Table Tennis Rules: Complete Guide for Singles & Doubles (2026)

Updated for the 2026 ITTF Laws · TT Hub Rules Guide

Table tennis rules are simple enough to start playing in minutes, but several situations cause arguments even among experienced players. This guide explains the current rules for scoring, serving, singles, doubles, lets, edge balls, touching the table and the less common expedite system.

Quick Table Tennis Rules

1. How Scoring Works

A player or pair wins a game by reaching 11 points, provided they lead by at least two. At 10–10, play continues until someone establishes a two-point lead: 12–10, 13–11, 16–14 and so on.

A match consists of the best of an odd number of games. Best-of-five and best-of-seven are common competition formats, while a casual match can use another agreed odd number.

2. Who Serves and When Do Players Change Ends?

The initial choice of serving, receiving or starting end is decided by lot. After every two points, the receiver becomes the server. Once the score reaches 10–10, service changes after every point.

The player or pair that served first in one game receives first in the next. Players change ends after each game. In the final possible game of a match, they also change ends as soon as one player or pair reaches five points.

If everyone realises that the wrong person has served or received, or that players failed to change ends, correct the order immediately and continue from the existing score. Points already completed still count.

3. The Legal Table Tennis Serve

A legal competitive serve must follow the full action below:

1. Start with the ball resting freely on the open, stationary palm of the free hand.
2. Keep the ball above the playing surface and behind the end line.
3. Throw it near vertically upward, without deliberately adding spin, so it rises at least 16 cm.
4. Strike the ball as it is falling.
5. Make it bounce first on your own court and then on the receiver's court.
6. Keep the ball visible to the receiver. Remove the free arm and hand from the space between the ball and net once the ball has been thrown.

The server is responsible for serving in a way that allows the umpire or assistant umpire to see that the action is legal. An umpire who is unsure may warn the player on the first occasion; a later serve by that player or their doubles partner that is not clearly legal can be called incorrect.

What Happens If a Serve Touches the Net?

If an otherwise legal serve touches the net assembly and then lands correctly, it is a let: replay the serve with no point scored. There is no limit on consecutive service lets.

If the serve clips the net but fails to land correctly, it is not a let—the receiver wins the point. Table tennis does not have a tennis-style second serve.

4. The Legal Return

After the serve, each player strikes the ball in turn so that it touches the opponent's court, either directly or after touching the net assembly. The ball may travel over or around the side of the net; it does not have to pass directly above it.

You normally return the ball after it has bounced once on your court and before it bounces a second time. However, if your opponent's shot has already passed beyond your end line without touching your court, the point is already yours—you do not lose it merely because the ball then touches you or your racket.

5. How You Win or Lose a Point

Unless the rally is a let, you score when your opponent:

• fails to make a legal serve or return;
• allows the ball to bounce twice on their court;
• hits the ball and it passes your end line without touching your court;
• obstructs the ball while it is still travelling toward the playing surface;
• deliberately hits the ball twice in succession;
• moves the playing surface;
• touches the net assembly with anything they wear or carry;
• touches the playing surface with their free hand; or
• plays out of the required sequence in doubles.

6. Edge Ball or Side Ball?

In close calls, the ball's path can help. A top-edge contact often sends the ball upward or changes its trajectory sharply, while a clean side contact commonly continues downward. Without an umpire, players should resolve genuine uncertainty fairly rather than pretending every close ball is obvious.

7. Can You Touch the Table?

This rule is often oversimplified. During a rally:

• Your free hand may not touch the playing surface.
• Your racket hand, arm, clothing or body touching the table is not automatically a fault.
• However, you lose the point if you or anything you wear or carry moves the playing surface.
• You also lose the point if you or anything you wear or carry touches the net assembly.

The vertical side of the tabletop is not the playing surface, although leaning on or colliding with the table can still move it.

8. Can You Volley the Ball?

You may not obstruct a ball that is above or travelling toward the playing surface before it has bounced on your side. Doing so loses the point.

But not every contact before a bounce is obstruction. If the ball has already passed over your court or travelled beyond your end line without touching your side, your opponent's shot is out and the rally is already decided.

9. Can You Hit the Ball Twice?

The law awards a point when an opponent deliberately strikes the ball more than once in succession. That wording matters. An accidental double contact occurring in one continuous stroke is not automatically a fault under the current law; a deliberate second hit is.

10. What Counts as a Let?

A let is a rally that is replayed without changing the score. Common examples include:

• an otherwise correct serve touching the net assembly and landing correctly;
• a serve delivered while the receiver is not ready, provided the receiver does not attempt to strike it;
• an outside disturbance preventing a legal serve or return; and
• the umpire interrupting play to correct an order error, introduce the expedite system or address disturbed playing conditions.

A ball touching the net during a normal rally is not a let. If it lands correctly, keep playing.

11. Doubles Rules and Rotation

Doubles uses the same scoring system, but service is diagonal and partners must alternate every stroke. Once the first server and receiver have been chosen, the rally order is:

When service changes, the previous receiver becomes the server and the partner of the previous server becomes the receiver. At the start of the next game, the pair due to serve chooses its first server; the correct receiver is then determined by the previous game's order.

In the final possible game, when one pair first reaches five points, the receiving pair changes its receiving order. That preserves the required matchup sequence after the change of ends.

12. Equipment Rules

For regulated competition, racket coverings must be authorised and used without prohibited physical, chemical or other treatment. Players show their racket to the opponent and umpire before the match and whenever it is changed.

If you are choosing equipment rather than checking legality, read our Table Tennis Bat Buying Guide, use the Bat Finder, or build a matched setup with the Custom Bat Finder.

13. The Expedite System

The expedite system prevents a game continuing indefinitely. It begins after 10 minutes of play unless at least 18 points have already been scored, and it may start earlier if both players or pairs request it.

Once introduced, each player serves for one point in turn. If the receiver or receiving pair makes 13 correct returns in a rally, the receiver wins the point. The system remains in operation until the end of the match.

Common Myths Corrected

Frequently Asked Questions

Official Rules Sources

This guide was checked against the 2026–27 Laws of Table Tennis, reproduced from the 2026 ITTF statutes, and the Table Tennis England rules and how-to-play guide. Formal competitions can also apply event regulations and national byelaws, so use the organiser's current documentation where it adds specific requirements.