Squash Rules - The Game + Basic Rules

Here's a quick run down on the basic rules and play of Squash.

Squash is an in-door Racket sport played on a rectangular court. The "Frontwall" is in essence the center of the game. Below is a Picture of a standard Squash Court, please click to enlarge it:

So now you have a good picture of a squash court you can refer to it during descriptions. I find it incredibly hard to explain the rules of squash in a way that is understandable by everyone so i'm going to quote an extract from wikipedia's page on squash, and also add in some notes.

The players usually spin a racket to decide who commences serving at the start of the match, and this player starts the first rally by electing to serve from either the left or right service box. For a legal serve, one of the server's feet must be in that box and, after being struck by the racket, the ball must strike the front wall above the service line (the second highest line on the frontwall) and below the out line (the front line on the floor) and land in the opposite quarter court (either side of the middle dependant on service side, from the back of the court up to the sevice line), unless volleyed by the receiver.

The players then take turns hitting the ball against the front wall (referred to as "rallying"). The ball may be volleyed (hit whilst still in the air) or hit after its first bounce and before the second. To be considered good, the ball must reach the front wall below the "out" line and above the "board" or "tin" before touching the floor (the "tin" is below the last line on the frontwall, commonly made of tin so you can distinguise buy sound wether the ball was in or out). A ball landing on either the out line or the line above the tin, contrary to tennis, is considered to be out. The ball may also be struck against any of the other three walls before reaching the front wall. Shots that are first played off the side or back walls are referred to as "boasts" or "angles".

The rally continues until a player is unable to return his or her opponent's shot or makes a mistake or a "let" or "stroke" is awarded by the referee for interference. A let is given if the opposing player is stopping you from getting to the ball (by standing in the way for example) when it is likely you could return the ball. A Stroke is given when the player is in the direct path of the ball, causing the player not being able to hit the shot. For a let, the service is repeated as if the game was put on "rewind". For a Stroke a point is given to the impeded if it is their service, otherwise the right to serve is won.

A point is scored only by the server (when the receiver is unable to return the ball to the front wall before it has bounced twice). When the receiver wins the rally, they are awarded only the right to serve. They may choose to serve from either service box.

Games are usually played to 9 points (alternatively, the receiver may opt to call "set two" and play to 10 when the score first reaches 8-8). Competition matches are usually played to "best-of-five" (i.e., the player to win the most out of 5 games).

Ok, that covers the basics of the game, i know its a lot to remember at first but it soon becomes easy. If you are un-sure on anything please leave a comment and i will get back to you as soon as possible.