Pickleball Rules & Scoring Guide

📋 Rules at a Glance

Scoring: First to 11, win by 2

Serving: Underhand only, below waist

Double Bounce: Ball must bounce once on each side

Non-Volley Zone: 7ft from net (the Kitchen)

Faults: Various rule violations end rallies

Players: Singles (2) or doubles (4)

🏆Scoring System

Basic Scoring

•Games are played to 11 points and you must win by 2 points
•Only the serving team can score points
•Tournament play is often best of 3 games or to 15/21 points

📢 Calling the Score

In doubles, the score is called in three numbers:

"7-5-2"

Serving team score - Receiving team score - Server number (1 or 2)

In singles, only call two numbers: "7-5" (your score - opponent's score)

Serving Rules

✅ Legal Serves

✓Underhand motion only
✓Contact below waist level
✓Paddle face below wrist
✓Serve diagonally cross-court
✓Both feet behind baseline

❌ Serving Faults

✗Overhand or sidearm serves
✗Contact above waist
✗Serving into wrong service court
✗Foot faults (stepping on/over line)
✗Serving into the net or out of bounds

🔄 Serving Rotation (Doubles)

1. Team starts serving - Server #1 serves from right side

2. After losing a rally, Server #2 serves from their current side

3. After losing a rally, serve goes to other team

4. Exception: At game start, first serving team gets only one server

⚡Double Bounce Rule

One of pickleball's unique rules that slows down the game and creates longer rallies.

Serve must bounce

The served ball must bounce once on the receiving side before being returned

Return must bounce

The return of serve must also bounce once on the serving side before being hit

Then play as normal

After these two bounces, the ball can be hit out of the air (volleyed) or off the bounce

🚫Non-Volley Zone (The Kitchen)

The 7-foot area on both sides of the net where you cannot hit the ball out of the air (volley).

❌ Kitchen Violations

• Hitting ball out of air while in the Kitchen
• Stepping in Kitchen during/after a volley
• Momentum carrying you into Kitchen after volley
• Any part of body/clothing/paddle touching Kitchen line during volley

✅ Legal Kitchen Play

• Hitting ball after it bounces in Kitchen
• Standing in Kitchen while ball bounces
• Walking through Kitchen when not playing ball
• Re-establishing position outside Kitchen before volleying

⚠️Common Faults

Ball-Related Faults

•Ball hits net and doesn't go over
•Ball lands out of bounds
•Ball is hit twice by same player/team
•Ball doesn't clear net on serve

Player-Related Faults

•Volleying in the Kitchen/NVZ
•Touching the net with paddle/body
•Foot fault when serving
•Wrong serving position

Master the Court Layout

Now that you know the rules, learn about court dimensions and zones