How a table tennis match works

1. Two players hit a light ball over a net on a table. A rally ends when one fails to make a good serve or return, and the other scores a point, whoever served.
2. Each player serves for 2 points, then the serve passes to the other.
3. The first to 11 points wins the game. At 10-10, play goes on until one player leads by 2.
4. A match is the best of an odd number of games, usually five or seven.

Reading the score

A score such as 3-1, 8-6 means games stand at three to one and the current game is at eight points to six.

How long

There is no clock: the match ends when a player wins more than half the games. There is up to a minute between games, and each player may take one time-out of up to a minute in a match.