Badminton Rules

The first official rules for Badminton were written in 1877 by the Bath Badminton Club in England. Since then, rules for the game have changed very little.

Of course, the point of the game is to use a racquet to volley a shuttlecock across a net without letting it touch the ground in bounds on your side. Simple enough. But, wait. What exactly is a shuttlecock? And what type of racquet is used? And just how are you supposed to keep score? All fair questions. And so, here we go with the Badminton rules…

Equipment

The shuttlecock (also known as a bird or birdie) comes in two varieties. The first, and most traditional, type is made with a cork base, where it is struck, and feathers, which help direct it and which provide wind resistance so that the shuttlecock does not go too far when hit. The other type works the same, but is made with a rubber base and plastic feathers.

An official Badminton racquet is much thinner and lighter than a tennis racquet. It can be made of metal, plastic, or wood. (The most popular material these days is metal.)

A Badminton court is rectangular and measures forty-four feet in length and seventeen feet in width. If a game of doubles is being played, then three feet is added to the width (a foot and a half on each side). The net spans the width of the court and stands at five feet high.

Serving

Service rules are similar to those of tennis. If the court is thought of as divided into equal quadrants, the serve goes from one quadrant to the one diagonally across. If the birdie hits the net, but crosses and lands in the correct service area, the serve may be taken again with no penalty. If, however, the birdie hits the net and lands outside the service area is a fault. Unlike tennis, there is no second serve allowed.

Scoring

Each game, of course, starts at 0-0. If the serving side wins a rally, it scores a point, and serves again but from the alternate service court. If the receiving side wins the rally, the score remains unchanged and the service passes to the next player in turn. In singles, this is the opponent. In doubles, it's either the partner or, if both players have just had a turn of serving, one of the opponents.

Traditionally, men's games go up to 15 and women's to 11. Matches comprise of the best of three games.

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