Serving Up Fun: How to Get Started with Badminton

The basic rules of badminton are mentioned below:

1. Serving:

A game of badminton begins with a serve. While serving players must be diagonally placed on the court. The player who wins the toss gets 3 options to choose from : To serve , To receive and to select the side of the court. The player who wins the point gets to serve henceforth.

If the servers score is 0 or an even number they serve from the Right.

If the servers score is 1or an odd number they serve from the Left.

2. Scoring

The way to win a professional badminton game is to secure 21 points and should be leading by a minimum of 2 points (eg: 21–19). If the score difference is less (eg: 20–21) the game extends for 2 points until a player wins. If the deuce continues till 29 points ( i.e: 29–29) , they have to play sudden death(i.e the player who wins the 30th point wins the game). However, nowadays due to shortage of time there are matches of 15 and 11 points as well.

Professionally a game is of 3 sets. The first to win 2 sets wins the game.

Socially, you can play a game of a single set as well.

3. Lines

When serving, the serve must go beyond the front service line, regardless of if you are playing singles or doubles.

For singles, the sidelines are out for rallies as well as serves. Rest of the court is playable.

For doubles , the back tram lines are out for serve only. For the remaining rally the entire court is playable.

Of course there are many other rules in badminton, but these will get you started!