How to keep score in table tennis (ping pong)

Table tennis scoring at a glance

How many points do you need to win a game of table tennis?

You need 11 points and a 2-point lead. A game can finish 11-0, 11-7 or 11-9, but not 11-10.

Every rally ends in a point for someone. There is no second serve, so a faulty serve gives the point to the receiver. The exception is a let, such as a serve that clips the net and then lands on the receiver's side: it is replayed and nobody scores. See the let rule.

Official games have gone to 11 since September 2001. Before that they went to 21, with 5 serves each, and some groups still play that way as a house rule: see 11 or 21 points for the old rules.

What is deuce in table tennis?

Deuce is the usual name for 10-10 (the ITTF Laws just say 10-all). From deuce the game goes on until one player leads by 2: 12-10, 13-11 and so on. There is no cap, so a long deuce can end 16-14 or later. The serve also speeds up: from 10-10 each player serves 1 point in turn instead of 2.

Two calls people argue about

• Edge balls count. The top edges of the table are part of the playing surface, so a ball that clips the edge is good. A ball that hits the side of the table, below the top edge, is not.
• The net is fine during a rally. A return that touches the net and lands on the other side is good, and play goes on. Only a serve that touches the net is replayed.

How many games are in a table tennis match?

A match is the best of an odd number of games, and it ends as soon as one player has won a majority. Club and league matches are usually best of 5, so the first player to win 3 games wins. Olympic singles are best of 7, first to 4, and an Olympic team tie is the best of 5 matches (1 doubles, then up to 4 singles), each of them best of 5 games.

Each game starts again at 0-0, so write the result down game by game. A best of 5 match that goes 11-7, 9-11, 13-11, 11-5 is a 3-1 win. In competition players get up to 1 minute between games, and each player or pair can take one time-out of up to 1 minute per match.

How many serves do you get in table tennis?

Two each, then one each from 10-10. A toss, or any other draw, decides the first serve: the winner chooses to serve, to receive or which end to start at, and the opponent takes the remaining choice. After that the order is fixed:

1. 2 serves each. Each player serves 2 points in a row, then the receiver becomes the server. Who won those points makes no difference.
2. 1 serve each from 10-10. At 10-10 the serve changes after every point until the game is won.
3. The first serve alternates. The player who served first in a game receives first in the next one, whoever won it.

Because the order depends only on how many points have been played, the score tells you who is serving. In singles, at 10-10 it is always the player who served first in that game; in doubles it is that player's partner. For any other score, the whose serve helper works it out.

A legal serve starts from an open palm: the ball is thrown up at least 16 cm, without spin, and struck as it falls. It must bounce once on the server's side and then on the receiver's side. In singles it can land anywhere on the receiver's court, so there is no diagonal rule. Before each serve, call the score with the server's score first.

Worked example: a deuce game from 9-all

Ana served first in this singles game, so at 9-all Ben is about to serve: 18 points have been played, which is 9 turns of 2 serves. Each row is one rally, the score is shown Ana first, and the Server column follows the ITTF order.

When do players change ends?

Players change ends after every game. In the last possible game of a match, such as game 5 of a best of 5, they also change ends when the first player reaches 5 points. Changing ends does not change who serves. In competition, players may use a towel after every 6 points of a game and at that change of ends.

How does scoring work in doubles?

Doubles is scored exactly like singles: rally points, games to 11 with a 2-point lead. What changes is who serves, who receives and who hits. Every serve goes diagonally, from the server's right half court to the receiver's right half court, and partners take turns to hit in a rally: server, receiver, server's partner, receiver's partner. The serve helper shows the full 4-player serve and receive order, including the swap at 5 in the deciding game.

What is the expedite system?

It is the ITTF rule for games that drag on. If a game is still going after 10 minutes of play, or earlier if both players ask, the expedite system starts, unless at least 18 points have already been scored. From then on players serve 1 point each in turn, and the receiver wins the point by making 13 good returns in a rally. It stays in force until the end of the match.