Pro Kabaddi Scoring Explained: Raids, Tackles, Bonuses and All-Outs

Why I looked this up

A kabaddi score can move in ways that are not obvious from the final action of a raid. I wanted to understand why a tackled raider might still earn a point, why two tackle points do not necessarily mean two revivals, and why a point sometimes brings nobody back.

I therefore read Pro Kabaddi’s official introduction to the game, its revival explainer, and its bonus-point masterclass. This is my scoreboard-first summary of those rules, not an account of playing the sport myself.

The core idea: a raid is not one fixed kind of point

A raid is the attacking turn. Its outcome can include touch points, a bonus point, or no attacking point at all. A tackle belongs to the defending team, while an all-out adds a separate team bonus after the opposition has been completely eliminated.

The distinctions matter because these points do not have identical revival effects.

Event	Scoring condition	Points awarded	Revival effect
Touch point	The raider puts a defender out and completes the successful raid	1 per defender put out	One already-eliminated teammate may return per eligible point, limited by how many are out
Ordinary tackle	The defenders stop the raider from returning	1 to the defending team	One already-eliminated defender may return, if one is out
Bonus	The raider legally crosses the active bonus line	1 to the raiding team	None
Super tackle	A side with 3 or fewer defenders on the mat successfully tackles the raider	2 in total to the defending team	Only one revival, not two
Failed do-or-die raid	The required raid ends without the raider scoring	1 to the defending team and the raider is out	One revival if a teammate is already out; none if all 7 are active
All-out	All 7 players of one team are eliminated	2 extra points to the opposition	The eliminated side returns with all 7 players

These conditions and point values are set out in Pro Kabaddi’s official game explainer.

Raid points and tackle points stay separate

For a touch point, I look for two things: a defender was put out, and the raider completed the successful raid. The raiding side receives one point for each defender put out.

A tackle is the opposite outcome. If the defence prevents the raider from returning, the defending side receives one tackle point. It remains a single team point even when several defenders contribute to the tackle.

This distinction prevents a common reading error: the number of defenders involved in stopping a raider does not become the number of tackle points.

A bonus can survive a later tackle

The bonus line is active when the defending side has at least 6 players on the mat. A legal crossing earns the raider’s side one bonus point, but that point does not eliminate a defender and cannot revive a teammate.

Most importantly, the bonus is decided separately from the raid’s later finish. Once the raider has legally taken it, a subsequent tackle does not erase it. The scoreboard can therefore award:

• 1 bonus point to the raiding team; and
• 1 ordinary tackle point to the defending team.

The raider does not have to return successfully to retain a bonus that was already legally earned. Pro Kabaddi’s bonus-point masterclass explains the scoring action, while an official match report records a defence allowing a raider to collect the bonus before pinning him down.

Revival is limited by who is already out

I found it more accurate to treat revival as a possible consequence of an eligible point, not as another point on the scoreboard.

A revival can return only a teammate who has already been eliminated. It is therefore capped by the number currently out. If a side has just one player out and earns several eligible points, it can revive only that one player. It cannot create an extra player beyond the normal 7.

The same limit explains two situations that can look odd:

• An ordinary tackle still scores when all 7 defenders are active, but nobody is available to revive.
• A failed do-or-die raid still gives the defending team its point when all 7 are active, but again there is no revival.

Bonus points remain outside this process altogether. A bonus never revives a player. The official revival material is useful here because it frames revival around bringing an out player back into the game.

Super tackle does not mean two revivals

A successful tackle by a defending side reduced to 3 or fewer players is a super tackle. It is worth 2 points in total rather than the ordinary tackle’s 1.

The revival count does not double with the score. Only one eliminated defender returns. The second point is the super-tackle reward, not another ordinary tackle point carrying another revival.

Do-or-die is about the raid sequence

A raid with no point is an empty raid. After a team records 2 successive empty raids, its third raid becomes a do-or-die raid. The raider must score on that raid; failure sends the raider out and awards 1 point to the defence.

That scoring condition is distinct from a bonus, touch or super tackle. For reading the scoreboard, I first identify that the raid was do-or-die, then check whether the raider scored. If not, I assign the defending point and consider a revival only when that team already has someone out.

All-out points are an additional layer

An all-out occurs when all 7 members of a team have been eliminated. The opposition receives 2 extra points in addition to the points that caused the eliminations, after which the eliminated team returns with all 7 players.

I find it helpful not to treat those 2 points as two ordinary touch or tackle points. They are the separate all-out award and do not represent two additional player eliminations or two ordinary revivals.

My quick order for reading a raid

When a score changes, this is the checklist I now use:

1. Check the bonus first: was the active bonus line legally crossed? Add 1 to the raiding side and attach no revival.
2. Check touch points: did the raider complete a successful raid after putting defenders out? Add 1 per defender put out.
3. Check the tackle: was the raider stopped? Award either the ordinary 1-point tackle or the 2-point super tackle, according to the number of defenders on the mat.
4. Check do-or-die status: after 2 successive empty raids, a scoreless third raid puts the raider out and gives the defence 1 point.
5. Apply revival only where eligible: return already-eliminated teammates, never more than the number currently out. Give no revival for a bonus and only one for a super tackle.
6. Check for an all-out: if all 7 opponents are out, add the separate 2-point award and restore that side’s full 7.

What I looked up next

The detail that changed my understanding most was the bonus-plus-tackle outcome. The last action seen on screen may be a tackle, but the raid can still leave a point on each side of the scoreboard because the bonus was settled earlier.

The other useful correction was to stop reading every point as an automatic revival. Touch and tackle scoring can revive only players who are already out; bonus and the extra super-tackle point do not work that way. Keeping the score and the available bench of eliminated players as two separate counts makes the sequence much easier to follow.