How to Play Badminton Doubles – Quick Starter Guide

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. See our Privacy Policy for more information.

This post is about how to play doubles in badminton as fast as possible. We’ll go over the essential rules you need to know and it won’t be in-depth or contain obscure rules. If you want to dive into details, check out some of the other resources below:

Affilate Program Icon
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

PostDescription
How to Play Badminton Singles – A Quick Starter GuideUnderstand how to play singles easily and quickly!
Everything You Need to Know About Service Rules in BadmintonService rules and Q & A for common service questions
Fundamental Rules of Badminton – the World’s Fastest Racket SportGeneral badminton rules written in an easy to understand manner
Laws of BadmintonOfficial rules from Badminton World Federation
What’s the Difference Between Singles and Doubles in Badminton?Differences in rules and strategy between singles and doubles

Let’s get started, here’s what you need to know:

  1. Objective
  2. How to Start a Match
  3. Scoring
  4. Court Boundaries
  5. Change of Ends
  6. Basic Service Rules
  7. Service Rotation
  8. Other Service Rules

Join our mailing list on our About Page for exclusives, offers, and the latest news from BadmintonBites! By joining, you’ll get 25% off anything from our shop!

BadmintonBites Free Downloadable PDF Badminton 101

Objective

The objective in a badminton match (for both singles and doubles) is to win 2 out of 3 games to 21 points each. In each game, the winning team must win by at least 2 points, meaning that if the score is 21 to 20, the game continues on. There is a cap at 30 points, so if the score becomes 29 to 29, the team that wins the next point wins the game. If a team wins the first 2 games, no 3rd game is played.

How to Start a Match

A quick way (but not the official way) to start a badminton match is to simply decide which team will start serving with a random coin toss or shuttle toss (whichever team the shuttle is pointing to will serve first). The initial player formation is chosen by the respective teams. The choice of ends (which side of the net you start at) can be random.

Coin Toss
Coin Toss

The official way to start a game is discussed in What Does an Umpire Do in Badminton?

Scoring

Your team scores a point when one of the following events occur:

  1. The shuttle lands inbounds in the opposing team’s court
  2. The opposing team hits the shuttle out of bounds
  3. The opposing team does not hit the shuttle over the net
  4. The opposing team commits a fault
Scoring System
Scoring System

Here are some clarifications of the above rules that come up frequently:

  • Teams will score no matter which team serves – this is called rally scoring.
  • Shuttles that land on lines are considered in.
  • If the shuttle hits the net but still goes over the net, it is considered still in play and is valid.
  • Common faults include touching the net, hitting the shuttle more than once before it goes back over the net, touching the shuttle with your body or clothes, and hitting the shuttle before it has passed over the net. All of these result in losing the point. There are many other faults not covered here, especially in service. If you want more details about it, make sure to read Everything You Need to Know About Service Rules in Badminton.

On a side note, scores are often called out by saying the serving team’s score first and then the receiving team’s score second. This convention makes it so everyone knows which score is referring to which team.

Court Boundaries

Doubles uses the full court, which means you only need to pay attention to the outer lines of the court (except during service, which has special rules that we cover below).

Badminton regular full court.
A standard badminton court, doubles uses the entire court

Change of Ends

Teams will change ends at the end of each game and at the 11 point mark in the 3rd game, if there is a 3rd game. Changing ends means the team will play from the other side of the net. This is to balance out any advantages/disadvantages teams have due to lighting, air currents, or other factors.

Basic Service Rules

The service has special rules in badminton. There are 4 important things to keep in mind:

  1. The server and receiver have special zones they must stand within.
  2. The serve is only considered inbounds if it lands in the receiver’s special zone.
  3. Your score determines whether you serve from the left or right side of the court – from the left side if your score is odd and from the right if your score is even.
  4. All players must have their feet on the ground until the server hits the shuttle.

Some things to clarify:

  • Neither the server nor receiver can step on lines during service.
  • The server’s partner may stand anywhere in their side of the court as long as they do not block the receiver’s view of the shuttle.
  • The receiver’s partner may stand anywhere in their side of the court.
  • The receiver’s partner may not hit the serve, this counts as a fault.
  • Players may move once the shuttle is hit by the server – the shuttle does not need to go past the net before players can move.

Here are the special zones for the server and receiver:

Doubles service court, odd score.
Doubles service court, odd score
Doubles service court, even score.
Doubles service court, even score

Service Rotation

The serving player changes throughout a badminton game, which is called service rotation. It sounds somewhat complicated but it’s actually quite simple once you get the hang of it.

The first thing to understand is that every player has a starting position on court – either left or right. Partners on a team cannot have the same starting position. Initial starting positions are determined by the players.

A player’s position ONLY changes from left to right or right to left when their team wins a point that they served. That is the only rule you need to remember for service rotation. There are no other instances where players’ starting positions change.

Keep in mind that starting positions only determine where the server and receiver must stand as illustrated in the previous section. If you are not serving or receiving, you do not necessarily have to be on the left or right side of the court.

Other Service Rules

Most of the rules in badminton have to do with service – here’s a few more important ones:

  • You must serve underhand.
  • You only get 1 serve attempt.
  • You must hit the shuttle below 1.15 meters (3.6 feet) from the ground.
  • A let (redo) is played if you serve before the receiver is ready.
  • The receiver is considered ready if they attempt to hit the shuttle.

That’s all the basic rules you need to know to start playing doubles! Once again, these are just the basic and bare minimum rules that you need to know to start playing, if you want to know more, check out some of the other posts below.

PostDescription
How to Play Badminton Singles – A Quick Starter GuideUnderstand how to play singles easily and quickly!
Everything You Need to Know About Service Rules in BadmintonService rules and Q & A for common service questions
Fundamental Rules of Badminton – the World’s Fastest Racket SportGeneral badminton rules written in an easy to understand manner
Laws of BadmintonOfficial rules from Badminton World Federation
What’s the Difference Between Singles and Doubles in Badminton?Differences in rules and strategy between singles and doubles

Subscribe on our About Us page, see you there!

Thank you for reading! Our most popular posts are our badminton equipment posts, make sure to check them out next.

Also, don’t forget to subscribe to our email list down below for a FREE downloadable PDF and a 25% COUPON CODE for our store.

BadmintonBites is all about honest and authentic badminton content. The goal of BadmintonBites is to create real value for the badminton community, which is often plagued with subpar or downright false content on the internet.

Badminton deserves so much more and we’re here to share our experience and expertise with you. You can read more about BadmintonBites and our purpose on our About Us page.

We would love to have you with us on our badminton journey and we hope to provide you with as much value as possible.


Here’s some guides and reviews on badminton products. We update this list whenever we add new equipment content – hope you enjoy!

Equipment TypeProduct Category
Bags Yonex Badminton and Tennis Bags
Yonex Pro Racquet Bag (9 PCS) Review
GripsYonex Grips
Yonex Clean Grap Review
Yonex Hi Soft Grap Review
Yonex Super Grap Review
Yonex Super Grap Tough Review
Yonex Tacky Fit Grip Review
Kimony KGT109 Grip Review
Badminton Grip Buyer’s Guide
RacketsYonex Astrox Series
Yonex Duora Series
Yonex Nanoflare Series
Yonex Nanoray Series
Yonex Voltric Series
Victor Auraspeed Series
Victor Thruster Series
Victor DriveX Series
Victor Light Fighter Series
Best Rackets for Beginners
Best Rackets for Intermediate Players
Best Rackets for Smashing
Best Rackets for Control
Badminton Racket Buyer’s Guide
Astrox 77 Review
Astrox 77 Pro Review
Astrox 88D Pro Review
ShoesYonex Shoes
Shoe Products
ShuttlecocksUltimate List of Badminton Shuttlecocks
Yonex Shuttlecocks (Feathered)
Yonex Shuttlecocks (Synthetic)
Yonex Aerosensa 20 (AS-20) Review
Yonex Aerosensa 30 (AS-30) Review
Yonex Aerosensa 50 (AS-50) Review
Victor Shuttlecocks Overview
Victor AirShuttles
Victor Master No. 3 Review
Li-Ning Shuttlecocks Overview
Aeroplane Black Label (EG1130) Review
StringsVictor and Ashaway Strings
Yonex Strings
Best Badminton Strings for Beginners
MiscYonex Accessories Guide
8 Pieces of Equipment Every Badminton Player Needs
16 Best Gifts for Badminton Fans

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *