Rules of the Trio Game in Badminton
Rules of the Trio Game in Badminton
The trio game of badminton was developed by our badminton group during the early part of year 2004 when we played at Kellyville Park on Monday and Wednesday mornings. This game suits veteran players as well as young players with good skills. For veteran players, there is less running as less court coverage is required by each player.  For good players, it is a good game to train killing shots for limited spaces, as well as training for better reflex actions.
The rules
The rules are similar to that of the doubles game with the following amendments.
  1. The game is played to 21 points with three players a side.
  2. A deuce game will be played at 20-all. The receiving side has the call for a three-point game or five-point game.
  3. The players of the serving side are labelled as follows:
    » Player (1) is the player who serves first
    » Player (2) is the player who servers second
    » Player (3) is the player at the back-row.
  4. Like the doubles game, only player 1 and player 2 serve.
  5. Players of the serving side rotate their positions after the service was lost and before service is handed over to the other side.  The rotation is as follows:
    » The one who last serve before service over (usually player 2) takes position 3.
    » The back-rower (player 3) takes on position 1.
    » The remaining player (usually player 1) takes on position 2.
  6. For consistency of rules, the player who serves at the beginning of a game is regarded as player 2 as this is the player who last served before the service over.
  7. Player 3 of the receiving side is not allowed to receive serve.
Hints for smooth flow of the Trio Game
When a side is starting to serve, each player should notice and remember his/her player number The player number depends on the order of serving.  Player 1 may be standing on the right-hand side or left-hand side of the court before the rotation. When rotation starts
  • Player 3 moves up to the right and becomes player 1.
  • Player 2, the last one serving before rotation, moves back to become player 3.
  • Player 1, the one who served first, moves to the left and becomes player 2.
The receiving side will do nothing during the other side rotates.   Though Player 3 can take a mini-break as this player is not allowed to receive serve.