Ping Pong Rules for Doubles: Alternating Serves, Hits & More

Dominate the playing table with this simple guide to doubles rules and guidelines

Ping pong, also known as table tennis, is a very fun game that you and up to three of your friends can play together. If you’re familiar with the rules of a 1-on-1 match, you’re in luck—the rules for a doubles match are very similar! In this article, we’ll review the basic guidelines for serving, hitting, and scoring as a team. Let’s hit it!

Things You Should Know

  • Flip a coin to see who will serve first on your team, then alternate who serves each time it’s your team’s turn.
  • Alternate hits throughout the game. It’s against the rules for the same player to hit the ball two turns in a row.
  • To win, be the first team to score 15 points (or whichever score all the players agree on before starting the game).
Part 1
Part 1 of 3:

Serving the Ball

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    Assemble four people for play. Check the Things You'll Need below as well.
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    Decide who serves first. This can be determined in many ways––you can flip a coin or you can volley. To volley is just to toss the ball and play it until someone scores if you score then it is your serve, but when you volley the ball has to be hit three times in the match before some scores.
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    Serve from any side of your table. Hit the ball on your side once and have the ball go over the net to hit their side. In doubles, serve from the right side of your table and have the ball go across to the left side of table.
    • When serving, either every 2 points scored or every 5 points scored, switch serves between teams. When playing doubles, you will usually play up to 21 but you can play up to 15 as well.
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    Alternate between you and your teammate in serving. When you serve five times or two times whatever is decided, then the other team will serve and when they serve two or five times, then it will be your teammates turn to serve.
    • When serving, if you are person A and you are serving the ball to towards person C on the other side, then when it is person C's turn to serve, she or he has to serve to your teammate person B. When it is person B's turn to serve, she or he has to serve it to the other team person D. So, after your turn to serve is over, then switch spots with your teammate so that he or she returns the serve to the person that was just returning your serve.
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Part 2
Part 2 of 3:

Scoring Points

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    Score you have to return the serve if you don't return the serve the other team gets a point.
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    Alternate. When hitting the ball, you and your teammate have to alternate hits so if you return the serve when the other team returns the hit then your teammate has to return that hit. Therefore, you can't hit the ball twice in a row.
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    Learn the scoring. Every time you score it is worth 1 point
    • If you return the ball but it does not hit the other team's side. it is the other team's point
    • If the ball hits your side twice, it is their point.
    • If a serve does not go over the net, it is the other team's point.
    • If a serve hits the net and goes over, it is a reserve.
    • If anyone hits the ball twice in a row it is automatically the other teams point
    • If you hit your own side trying to return the ball, it is the other team's point.
    • If the game is tied up at the score limit, namely it is 15-15, you keep playing until one team has a lead of two points and that team wins by 2.
    • If you touch the table or you move the table, the other team gets a point.
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Part 3
Part 3 of 3:

Winning the Game

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    Win the game. To win, you have to reach the score limit first so either first to 21 or 15
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    Finalize the game. Usually these games are played to best of two out of three matches and anyone can play no matter the skill levels, opponents just have to understand the rules and they are ready to play!
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Community Q&A

  • Question
    In doubles, when serving, can the ball be placed anywhere in your opponent's court (crosswise) or must it be served to go over the end of the table? I did not think it could be serve off the side?
    Varangian11
    Varangian11
    Community Answer
    You serve on the right side of the table in doubles. The serve ball must go cross-court onto the opponent's right side of the table.
  • Question
    Do you always serve from the right side of the table?
    Gerard Tran
    Gerard Tran
    Community Answer
    Yes, but only when you're playing doubles in table tennis. In singles, you can serve anywhere on the surface of the table.
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Things You'll Need

  • 4 paddles
  • 2 standard ping pong balls (in case one breaks, even more is great)
  • A standard sized ping pong table



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About This Article

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, volunteer authors worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 59,683 times.
59 votes - 79%
Co-authors: 5
Updated: March 13, 2023
Views: 59,683
Categories: Table Tennis
Article SummaryX

Playing doubles in ping pong is a fun 4-player variation of the game where 2 players pair up as a team and play against the other duo. Teammates stand side by side on their end of the table and hit the ball back and forth over the net to score points. Start the game by flipping a coin to decide which team serves first. Then, the winning duo (players A and B) decides which person serves first and the serving player (player A) stands on the right side. To serve the ball, hit it diagonally so it lands once on your side of the court before bouncing over the net and landing in the left side (from the server’s perspective) of the opposing team’s court. The opponent standing on the right (player C) must return the volley over the net. Teammates alternate who returns each volley, so player B must hit the ball back over the net and player D must return the volley. The same player is never allowed to return a volley twice in a row; if this happens, the opposing team scores a point. If a player hits the ball and it doesn’t land on the other team's side, the other team scores a point. If a player hits the ball and it lands twice on their side of the net, the opposing team scores a point. If a serve doesn’t go over the net, the other team gets a point. After the first team serves twice in a row, the other team gets to serve twice in a row, and the teams alternate every 2 serves for the rest of the game. The first team to make it to 11 points wins the game but they must be ahead by at least 2 points. Otherwise, you keep playing until one of the teams wins with a lead of 2 points.

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