Badminton: Outdoor Rules

Cultures around the world have played badminton since ancient times. The game is believed to have originated as a children's game in ancient Greece and Egypt. Outdoor badminton is played to the best of three games. Players stand on opposite sides of the net with the object of hitting the shuttlecock over the net and onto the ground within the opposite side of the court. After each game, the players alternate ends.

  1. Equipment and Court Size

    • A badminton shuttlecock and racket.

      Badminton is played with a lightweight racket, typically made of plastic, metal, or wood, and a shuttlecock or "birdie." The shuttlecock is a small ball of cork or rubber with feathers or plastic mesh attached. A badminton court is a rectangle bisected by a net 5 feet high. The court is 44 feet long, or 22 feet on each side of the net. For singles play, it is 17 feet wide; 20 feet wide for doubles.

    Serving

    • Players toss a coin at the beginning of a match. The winner of the coin toss decides both which side of the court he will play on and whether he will serve or receive. As in tennis, players serve diagonally across the net. Service starts on the right side of the court and rotates. Serves are always under-handed. The receiver stands in the service court and cannot move his feet until the shuttlecock has been hit.

    Scoring

    • There are two scoring methods used in badminton. In "service play," the first player to score 15 points in a doubles or men's singles game, or 11 points in a women's singles game, is the winner of that game. Only the server can score a point. If the server makes a "fault," the receiver cannot add to her score, but instead becomes the server. In "rally play" games are played to a score of 21 points, and either player can score.

    Faults

    • A player scores when a fault is committed by the other player. If the shuttlecock lands outside the court's boundaries or into the net, the player who hit it makes a fault. A player also faults if he touches the net with his racket or body, or catches the shuttlecock. Faults also occur if the player shouts or gestures to deliberately distract his opponent, hits the shuttlecock twice in a row, or reaches over the net to hit the shuttlecock.

    Lets

    • A "let" is, essentially, an accident. If the shuttlecock gets caught in the net, the server serves before the receiver is ready, or if the shuttle comes apart from the rubber ball base, these are all lets. In the case of a let, the point is replayed, with no penalty to either side. During a serve, however, if the shuttlecock gets caught in the net, this is a service fault rather than a let, and the point is not replayed.