doubles service line, however, the full width of the court is available.

Lastly, since everyone seems to ask this. Yes, if the shuttle hits the net on the serve and still lands in (according to the rules above) it is considered a valid serve. There is no second serve as with Tennis. The above information should be enough knowledge of the regulations of badminton to get going!

Please consider subscribing to my blog at the bottom of the page for more great content and make sure to follow me on Instagram and Facebook for other posts and updates!