📘 Guide

Pickleball rules, explained simply

You can learn the basics in ten minutes. Here are the rules most players use, from the official rulebooks of USA Pickleball and Pickleball Canada. Local clubs and leagues sometimes add their own house rules.

The aim of the game

Hit the ball over the net so your opponents can not return it. You play singles (1 vs 1) or, more often, doubles (2 vs 2). A rally ends when the ball goes out, hits the net and stays on your side, bounces twice, or a player breaks a rule.

How to serve

• Serve underhand: hit the ball below your waist, with an upward arc.
• Stand behind the baseline. Serve diagonally to the service court across the net.
• The serve must land past the kitchen line. A serve that lands in the kitchen (or on its line) is a fault.
• You may hit the ball out of the air or let it bounce first (the drop serve).
• You get one try. A serve that touches the net and lands in the right court is played on (no "lets").
• Start from the right side when your team's score is even, from the left when it is odd.

The two-bounce rule

The serve must bounce before it is returned, and the return must bounce before the serving team hits it. After those two bounces, anyone may volley (hit the ball in the air). This rule keeps rallies longer and stops big serve-and-volley points.

The kitchen (non-volley zone)

The kitchen is the 7-foot zone on both sides of the net. You may not volley while you stand in it or on its line, and your momentum may not carry you into it after a volley. You may step in at any time to hit a ball that has bounced.

How scoring works

• Games are usually played to 11 points, and you must win by 2. Tournaments sometimes play to 15 or 21.
• In traditional scoring, only the serving team scores. If the receiving team wins the rally, they win the serve, not a point.
• In doubles both players on a team serve before the serve goes to the other team, except at the very start of the game: then only one player serves.
• Some leagues and events use rally scoring, where every rally wins a point. Ask before you play.

How to call the score in doubles

The server calls three numbers before serving: own score, opponents' score, server number (1 or 2). For example, "4-2-1" means the serving team has 4, the other team has 2, and this is the first server. A game starts at "0-0-2", because the first team only gets one server.

Faults that end the rally

• The ball lands out, or does not clear the net.
• A volley from the kitchen.
• Volleying the serve or the return (two-bounce rule).
• The ball bounces twice on your side.
• A player or their paddle touches the net.

Quick answers

More guides

• Pickleball court dimensions
• The history of pickleball