Badminton is a game played with rackets that are somewhat like tennis rackets, except that they are longer and lighter. The racket is sometimes called a battledore. Also used is a shuttlecock, or "bird," a small half-ball made of cork, with about 15 feathers stuck around its flat side. Badminton is played on a court 44 feet long by 17 feet wide, with a net 5 feet high stretched across the middle of the court. There may be two players (singles) or four (doubles, or teams). For doubles, the court is widened to 20 feet.

The object of the game is to "volley" the "bird" back and forth across the net. When a player fails to return it across the net, or hits it out of bounds, he loses the point. To "volley" you must hit the bird while it is in the air, before it touches the ground. Scoring is as follows: You can score only when you are the server. The server begins each point by tossing the bird in the air and hitting it over the net. If the other side returns the bird, you must also return it (over the net and within bounds) and if you fail on a return, you lose the serve, but if the other side misses, you score one point.

The first side to score 15 points wins the game. In women's and children's games, 11 points is usually a game. Badminton is usually played outdoors, when it is not too windy, but it can also be played indoors. It is a very fast game, perhaps one of the fastest, because the bird makes many surprise dives and dips, and does not go straight like a ball. The game was originally played in India several hundred years ago, and was called "Poona." Some English army officers brought it to England about 85 years ago. People saw it played at Badminton House, the home of the Duke of Beaufort, and they called it the "Badminton game."

In 1939 the first international matches, with teams from several countries, were played. The president of the International Badminton Federation, Sir George A. Thomas, offered a trophy, the "Thomas Cup," to the winning team. The Thomas Cup is like the Davis Cup in tennis (see the article on tennis.) Because of World War II, the next matches were not held until 1948-49. Malaya won the first official championship by beating Denmark in the final round.