Squash Rules: PAR Scoring, the Serve, Lets and Strokes

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Your opponent hits a loose ball to the middle, you step in to attack, and they’re standing right in your swing. You stop, turn to the referee and say “Let, please.” Is it a let, a stroke or no let? That one call decides more squash matches than any other, and it’s where most arguments in club games start. Here are the squash rules in plain English, from World Squash’s singles rules (the 2025 version, in force since September 1, 2025): how squash scoring works with PAR to 11, the serve, what makes a good return, interference with lets and strokes, the ball hitting a player, injuries, conduct, and the court, ball and racket. Plus the one safety rule you’ll meet at every US tournament: eyewear.

Two principles first: safety and fair play

World Squash opens its rulebook with two principles. Squash is played in a confined space, often at high speed, so players must always put safety first and never take any action that could endanger the opponent; and they must play with fair play, respecting the officials and the opponent and playing honestly. Almost every rule below comes back to one of these two ideas. In club games without a referee, players apply them themselves.

Squash scoring: PAR to 11

• Every rally scores: the winner of a rally gets 1 point and serves the next rally, whoever served.
• Games to 11: at 10-all the game goes on until one player leads by 2. There’s no cap: 15–13 is possible.
• Matches: normally best of five games (first to 3), sometimes best of three (first to 2). US Squash junior tournaments use PAR to 11, best of five.
• Calling the score: the server’s score is called first, with “hand out” when the server changes.

Warm-up and breaks

Both players warm up the ball together on court for up to 4 minutes, changing sides after 2. Hogging the ball counts as an unfair warm-up. After that, there’s up to 1 minute before play starts and up to 2 minutes between games. Players get up to 2 minutes to replace damaged equipment, including glasses, protective eyewear or a dislodged contact lens. Coaching is only allowed during the breaks between games.

The serve

The player who wins the spin of a racket serves first. At the start of each game, and every time the serve changes hands, the server picks a service box; while they keep winning points, they alternate boxes. A serve is good when:

• the server drops or throws the ball and hits it before it touches anything else (missing it completely and trying again is allowed);
• at contact, one foot is touching the floor inside the service box, with no part of that foot on the box’s lines;
• the ball goes straight to the front wall between the service line and the out-line, without hitting the front and side walls at the same time;
• unless the receiver volleys it, the ball first bounces in the opposite back quarter of the court without touching a line; and it isn’t out.

Anything else is a fault, and the receiver wins the rally. A serve that hits the service line, short line or half-court line is a fault. If the receiver isn’t ready and doesn’t try to return the serve, it’s a let, unless the serve was a fault anyway.

What makes a good return

A return is good if it’s hit correctly (once, with the racket held in the hand, without carrying it) before the ball has bounced twice, and it reaches the front wall, directly or off other walls, above the tin and below the out-line, without bouncing on the floor first. Calls you’ll hear from the marker: “down” (the ball hit the tin or the floor before the front wall), “out” (on or above an out-line, or out of the court) and “not up” (a double bounce, a double hit, or the ball touching the striker). There’s no let for an unusual bounce. If the ball breaks during a rally, the rally is replayed.

Interference: let, no let or stroke

After a reasonable follow-through, you must make every effort to clear so your opponent has four things: a fair view of the ball, access to it, space for a reasonable swing and the freedom to hit it to any part of the front wall. If they don’t get all four, that’s interference. The striker can stop and ask for a let (“Let, please”) without delay; a request for a let includes a request for a stroke. The referee then decides:

Situation	Decision
No interference and no reasonable fear of injury	No let (the opponent wins the rally)
Minimal interference that didn’t stop you seeing and reaching the ball	No let
Interference, but you couldn’t have made a good return anyway	No let
You played on past the interference and then asked	No let
Interference the opponent was trying to avoid, and you could have made a good return	Let (replay the rally)
You could have made a good return, but the opponent wasn’t making every effort to clear	Stroke to you (you win the point)
Interference stopped what would have been a winning return	Stroke to you

A few special cases. If the opponent’s position prevents your swing, it’s a stroke even if they were trying to clear. If you cause the interference with an excessive swing, there’s no let. If you took a path to the ball that created the interference, there’s no let, unless you were wrong-footed and recovered. If you hold back because the ball would have hit your opponent on its way straight to the front wall, it’s a stroke to you (a let if you had turned or were making a further attempt). And turning, rotating so the ball passes behind you, gets special attention: if you turn just to create a let, you won’t get one, and the referee must always consider whether the turn was dangerous.

When the ball hits a player

Play stops. If your shot hits your opponent on its way straight to the front wall, and you hadn’t turned and it was your first attempt, you win a stroke; if it was going to hit a side wall first, it’s usually a let. If your shot wasn’t going to be good, your opponent wins the rally. If you had turned, the stroke goes to your opponent, unless they deliberately moved into the ball. If the ball hits you, the striker, with no interference, you lose the rally. The referee always considers whether hitting a player with the ball was deliberate or dangerous.

Injuries, illness and blood

• Illness or cramp, nausea, a blister, breathlessness or asthma: play on, or concede the game and use the break to recover.
• Self-inflicted injury (a strain, sprain, or a bruise from a wall or a fall): up to 3 minutes to recover.
• Contributed injury (accidental, both players involved): up to 15 minutes.
• Opponent-inflicted: up to 15 minutes if accidental, and the match goes to the injured player if they can’t go on; if caused by deliberate or dangerous play and the injured player needs time, they’re awarded the match.
• Blood: the player leaves the court; a self-inflicted bleed gets up to 5 minutes to stop the flow and cover the wound. Cover old wounds before you play.

These are match rules, not medical advice. A head knock, an eye hit or anything that changes how you move deserves a proper check: see our squash hub’s health section and the CDC’s HEADS UP signs of concussion.

Conduct

Unacceptable behavior includes obscenity, abuse, unnecessary physical contact (including pushing off the opponent), deliberate or dangerous play such as an excessive swing or turning, dissent, delaying play, deliberate distraction and receiving coaching during play. The referee can give a Conduct Warning, a Conduct Stroke, a Conduct Game or a Conduct Match, depending on how serious it is.

Officials, appeals and video review

A match normally has a referee, or a referee and a marker. The marker calls the score, faults, down, out and not up; the referee decides lets and strokes and appeals, and their decision is final. Players appeal by saying “Appeal, please.” Where video review is available, as at many pro events, each player gets 2 reviews in a best-of-five match (and one fresh review, replacing any unused ones, if it reaches a fifth game) and keeps a review when the decision is overturned.

Court, ball, racket and eyewear

Court	9.75 m (32 ft) × 6.40 m (21 ft) for singles; doubles courts are 7.62 m (25 ft) wide. Front-wall out-line 4.57 m (15 ft), service line 1.83 m (6 ft), tin 0.48 m (1 ft 7 in), back-wall out-line 2.13 m (7 ft); short line 5.49 m (18 ft) from the front wall.
Ball	40 mm, 24 g. Double yellow dot for top-level play; single yellow for club play; red and blue dots bounce more; a green dot ball is made for high altitude.
Racket	Up to 686 mm (27 in) long and 215 mm wide, a strung area up to 500 sq cm, and no more than 255 g. Bumper strips must be white, clear or unpigmented, and the frame must not mark the court.
Eyewear	World Squash recommends protective eyewear for every player and requires it at its junior and doubles events. US Squash requires it for all players and coaches on court at its accredited events: ASTM F3164, with the older ASTM F803 still accepted.

Want to see the gear the rules describe? Here’s what we’d put in a bag to play by the book. Prices are what we saw at Amazon in October 2026; check the current price before you buy.

More on choosing them on our squash gear page. Back to the squash hub, or see squash leagues and associations and junior squash. Play other racket sports? Compare tennis rules and pickleball rules.

Squash rules FAQs

What is the difference between a let and a stroke in squash?

A let means the rally is replayed and nobody scores. A stroke means the striker wins the point. You get a let when your opponent was trying to clear and you could have made a good return; a stroke when they weren’t making every effort to clear, when they prevented your swing, or when you’d have hit a winner.

Do you have to be serving to score a point in squash?

No. Squash uses point-a-rally (PAR) scoring: whoever wins the rally scores, server or receiver, and the winner serves next. Games go to 11, win by 2.

Is it a fault if the serve hits the line?

Yes. A serve that hits the service line on the front wall, or lands on the short line or half-court line, is a fault, and the receiver wins the rally. Any ball that touches an out-line is out.

What happens if the ball hits your opponent?

Play stops. If your shot was going straight to the front wall and you hadn’t turned, you win the point; if it would have hit a side wall first, it’s usually a let; if it wasn’t going to be good, your opponent wins the rally. If you had turned, your opponent gets the stroke.

How long is the break between games in squash?

Up to 2 minutes between games, and up to 1 minute between the 4-minute warm-up and the first serve. Coaching is allowed only during these breaks.