Pickleball Rules: How to Play and Keep Score

If you are wondering how to play pickleball, the good news is that the core pickleball rules are simple enough to learn in a few minutes, even if it takes longer to master them on court.

Scoring: games are usually played to 11 points, win by 2, and only the serving side can score a point in traditional scoring. Each server gets one serve per turn, except at the start of the game, and the score is called as three numbers in doubles: your score, your opponents' score, and which server you are.

Serving: the serve is hit underhand, below the waist, diagonally into the opposite service court, and must clear the non-volley zone, known as the kitchen, without landing inside it.

The double bounce rule: after the serve, the ball must bounce once on the return and once on the serve return before either side can start volleying, meaning the ball hits the ground on both the serve and the return of serve before it can be hit out of the air.

The kitchen: this is the seven foot non-volley zone on each side of the net. Players cannot volley the ball, hitting it out of the air, while standing inside this zone, which keeps the game from being dominated by players standing at the net.

Faults: a fault ends the rally and gives the point or the serve to the other side, depending on who was serving. Common faults include hitting the ball out of bounds, hitting it into the net, volleying the ball while standing inside the kitchen, stepping on or over the baseline while serving, and a serve that lands in the net or outside the correct service box. As in tennis, a ball that lands on any part of a line is considered in, not out.

Serving rotation works slightly differently in singles and doubles. In singles, you serve from the right side of the court when your score is even and from the left when it is odd. In doubles it is more involved: each team keeps serving, switching which partner serves and which side they serve from, until they commit a fault, at which point the serve passes to the other team. This is why the score is called as three numbers in doubles, so everyone on court knows who is serving and from which side.

You will often hear the term side out during a game. This simply means the serve has passed from one side to the other after a fault, rather than a point being scored. Understanding side outs helps make sense of why the score can move slowly in doubles, since a team only adds to their score while they are serving.

Pickleball also has some informal etiquette worth knowing, especially in casual or social play where there is no umpire. Players generally make their own line calls honestly, based on what they saw from their own side of the court, and a call should favour your opponent if you are genuinely unsure whether the ball was in or out. It is also common courtesy to let the server know if you are not ready, and to call the score out loud before each serve so both sides agree on it.

These rules cover most of what you need to start playing. For a broader introduction to the sport, see our what is pickleball guide, for common questions see our pickleball FAQ, or come try it for yourself at Open Marratxí in Mallorca.