Table Tennis Rules — How to Play and Keep Score
Table tennis needs two counters at once: the points in the current game, which change every few seconds, and the games won so far, which decide the match. Add a serve reminder and you have covered everything a holiday table needs. Because every rally scores, there is no dead time in which to do arithmetic, so a single large tap target per side is the whole interface.
Score a game of Table Tennis →
Overview
Table tennis needs two counters at once: the points in the current game, which change every few seconds, and the games won so far, which decide the match. Add a serve reminder and you have covered everything a holiday table needs. Because every rally scores, there is no dead time in which to do arithmetic, so a single large tap target per side is the whole interface.
Setup
Choose the target for a game, usually 11, and the match length, usually best of five. Toss or hide the ball in a fist to decide who serves first. In doubles, each pair chooses who receives first and that order is fixed for the game.
How to play
Every rally is won by somebody, so every rally scores one point. The server changes after every two points, whoever won them. Ends change after each game. In doubles, partners must alternate hits and the receiving pair swaps roles each time the serve comes back to them.
Scoring
One point per rally to the winning side. The first side to reach 11 wins the game, except that if the score reaches 10-10 the game continues until one side leads by two clear points. That is why a game can finish 12-10, 15-13 or later. With the win-by-two rule off, the game stops the moment either side reaches the target.
The serve changes after every two points until 10-10 is reached, after which it changes after every single point. In a 21 point game the serve changes every five points until 20-20 and every point thereafter.
Match totals count games, not points. Best of five is won by the first side to three games and the match stops immediately, so a 3-0 match has only three games. Best of seven needs four games, and best of three needs two.
If the time limit rule is in use and a game passes the limit with fewer than eighteen points scored, the serve changes after every point for the rest of that game and the receiving side wins the rally if it returns the ball thirteen times.
Ending the game
The match ends when one side has won the required number of games. There are no ties at any level because both the game and the match require a strict majority.
Common variations
Playing to 21 is still the most common house rule and pairs naturally with a five point serve rotation. Some groups play a single game to 21 rather than a best-of series, and many drop the win-by-two rule when a queue is waiting for the table.
Scoring at a glance
| Who wins | First to target |
|---|---|
| Played to | 11 points by default |
| Score sheet | Counting up to or down from a limit |
| Typical round score | 0 – 1 |
| Negative scores | Never — scores only go up |
| Worth knowing | One tap adds one point to the side that won the rally. Each round in the data model is one game of the match. |
Table Tennis — score sheet
House rules and settings
Every table plays Table Tennis a little differently. These are the 9 rules groups argue about. Each one is a setting in the app — and changing it recalculates a match that is already in progress, which is the thing no other score keeper does.
Points to win a game: what is the default in Table Tennis?
How many points win a single game. Eleven is the modern rule and twenty-one is the older one still used in many garages.
Default: 11. Adjustable from 5 to 31 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Points to win a game”.
Match length: what are the options in Table Tennis?
How many games make a match. Best of five means the first side to win three games takes the match.
Default: Best of 5. Four options:
In the app: “Match length”.
Must win by two clear points: on or off in Table Tennis?
On by default, so a game tied at ten all keeps going until one side is two points ahead. Turn it off if you want the game to stop dead on the target.
Default: on.
In the app: “Must win by two clear points”.
Serves before handover: what is the default in Table Tennis?
How many points one side serves before the serve changes. Two under modern rules, five in a twenty-one point game.
Default: 2. Adjustable from 1 to 5 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Serves before handover”.
Alternate serve once it is close: on or off in Table Tennis?
When both sides reach one point short of the target, the serve changes after every single point instead of every two.
Default: on.
In the app: “Alternate serve once it is close”.
Doubles: on or off in Table Tennis?
Four players in two pairs. Partners must hit alternate balls and the serving order rotates each time the serve changes.
Default: off.
In the app: “Doubles”.
Change ends between games: on or off in Table Tennis?
Sides swap ends after every game, and halfway through the final game of a match, so nobody is stuck with the bad light.
Default: on.
In the app: “Change ends between games”.
Time limit on a long game: on or off in Table Tennis?
Forces an end to defensive stalemates. If a game is still going after the time limit and fewer than eighteen points have been scored, the serve changes every point and the receiver wins the rally if they return the ball thirteen times.
Default: off.
In the app: “Time limit on a long game”.
Minutes before the time limit bites: what is the default in Table Tennis?
How long a single game may run before the time limit rule starts. Only used when the time limit is switched on.
Default: 10. Adjustable from 3 to 30 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Minutes before the time limit bites”.
Variants of Table Tennis
Twenty-one up
The pre-2001 rule. Games run to 21 with the serve changing every five points, so a game takes roughly twice as long.
Round the table
A party version for a crowd where players run around the table between shots and are knocked out when they miss.
Hardbat
Plain pimpled rubber with no sponge, which slows the game and rewards placement over spin.
Table Tennis is also known as
Ping-Pong, Whiff-Whaff. These are the same game — the rules and the score sheet above apply to all of them.
Keep score offline
The sheet above works in your browser. Cardzo for iPhone remembers your players, survives a closed tab, and works in a field with no signal.
Coming to the App Store.