Badminton Rules (Everything You Need To Know)

There are many rules in badminton that you have to know before you play. Ultimately, the goal of badminton is to hit the shuttle over the net to the other side where your opponent is at. Your opponent has the same goal and will try to return the shuttle back to your half and make it as hard as possible to catch. Once the shuttle hits the ground, that is when the rally finishes, and points awarded. With that said, there are many rules that you have to abide by to gain the points.

Without know these rules, it can cost you precious points even before the rally began.

Scoring System

This is not really a badminton rule but how the scoring system works.

The scoring system of badminton consists of 3 sets of 21 points each. Whoever wins 2 out of 3 sets wins the game. Whenever there is a service, that means that a point is won by the team/person serving. Moreover, winning a rally will add 1 point to you or your team. When both sides have equal points at 20 all, the side that wins 2 points in a row without the opponent scoring any, wins the game. This is called a deuce. A deuce continues by adding 2 points when its a tie before the match point.

For example, if both sides reach 20, the point system extends to 22. If both sides tie again at 21 points each, the match point extends again to 23. It keeps extending until it reaches a maximum of 30 points. Once it reaches 29 points, whichever side wins the 30th point wins the game. The side that wins the game will serve in the first point in the next set.

Rules of Badminton

Every time you serve, you must make sure your opponent is ready but serving when the opponent is not ready isn’t a foul, just reserve. But if someone makes any attempts to return the serve, they are deemed to be ready. You cannot make an excuse saying you are not ready when you failed to return a shot when you tried to. Any movements from your hand or feet trying to reach the shuttle is considered an attempt. Additionally, everyone’s feet must stay in a stationary position until the service is made. Also, the feet of the players that are serving and receiving cannot be touching the lines on the court.

One thing to note is that missing the shuttle when servicing is not a foul, but catching the shuttle with your racket and sling it back is. Lastly, a player shall not put his/her racket near the net to interfere with the opponent’s racket.

Fouls

These are all the things you should NOT be doing when playing badminton. Doing so is going against badminton rules and will cause you to lose a point. Some of these might be harder to spot if there is no official empire.

Serving is one of the simplest things in badminton but there are a few rules associated with it. First, whenever you are serving, the shuttle should not be higher than your waist and the head of the racket should not be higher than your hand holding the racket. Basically, the racket needs to be pointing slightly downwards when serving to avoid a foul. Next, having the shuttle land in the wrong service court is a foul and will cost you a point, so make sure your serves are accurate.

Let’s talk about feet positioning because that can also be a foul in badminton if they are not positioned correctly. It is a foul when the server’s feet are not within the service court or the receiver’s feet are not within the court diagonally opposite the server. Moreover, you shall not move forward when serving or obstruct/distract your opponents while they serve.

Your serve must land within the boundaries of the court you are serving to. Also, the shuttle should not be touching your body, going through or under the net at all times, doing so will cost you a point. Lastly, you cannot hit the shuttle more than once when returning a shot. When your opponents hit the shuttle to your end of the court, you can only hit the shuttle once to return. If you are playing doubles, only 1 racket should hit the shuttle at any time. Hitting the shuttle once with each racket in the same shot is a foul.

Internal & Change of Ends

For everyday social play, many people do not practice this but these are official badminton rules that require players to do this.

There are intervals and change of ends in badminton so each player/team will have an equal chance of playing on both ends of the court. When the score of any side reaches 11 points, the players get a 1-minute interval and an interval of 2 minutes in between sets.

After each set, players will change ends and for the third and final match to decide the game, players change ends whenever a side reaches 11 points.

Singles

Let’s talk a little on how singles work in badminton. The rules are slightly different from doubles.

Serving

At the start of the game where the score is equal (0-0), the serve will start from the right side of the court. Whenever the score of the serving team is an even number, they always serve from the right side of the court. When the serving player has a score of an odd number (like 3), he/she will be serving from the left side of the court.

Whenever you win a point, you continue serving but alternate the court you serve from. For example, let’s say you win the point after serving on the right side of the court at 0-0. You are now 1-0 up. Your score is an odd number (1) which means now you are going to start serving the next point on the left side of the court.

The service ends when the receiver wins the point and now the receiver will become the player that serves. Of course, from the appropriate service court (right for even scores and left for odd scores).

Court Boundaries for Singles

When playing singles, the court is going to be slightly smaller compared to doubles in terms of where is considered in when the shuttle lands. As you can see from the below image, the red areas of the court is considered out when playing singles. This does not change whether you are serving or returning the shuttle. Every time the shuttle lands within the red zones, it is out and the point is lost. Do note that it is considered in if the shuttle lands anywhere on the line right before the red zone.

When serving for singles, the only place the shuttle should land is the court the you are suppose to serve to. Let me show you an example with an image of a badminton court.

The red zones indicates places where you will lose a point if the shuttle lands there right after a serve. Let’s say you are serving from the right side, you can only serve to the places where there is a tick. Anywhere else the shuttle lands, you will lose a point. Again, if the shuttle hits any lines directly connected to the area you can serve to is considered in.

Doubles

Like I’ve mentioned, doubles has slightly different rules when compared to singles. Both serving and court boundaries are different since now you have more players in the court.

Serving

Serving for doubles is similar to singles but with a small difference in mind. Only the appropriate player can serve. The rules of serving from the left or right side of the court are the same for singles but…

Who should serve?

Well, at the start of the match, any player on the side that is supposed to serve first can do so. After that, it is a little more restrictive. Let’s say we have Team A which consists of Player 1 and Player 2 as a team. Player 1 serves at the start of the match, so he/she should be serving from the right side of the court. If the serving team wins the point, Player 1 will continue to serve for the team but on the alternate side of the court since now it is 1-0.

So When Does Player 2 Serve?

So, now it is 1-0 and lets say the opponent wins a point and make the score 1-1. Team A will now receive the serve from their opponents. When receiving the serve, Player 1 must stay at the side of the court where the service ended (left side). Next, Team A wins the point making it 2-1. Now, Team A suppose to serve from the right side of the court because they have an even score (2). So who should serve?

Player 2 should serve because he/she is on the right side of the court. You cannot let Player 1 serve because the rule stats that you cannot switch court sides whenever you want. The only time you can switch is if you continue winning points and serving. This is the same with the receiver. If you are on the right side of the court when the game first started, you need to remain there until you are forced to switch sides to serve.

This might be a little confusing at first when you just got started in badminton but after a while, it should come pretty natural to you.

Court Boundaries for Doubles

The court boundaries are different from singles. Since you have more players on the court now, the rules allow for a bigger playing area.

When playing doubles, the shuttle can land anywhere within the court and it is considered in. Unlike singles, where the 2 side bars are out if the shuttle lands there.

The court boundaries when serving for doubles is also different from singles, the shuttle can land anywhere within the intended court except for the very top boundary which is shown in the image below:

The red zones indicate the area where you will lose a point if the shuttle lands there right after a serve. As you can see, when serving from the right side of the court, the shuttle can only land in the boxes with the checkmark (including the lines directly connect to the boxes). Landing anywhere else and it’s out.

Conclusion

Here are all the rules you should be aware of when playing badminton. As you can see, badminton rules can get quite complex and if you are a beginner, it can be confusing when studying the rules for the first time. As you play more badminton, you will slowly start to understand it and will become second nature to you.

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