Table tennis scoring
Table tennis is scored on every rally to 11 points per game, won by two clear points, over a best-of odd number of games.
Overview
Table tennis uses rally scoring: the winner of each rally scores a point regardless of who served. A player wins a point when the opponent fails to make a legal return, so points are scored quickly throughout a game.
Games are played to 11 points with a two-point winning margin, and service alternates at fixed intervals. A match is played over an odd number of games so it always produces a winner without ties.
How it works
- A point is scored on every rally by the side that wins it.
- A game is won by the first player to 11 points with a lead of at least two.
- If the score reaches 10-all, play continues until one player leads by two points.
- Service switches to the other player every two points, and every point once the score is 10-all.
- A match is decided over an odd number of games so a winner is always produced.
Where it’s used
Sports that use table tennis scoring:
How it connects
The meaning-bearing relationships that place Table tennis scoring in the wider knowledge graph — each one with the reason it exists.
Frequently learned together
Taught side by side in the same stage of a learning path.
- LetBoth are taught in the “Get to know the game” stage of the Table Tennis learning path.
- The legal table tennis serveBoth are taught in the “Get to know the game” stage of the Table Tennis learning path.
- How a point is won in table tennisBoth are taught in the “Get to know the game” stage of the Table Tennis learning path.
- Table tennis scoring and service orderBoth are taught in the “Get to know the game” stage of the Table Tennis learning path.
Explore across the knowledge base
Follow the threads that connect Table tennis scoring to the rest of SocialSportHub.
Rules
- LetA call that stops a point and has it replayed without penalty, used across several racket sports.
- The legal table tennis serveThe most-broken rule in table tennis, set out exactly — the open palm, the 16 cm toss, the no-hiding requirement, and what happens the first time an umpire is unsure.
- How a point is won in table tennisThe full list of ways a player scores — the returns that fail, the ball through the net, the double hit, the free-hand touch, and the moving-table rule most players never meet.
Equipment
Techniques
- Table Tennis Forehand DriveA controlled attacking stroke in table tennis, played on the forehand side with a compact swing and light topspin.
- The push and the chopTable tennis's backspin strokes — the short push that stops an opponent attacking, the long push that changes the rally, and the chop that defends from distance.
- Badminton SmashA powerful, steeply downward overhead stroke that drives the shuttlecock sharply into the opponent's court to win the rally.
- Badminton ClearAn overhead stroke that sends the shuttlecock high and deep to the opponent's back court, resetting the rally or buying time.
- Tennis ServeThe overhead stroke that starts every point, hit from behind the baseline into the diagonally opposite service box.
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How this page is maintained
- Content type
- Scoring system
- Provenance
- Tier A — evergreen educational
- Verified external sources
- 0
- Content updated
- 2026-09-12
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