SetMatcher
Badminton

Badminton with the cap at 30, and the new 3×15 scoring.

A badminton match is the best of three games, every rally scores a point, and there are no sets. What sets badminton apart from the other rally-point sports here is the cap: at the very top, you no longer need a two-point lead.

2 match formats, 5 draw formats, and at least 1 h of rest between two matches on the same day.

Badminton: a finished match, written down the way it is scored on court.
Game · Point

How scoring works.

A game goes to 21. From 20-all you need a two-point lead, such as 22-20, 24-22 or 30-28, up to the cap: at 29-all the next point wins, 30-29. A match is always the best of three games. Badminton counts games and points, and every screen in SetMatcher uses those words.

Valid scores
  • 21-0
  • 21-19
  • 22-20
  • 30-28
  • 30-29
What makes it different

The cap is the rule no other sport here has.

30-29 is a normal badminton game, but it is a one-point win that pickleball does not allow. 31-29 is an ordinary squash game, but it goes past badminton’s cap. Badminton is also getting a second scoring system: in April 2026 the BWF approved 3×15, with a two-point lead needed from 14-all and a cap at 21, starting in the first week of 2027. SetMatcher offers both, and every match records which one was played.

Not possible
  • 21-20
  • 20-18
  • 24-20
  • 31-29
  • 11-9
  • 6-4
21-20 is only a one-point lead below the cap. In 20-18 nobody reached 21. 24-20 goes past the target by more than two points. 31-29 goes past the cap. 11-9 is a squash or table tennis game and 6-4 is a tennis set, and badminton cannot produce either of them.
Formats

The match formats you can play.

Two scoring systems: the best of three games to 21, which is played today, and the best of three games to 15, which is on its way. You can play singles, doubles and mixed doubles. Badminton is the only sport here with nothing else to agree on: no deuce rule, no scoring system to pick, no server number and no tie-break.

  • Best of 3 games to 21
  • Best of 3 games to 15
Played as
  • Singles
  • Doubles
  • Mixed doubles
Agreed before a match

Nothing. Pick the format and play: this sport has no deuce rule to agree on and no scoring system to choose.

Agreed before a match
The day and the season

Draws, rest times and ladders.

Five draw formats: knockout, groups into a knockout, Monrad, round robin and a single round. Groups are ranked the BWF way: first by the share of games won, then by points, with the same steps repeated for players who are still level. Players get an hour of rest between two matches on the same day, which a referee can shorten to no less than thirty minutes.

Draw formats
5
Match formats
2
Rest between matches
1 h

The other six sports.

Plenty of clubs play two or three of these. Each one has its own page.

Your first match is one tap away.

Join a group, play, enter the score. The ladder, the draw and the season keep themselves up to date.