The rules of Badminton can be complex and confusing at first. The best way to learn the rules is to play and see how they work. After playing a few games you will start to learn the basics. What we provide here is only the start, you need to go out and practice them yourself. If you are in the Atlanta area you can choose some places close to you to play, as they are documented on this site. (See Atlanta Badminton on the left.)

 

The first thing about learning the rules of badminton is learning the court. What does a court look like? There are lines and a net. Below are the official measurements for badminton courts. Some don't strictly follow these mesaurements so be careful when using pre-painted courts.

 

 

Singles: In singles you only need to worry about a few lines. For this part, imagine you are standing in the court facing the net. On your right you see two lines going down the sides, perpendicular to the net. The inner line is for singles. If the shuttle is outside this line, it's called "out" and the person who last hit the shuttle loses the rally.

Behind you, all the way to the back are two more lines, parrallel to the net. You only need to worry about the outside line (furthest away). This is the back boundary, and any shuttle hit ouside this line is "out".

 

You can imagine these lines forming a long skinny box that the shuttle must stay within. Next we have the more technical lines. First is the short service line. A server must pass this line. If the serve does not pass this line it is "short" or "out" and the server loses the rally. Then there is the center line, this line goes from the center of the short service line to the back boundary line. This line is also for service only. If you are standing on the right, you must serve to the left of that line. If you are standing to the left, you must serve on the right side of the line. If not that serve is "out" and you lose the rally. Thos lines together form another box. There are four "service boxes" or "services courts" on the badminton court.

 

One big rectangle with 4 smaller boxes inside. The shuttle must be inside the correct small box on the serve. After that the shuttle can be anywhere inside the big rectangle.