Printable Badminton score sheet (free PDF)
Badminton moves fast — a rally can flip the score before anyone catches their breath. Keep your club match, tournament, or training session tracked with one tap per point, straight from your phone. Score to 21, win by two, and let teammates or spectators follow every rally live by scanning a QR code or opening a link.
Prefer paper? The sheet below follows how Badminton is really scored. Print it and fill it in with a pen — or start a live scoreboard and let everyone follow on their phones.
Your teams on the sheet
Badminton score sheet
| Team A | Team B | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Venue | ||
| Referee | Scorekeeper | ||
| Competition | Match no. | ||
| Category |
| Game | Team A | Team B |
|---|---|---|
| Game 1 · 21 | ||
| Game 2 · 21 | ||
| Game 3 · 21 | ||
| Final score |
| Captain A | Captain B | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Referee | Scorekeeper |
Point values : +1
You are keeping score with a pen. Scan this: the Badminton scoreboard counts for you — free trial, no app.www.getscorezen.com
How to fill in this sheet
Start with the header: player or pair names under Team A and Team B — badminton is singles or doubles, so a "team" here may be a single name — then Date, Venue, Competition, Match no., Category, Referee and Scorekeeper. Now the grid: its three rows print as Game 1, Game 2 and Game 3 — the word badminton's own laws use. Each row carries its real target of 21 points — the deciding row included, which is where badminton parts company with beach volley and its short final set. Two rows won ends the match, so the Final score line goes in rows won, 2–0 or 2–1, never in points.
In each row write the two real point scores, 21–17 or 22–20, not a tick for the winner. Closing a row takes care once the numbers climb. A game goes to 21 with a two-point lead, so at 20-20 you keep counting until one side is two clear — and then badminton adds a ceiling no other sport on these sheets carries: 30 points. At 29-29 the very next rally takes the row, and 30–29 is a legal, final score. After a 2–0 the third row stays blank; strike it through so nobody wonders whether it was played.
What the scorekeeper watches
Every rally scores — one point to whoever wins it, serve or no serve — which is why +1 is the only figure under Point values, and why no Sanctions & stoppages block prints on a badminton sheet at all. The serve is where your attention belongs. The side that wins a rally serves the next one, and the server's position audits your score at a glance: from the right court when the server's own score is even, from the left when it's odd. Add the 60-second interval when one side reaches 11 points, and the change of ends between games, and your watch list is complete.
Two things you will never write down, and it helps to know it in advance. A let — the rally replayed after an interruption — leaves the score exactly where it was, so your pen stays still. And a service fault, the racket above the waist or a foot that moved before the hit, is not a sanction to tally: it simply gives the rally, and therefore the point, to the other side. On this sheet every fault reaches you already converted into somebody's +1.
Common questions
A player retired in the middle of a game — what do I write?
Write the score exactly as it stood when play stopped, add the word retired beside it, and rule a line through any row left unplayed. The Final score line still goes in games won by the opponent. Nothing here is invented: the numbers you keep are the last ones both sides agreed on.
What do I write at 29-29?
The next rally ends the game, and you write 30–29. Badminton caps a game at 30, so at 29-29 nobody waits for a two-point gap any more. Below that ceiling the ordinary rule holds: from 20-20 the game runs on until one side leads by two, which is why rows reading 25–23 or 27–25 are perfectly normal.
How do I check the server is in the right box?
Read the server's own score. Even, they serve from the right-hand court; odd, from the left. It is a self-checking system: if the announced score and the server's position disagree, one of them is wrong, and your sheet settles it. Remember too that the side winning a rally takes or keeps the serve — there is no serve rotation to track.
A badminton rally can be over in three seconds, and twenty in a row will beat any pen. If your wrist would rather watch the shuttle, ScoreZen adds each point as it lands and keeps the totals itself, while family who couldn't come scan a QR code and follow live — free, no app, no account. It scores offline too, and prints a full recap afterwards: every point in order, the streaks, the match points.
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