Badminton Rules and Boundaries

Badminton is a popular sport for all ages. While similar to tennis, badminton uses a smaller court (meaning there is not as much running), smaller rackets and a shuttlecock instead of a tennis ball. Badminton rules and the boundaries of the court are the same across all levels of play, making the game easy to learn and understand.

  1. Opening Coin Toss

    • To determine what player serves first, the two players toss a coin in the air. Whoever wins the coin toss gets to choose between serving or the side of the court to play on. The players switch sides of the court after each game.

    Court Dimensions and Lines

    • A badminton court is 20 feet wide and 44 feet long. Since a net splits the court in two, each player defends a 22-foot-long area. In singles, the sides of the court are reduced 1 1/2 feet on each side to 17 feet in width. The court is also separated by a number of lines. A center line runs down the center of the court and indicates what side of the court opponents must serve toward. A short service line is marked 6 feet, 6 inches from the net on both ends of the court. A serve must pass this line to be considered good. In singles, a long service line is also added to the court, which is marked at 2 feet, 6 inches from the back out-of-bounds line. In singles, a serve must also be in front of the long service line to be considered in bounds. The badminton net is 5 feet high.

    Scoring and Rules

    • A "fault" is considered when the shuttle falls out of bounds or does not go over the net onto the other side of the court. Players score a point when they are serving and their opponents get a fault. If the serving player gets a fault, the opponent then gets the right to serve and begin accumulating points. Players only get points when they are serving, and continue serving until they get a fault. Matches consist of a best two-out-of-three games. According to the Badminton World Federation, all games for tournaments or championships end when one team (or player) scores 21 points. However, if the score is tied at 20-20, the first team (or player) to score two consecutive points wins. If the score is tied at 29-29, the first team (or player) to score the 30th point wins the game.