How scoring works
How each sport is scored — points, games, sets, frames and matches — explained clearly for newcomers.
Browse scoring systems
Each entry is cross-linked to the sports it belongs to and the terms around it.
Badminton scoring
Badminton uses rally scoring to 21 points per game, with matches decided over the best of three games.
Basketball scoring
Basketball is scored by shooting the ball through the hoop, with baskets worth one, two or three points depending on where the shot is taken.
Extras: byes, leg byes, wides and no-balls
The runs a fielding side gives away rather than the batting side earning — what separates a bye from a leg bye, why a wide and a no-ball each cost a penalty run, and how each is recorded.
Football (soccer) scoring
Football is scored by goals, with each goal worth one point and the team scoring the most goals winning the match.
How alpine ski races are timed and placed
Alpine races are decided on elapsed time, with technical events combining two runs into a single total.
How cycling races are timed and placed
Cycling races are decided either by who crosses the line first or by fastest time, and stage races add up cumulative times to rank riders overall.
How fitness progress is tracked
General fitness has no formal scoring, so progress is tracked through measurable markers such as repetitions, load, time, distance and personal bests.
How golf is scored
Golf counts strokes: the fewest shots taken to complete a hole or a round wins, with par providing the reference every score is described against.
How running races are timed and placed
Running races are decided by finishing order and by elapsed time, measured precisely and settled by the moment a runner's torso crosses the line.
How swimming races are timed and placed
Swimming races are decided by elapsed time and finishing order, with electronic touchpads recording when each swimmer completes the distance.
Padel scoring
Padel borrows tennis scoring, counting points as 15–30–40 within games and playing sets to six games decided by a tiebreak.
Padel scoring and the tie-break
How padel matches are counted — the game and set structure, the tie-break serving order, and the alternative scoring methods the FIP rules explicitly authorise.
Runs and boundaries in cricket
How runs are actually scored in cricket — by running, by finding the boundary, and by the penalties the fielding side concedes — and how each kind is credited in the scorebook.
Scoring in rugby union
The five ways points are scored in rugby union and what each is worth — try, conversion, penalty try, penalty goal and drop goal — with the rule that surprises people about the penalty try.
Table tennis scoring
Table tennis is scored on every rally to 11 points per game, won by two clear points, over a best-of odd number of games.
Table tennis scoring and service order
How games and matches are won — 11 points with a two-point margin, service changing every two points, and the expedite system that stops a game lasting forever.
Tennis scoring
Tennis is scored in points, games and sets, using the distinctive 15–30–40 point sequence and a win-by-two margin at every level.
Tennis scoring systems
The scoring methods the ITF Rules actually authorise — the advantage set, the tie-break set, the standard tie-break game, and the short sets and match tie-breaks in Appendix VI.
Tiebreak scoring
A tiebreak is a short deciding game used in racket sports to settle a set that has reached an even number of games, scored in simple numbers to a fixed target.
Volleyball scoring
Volleyball uses rally scoring, in which a point is won on every rally, and matches are decided over a best-of-five sets.
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