How does squash scoring work?

Squash scoring at a glance

How many points is a game of squash?

A game is played to 11 points. Below 10-all, the first player to reach 11 wins straight away, so 11-9 is the closest ordinary finish. Once the score reaches 10-all, 11 is no longer enough: the game carries on until one player is 2 points clear, 12-10, 13-11 and so on.

There is no cap and no tiebreak game. A tight game can run to 15-13 or beyond, and the deciding game of a match is played exactly like the others, to 11 and win by 2.

Every rally ends in a point for someone. A rally is lost by the player who fails to make a good return: the ball bounces twice, goes out, hits the tin along the bottom of the front wall, or does not reach the front wall. The server gets one attempt, so a faulty serve gives the receiver the point and the serve. The only rally that scores nothing is a let, which is replayed.

How many games are in a squash match?

A standard match is the best of 5 games, the format used at most professional (PSA) tour events: the first player to win 3 games wins, and the match stops there. A competition can play best of 3 instead, first to 2 games. Each game starts again at 0-0, so write the result down game by game. A match that goes 11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 11-7 is a 3-1 win.

Both players share the same court for the whole match, so unlike tennis or table tennis there is no change of ends.

Who serves in squash?

1. Spin a racket for the first serve. The player who wins the spin serves first.
2. The rally winner serves next. Win a rally as the receiver and you score the point and take over the serve. The marker calls this a hand-out.
3. The game winner serves first in the next game.

The server chooses a service box, right or left, at the start of each game and every time the serve changes hands. While they keep winning rallies they alternate, serving from the other box each time. After a let they serve again from the same box.

For a good serve the server needs at least part of one foot inside the service box, not touching the line. The ball must hit the front wall between the service line, 1.78 m (about 5 ft 10 in) up, and the out line, then, unless the receiver volleys it, land in the back quarter of the court opposite the server's box, clear of the lines.

How do you call the score in squash?

The marker calls the score after every rally, with the server's score first. If Anna leads 7-5 and is serving, the call is 7-5; if Ben is serving, it is 5-7. When the serve changes, the call starts with "Hand-out".

Three more calls tell the players where the game stands. "Game ball" means a player needs 1 point to win the game, and "Match ball" means that game would also win the match. At 10-all the marker reminds both players that one must now win by 2 points.

Worked example: a squash game that goes to 10-all

Game 1 of a best of 5 match has reached 9-all, with Ben serving. Follow it through 10-all to a 13-11 finish and into game 2. The scores come from the same scoring engine as the app.

Every rally moves the score, whoever served, so after 8 rallies exactly 8 points have been added. The serve follows the rally winner, which is why a hand-out and a point for the receiver always arrive together. Which box to serve from after a hand-out is the new server's choice.

What happens to the score after a let or a stroke?

When a player is blocked on the way to the ball, they can stop and ask for a let. The referee's answer decides the score: a let is replayed with no point, a stroke gives the rally to the player who asked, and a no let gives it to the opponent. Let, stroke and no let explains how referees decide.

Is squash still scored to 9?

Not in standard play. PAR to 11 replaced hand-in hand-out, or English, scoring to 9 as the official system in 2009, though English scoring is still in the rules as an alternative. PAR vs English scoring explains how it works, including the receiver's choice at 8-all.