Table Tennis Scoring: How Points, Games and Deuce Really Work (2026)

Table Tennis Scoring at a Glance

Table tennis scoring is simple at its core: every rally wins someone a point, the first player to 11 points wins the game, and you must win by 2. A match is the best of an odd number of games, usually best of 5 or best of 7. Serve switches every 2 points, and from 10-10 it switches after every point.

Those basics come from Laws 2.11 to 2.15 of the ITTF Laws of Table Tennis, the same rulebook used from club leagues to the Olympics. Our ping pong rules guide covers the whole game, from the serve to lets and faults. This page goes deep on scoring alone: how the score is called, who serves when, what happens at deuce, how long matches last, the rarely seen expedite rule, and a complete game scored rally by rally.

How a Point Is Scored

Table tennis uses rally scoring. Unlike old-style volleyball or badminton, you do not need to be serving to score: the point goes to whoever wins the rally. A rally ends with a point when one side fails to make a correct serve or return, for example by hitting into the net, missing the table, letting the ball bounce twice, volleying it over the table, moving the table or touching the net.

The only rally that produces no point is a let, such as a serve that clips the net and lands correctly, which is simply replayed with the score unchanged. The full list of ways to win and lose a point, Law 2.10, is laid out in our ping pong rules guide, and serve faults are covered in the table tennis serve rules.

Games to 11, Win by 2

Law 2.11 says a game is won by the first player or pair to score 11 points, unless both reach 10. At 10-10, the game goes to the first side to gain a 2-point lead. There is no cap, so a tight game can run to 14-12, 18-16 or beyond.

Game Point and Match Point

When one side needs just one more point to win the game, they have game point. At 10-7 a player has three game points; at 10-9, one. If winning that game would also win the match, it is match point. These are informal terms, not official calls, but you will hear commentators and players use them constantly.

Deuce and Advantage Explained

"Deuce" is the word players borrowed from tennis for 10-10. The official laws never use it; Law 2.11 simply describes what happens when both sides reach 10. Once the game reaches deuce:

• Serve alternates after every single point instead of every two (Law 2.13.3).
• The serving order stays the same; each player just serves once in turn.
• A player who goes 1 point up is said to have "advantage." Win the next point and the game is over; lose it and the score is back to level, which players often still call deuce.

How Many Games in a Match?

Law 2.12 says only that a match is "the best of any odd number of games." Organizers choose the number, so formats vary from event to event.

At the Olympics, singles matches are best of 7 games, while team ties are made up of four singles matches and one doubles match, each played over the best of 5 games, according to NBC Olympics. Our table tennis at the Olympics page covers the full format. Professional World Table Tennis events use a mix of formats by tier and round, so check the event's own information if you are following a specific tournament.

Serve Rotation and Calling the Score

Scoring and serving are tied together, because the score tells you who serves next. Under Law 2.13:

1. Toss for choice. A lot, usually a coin toss, decides who chooses first. The winner picks to serve, to receive or to start at a particular end; the opponent gets the other choice.
2. Two serves each. After every 2 points, the receiver becomes the server, until the end of the game.
3. One each from 10-10. At deuce, or once the expedite system is on, each player serves 1 point in turn.
4. Swap for the next game. Whoever served first in a game receives first in the next one.

The score is always called with the server's score first. If you are about to serve trailing 4 points to 7, the call is "4-7," and your opponent hears their 7 second. When serve passes to them, the same score becomes "7-4." Calling it this way out loud before every serve is the single best habit for avoiding arguments.

For the technical side of a legal delivery, see the table tennis serve rules.

Changing Ends

Players switch ends after every game (Law 2.13.7). In the last possible game of a match, such as game 5 in a best of 5 or game 7 in a best of 7, they also switch ends as soon as either side reaches 5 points. The idea is fairness: neither player spends the whole decider facing the worse lighting or background.

If players forget to switch, Law 2.14 says the umpire stops play as soon as the mistake is noticed and the players move to the correct ends at the current score. The same applies to serving or receiving out of turn. In every case, points already scored before the error was discovered still count.

How Umpires Call the Score

In officiated matches, the umpire calls the score aloud after each rally. According to the umpiring guidance summarized by All About Table Tennis:

• At the start of a game, the umpire names the player due to serve and calls the score, such as "Smith to serve, love-all."
• Zero can be called "love" or "zero," and a tied score can be called "4-4" or "4-all."
• After every rally, the server's points are called first, then the receiver's.
• The score is normally called as soon as the rally is decided, with a short delay allowed for loud applause or while a player fetches the ball.
• After a let, the umpire repeats the existing score to confirm no point was scored.

Big events also show the score on an electronic or manual scoreboard beside the table, so players and spectators can follow the games score as well as the points.

A Full Game, Scored Rally by Rally

Here is a complete game between Player A and Player B, with A serving first. The "Score Called" column shows how the score is announced before the next rally, with the next server's score first. Note how serve changes every 2 points until 10-10, then every point.

Because A served first in this game, B serves first in game 2, and the players change ends before it starts. If this were the deciding game, they would also have changed ends after rally 8, when A first reached 5 points.

Scoring in Doubles

Doubles uses exactly the same points, games and match formats. What changes is the rotation. Under Law 2.13.5, at each change of service the previous receiver becomes the server and the previous server's partner becomes the receiver. With pairs A1/A2 and B1/B2, the cycle runs:

In the next game, the pair that received first now serves first and picks its server, and the first receiver is whoever served to that player in the previous game. In the last possible game, the receiving pair swaps its order when one pair first reaches 5 points (Law 2.13.6). Our table tennis doubles rules guide walks through the full rotation with examples.

The Expedite System: Table Tennis's Time Limit

The expedite system exists to stop endless defensive games. Under Law 2.15:

• It starts after 10 minutes' play in a game, or earlier if both players or pairs ask for it.
• It is not introduced if at least 18 points have already been scored in that game, for example at 9-9 or 10-8.
• If the time limit hits mid-rally, the umpire stops play and the same server serves again. If the ball is not in play, the player who received in the previous rally serves next.
• From then on, each player serves 1 point in turn, and if the receiver makes 13 correct returns in a rally, the receiver wins the point.
• Once introduced, it stays on for the rest of the match.

In practice, the 13-return rule forces the server to attack, because simply pushing the ball back long enough hands the point to the receiver.

From 21 Points to 11: The 2001 Change

For most of the sport's history, games were played to 21 with each player serving five times in a row. At 20-20, serve alternated every point until someone led by 2, just like deuce today.

In 2001, the ITTF's Annual General Meeting in Osaka voted to change this. From September 1, 2001, games were played to 11 with serve changing every 2 points. Shorter games mean more of them per match, more pressure points and fewer runaway leads, which also suits television. The switch came just a year after the move from the 38 mm to the 40 mm ball in October 2000; the history of table tennis covers the wider story.

How to Keep Score in Casual Play

Without an umpire, most scoring arguments come from losing track of who serves. These habits fix that:

1. Call the score before every serve. The server says it out loud, own score first.
2. Use the total-points trick. Add both scores together. Before 10-10, if the total is 0-1, 4-5, 8-9, 12-13 and so on, the player who served first in the game is serving; if it is 2-3, 6-7, 10-11 and so on, the other player is. From 10-10, the first server serves whenever the total is even.
3. Track games separately. Note the games score after each one, such as "2 games to 1."
4. Agree on the format first. Settle best of 3, 5 or 7, and 11 or 21 points, before the first serve.

For anything beyond a quick knock-up, a scoreboard helps. Simple flip scoreboards with separate counters for points and games are common in clubs and are easy for a player or spectator to update between rallies. Free and paid scorekeeping apps for phones and tablets do the same job and can also track whose serve it is. Either option is handy for ping pong practice matches with friends or at places to play ping pong.

Common House-Rule Variants

Basement and office games often use their own scoring. None of these are official, but all are fine if everyone agrees.

If you plan to join a league or tournament, switch to official table tennis scoring early so it feels natural. Our guide on how to play table tennis is a good next step.

The Scoring Rules Worth Remembering

Play to 11 and win by 2. Serve twice each, then once each from 10-10. Call the server's score first. Win the best of 5 or 7 games, change ends after each game and at 5 points in the decider, and remember that the expedite system only appears after 10 minutes of play in a game. Master those, and you can score any match, from a backyard game to the Olympics.

Frequently Asked Questions