Free Table tennis scoreboard
Keep Table tennis score live on your phone and share the match with anyone — free to watch, no account needed to follow along.
Games to 11, win by two, serve swapping every two points — table tennis moves fast, and the score is easy to lose between rallies. ScoreZen keeps your ping-pong score online with one tap on any phone, whether it's a club night, a best-of-seven tournament match, or a quick game in the garage. Share the live board by QR code or link so everyone watching stays with the point.
Why score Table tennis with ScoreZen
- One-tap scoring, built for Table tennis
- Share the live score by QR code or link
- Free for spectators — no app to install to watch
- Keeps working if the connection drops
- 34 sports, tournaments and standings included
How Table tennis scoring works
Every rally awards one point to the winner, no matter who served. The first to reach 11 points wins the game, provided they lead by 2 points. At 10-10, play continues until one player leads by 2 points.
Match format
A game is played to 11 points with a 2-point margin. A match is played as best of an odd number of games (usually best of 5 or best of 7 depending on the competition). Service alternates every 2 points, and after every point once the score reaches 10-10.
How to win
You win a game by reaching 11 points with at least a 2-point lead. You win the match by taking the majority of the scheduled games (e.g. 3 games out of 5, or 4 out of 7).
Recommended ScoreZen setup
Set up table tennis in point-scoring mode, Official preset: game target 11 points with a 2-point margin, and a match as best of 5 or best of 7 games as needed. For a quick game, use a Casual preset with a single target (e.g. 11 or 21) without game management.
How table tennis scoring actually works
A game goes to 11 points and every rally scores. At 10-all, play continues until one side leads by two: 12-10, 13-11, with no ceiling in the Laws (2.11.1). A match is the best of any odd number of games (2.12.1) - best of five in club leagues, best of seven for singles at the World Championships, where doubles are best of five. The number of games is fixed by each event's regulations, not by the Laws themselves.
The service changes hands after every 2 points, not every point (2.13.3). At 10-all, and whenever the expedite system is running, each player serves for one point in turn. Ends change after each game, and in the last possible game again as soon as one side first scores 5 points (2.13.7). In doubles the service is diagonal, right half court to right half court (2.6.3), at each change of service the previous receiver becomes the server (2.13.5), and the four players must strike in turn, in that sequence (2.8.2).
If a game is unfinished after 10 minutes' play - or earlier, if both sides ask for it - the expedite system comes into operation (2.15.1). It is never introduced in a game once at least 18 points have been scored (2.15.2): the count is the total on the board, not each player's own tally. Each player then serves one point in turn, and if the receiving player or pair makes 13 correct returns in a rally, the receiver scores (2.15.4). Once introduced it stays until the end of the match (2.15.6).
(ITTF Statutes 2026 - the document published as the ITTF Handbook until 2022 - Laws of Table Tennis 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.6, 2.8, 2.11, 2.12, 2.13, 2.14 and 2.15; Regulations for International Competitions 3.2.3, 3.4.4 and 3.7.6.)
The scoring mistakes that cost table tennis matches
The commonest error is losing the serve count after a let. A let is replayed and scores nothing, so it does not advance the block of two points. Write the even numbers down the margin of the sheet - 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 - and tick the change of service against them.
Then the two late switches. At 10-all each player serves a single point, halving a pattern that has run for twenty. And in the last possible game the ends change at 5 points, mid-game rather than between games: the most-missed rule in club halls. In doubles the receiving order also changes from game to game, and the receiving pair change their order at 5 points in that last game (2.13.6).
The Laws say how to repair all of it. Play is interrupted as soon as the error is discovered and resumes with the correct server, receiver or ends, at the score reached (2.14.1, 2.14.2) - and all points scored before the discovery of the error shall be reckoned (2.14.3). You never replay points and never wipe the score. Keep games and points apart on the board too: 11-9 and 11-7 are one pen stroke apart.
Scoring a club afternoon on several tables
A team fixture is written before anyone arrives. In the French league system the four-player fixture runs on two tables in a fixed order - A-W, B-X, C-Y, D-Z, then A-X, B-W, D-Y, C-Z, the two doubles, then the remaining singles - and comes to either 14 individual matches (12 singles and 2 doubles) or 18 (16 and 2), depending on which of the two formulas your league uses; no player may appear in more than one doubles (FFTT sporting regulations, I.203.3). Each is best of five games. The desk invents nothing: it enforces the order and calls the next pair to the free table.
The clock rules keep a schedule honest: up to 1 minute between successive games, brief towelling intervals after every 6 points and at the change of ends in the last possible game (3.4.4.1), and one time-out of up to 1 minute per individual match (3.4.4.2). Between two individual matches of a team fixture there is no interval at all, except that a player called to play twice in a row may claim up to 5 minutes (3.4.4.3). Multiply that across eighteen matches and you see why an afternoon overruns.
Level changes almost everything except the 11 points: school and youth events often drop to best of three, which the Laws allow since any odd number of games is legal, clubs play best of five, and World Championship singles are best of seven. The team tie at the World Championships is five singles with three players a side, won at three matches (3.7.6.1, 4.1.9.4), while the Olympic team system is decided by the ITTF Council for each Games (4.5.2.2). International play also demands a playing space of at least 14 m by 7 m and 5 m high (3.2.3.1). The table never changes though - 2.74 m by 1.525 m, 76 cm above the floor (2.1.1), net top 15.25 cm above it (2.2.3), ball 40 mm and 2.7 g (2.3.1, 2.3.2) - which is why an 11-9 in a school hall means what an 11-9 means anywhere.
What ScoreZen changes for table tennis
You score from your phone, one thumb, with the games won and the points of the current game on the same screen. A flip counter at the end of the table shows two numbers and nothing else; here you also choose who serves first when you create the match, and the app carries the change of service every 2 points for you.
Then you share it with a link, or a QR code taped to the door: parents, the clubmate at the other end of the county, the player injured this week all follow live, free, unlimited, without an account. In the hall, TV mode fills a screen or a television, and the transparent overlay drops the score into OBS if the club streams the final. For paper, print the A4 score sheet.
For a tournament on six or eight tables, one QR code covers the whole tournament: every player scans the same code and finds their own match inside it, whichever table they are called to. That removes the hunt for a scorer per table. ScoreZen runs knockout with an optional third-place playoff, home-and-away championship, pools then a final bracket, Swiss system, best-of-3 and best-of-5 series, and rotating teams for americano, mexicano and melee.
In a basement club room it keeps counting without a network and resynchronises when the signal comes back. Afterwards the Replay summary and the vertical Story image are shareable, the club site embeds the widget, the season exports to CSV, the read-only public API needs no key, and a calendar feed carries the fixtures. Thirty-four sports, twenty-five languages. Three trial matches free for life, then one payment of €1.99, for life.
Frequently asked questions
How do I keep ping-pong score online from my phone?
Open ScoreZen in your phone's browser and tap once to add each point as the rally ends. To let others follow, show the QR code or share the link — spectators watch the live score with no account and no ads.
How many points do you need to win a game of table tennis?
Eleven, with at least two points of margin. At 10-all play continues until one side leads by two: 12-10, 13-11, and so on, with no upper limit in the Laws. A match is the best of an odd number of games: five in most club competitions, seven for singles at the World Championships, where doubles are best of five.
When does the serve change in table tennis?
After every 2 points, not after every point. At 10-all, and whenever the expedite system is in operation, each player serves for only one point in turn. A let is replayed and does not count towards the block of two. In doubles, at each change of service the previous receiver becomes the server.
Can parents follow a match without creating an account?
Yes. Share the match link, or show the QR code at the entrance to the hall. Whoever opens it sees the live score, game by game, on their phone. Spectators pay nothing, never sign up, and there is no limit on how many follow at once.
Can players score their own matches during a tournament, and what does it cost?
Yes. One QR code covers the whole tournament: each player scans it and finds their own match, whichever table they play on, while you follow every table from the desk. Results feed the pools, the Swiss system or the bracket automatically. Three trial matches are free for life, then one payment of €1.99, for life.