Table tennis: three, five, seven or nine games.
A table tennis game is scored like a squash game: 11 points, a two-point lead from 10-all, and no cap. The differences are how many games make a match, and how little rest you get between two matches.
4 match formats, 5 draw formats, and at least 5 min of rest between two matches on the same day.
How scoring works.
The first player to 11 wins the game, unless both reach 10, and then the first to lead by two wins. 12-10, 15-13 and 24-22 are all valid, and there is no cap. A match is counted in games and points, because there is nothing in between.
- 11-0
- 11-9
- 12-10
- 15-13
- 24-22
Any odd number of games, and that is what separates it from squash.
ITTF Law 2.12 says a match is the best of any odd number of games, and four are used in practice: five for club and league matches, seven for World Championship and Olympic finals, three for league and team play, and nine in some team events. Squash only plays five or three. So even though their games are scored the same way, each sport only offers its own match formats. Table tennis also has mixed doubles, and squash does not.
- 11-10
- 10-8
- 14-9
- 6-4
- 21-19
The match formats you can play.
Four: the best of five, seven, three and nine games. You can play singles, doubles and mixed doubles. The expedite system (after ten minutes of a game with fewer than eighteen points, the receiver wins the rally on the thirteenth return) changes how a game is played but not which final scores are possible, so it does not change how you enter a result.
- Best of 5 games
- Best of 7 games
- Best of 3 games
- Best of 9 games
- Singles
- Doubles
- Mixed doubles
Nothing. Pick the format and play: this sport has no deuce rule to agree on and no scoring system to choose.
Draws, rest times and ladders.
Five draw formats. The one that gives everyone a final placing is called a progressive knock-out, the ITTF’s own name for it. Rest between matches is five minutes, the shortest of any sport here: the ITTF rule says there is no break between matches, but a player who has to play two in a row may ask for up to five minutes.
The other six sports.
Plenty of clubs play two or three of these. Each one has its own page.
- TennisEight formats, both sides of every tie-break, and a match won on sets.
- PadelThree deuce rules, best of three only, and the court side you play.
- PickleballTwo scoring systems, six formats, and a score called with three numbers.
- BadmintonA cap no other sport here has, and both BWF scoring systems.
- Beach tennisOne point at 40-40, always, in every format.
- SquashNo sets, no cap, and up to three plate draws.
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.