Pickleball Rules: The Complete Beginner's Guide

404 Pickleball
New to the sport? Start with What is Pickleball? for the short version and the origin story. This page goes deeper: the actual rules you'll need on your first day on the court.

Quick Reference

Court size 13.4 x 6.1 m (44 x 20 ft)
Net height 91 cm at sidelines, 86 cm at centre
Non-volley zone 2.13 m (7 ft) from the net, both sides
Serve Underhand, diagonal, below the waist
Standard game Played to 11, win by 2

The court and equipment

A pickleball court measures 13.4 by 6.1 metres, the same footprint used for doubles badminton. The net sits at 91 cm at the sidelines and drops slightly to 86 cm at the centre, lower than a tennis net.

Paddles are solid, roughly the size of a large table-tennis bat, made from wood, composite, or carbon fibre. The ball is a lightweight, perforated plastic ball, similar to a wiffle ball, with a different hole pattern for indoor and outdoor play.

The serve

Every point starts with an underhand serve. A few rules govern it:

  • The paddle must contact the ball below waist height.
  • The paddle head must be below the wrist at contact.
  • The serve is struck diagonally, cross-court, from behind the baseline.
  • The ball must clear the non-volley zone and land in the diagonal service box on the far side.
  • Only one serve attempt per turn, there's no second serve like in tennis.
The double bounce rule: After the serve, the ball must bounce once on the return before the receiving side can hit it, and once again on the serving side before that team can hit it back. Only after both of these bounces have happened can either side choose to volley the ball out of the air. This rule is what makes the early part of every rally feel more like tennis and the rest of it feel completely different.

The kitchen (non-volley zone)

The 2.13 metre strip on either side of the net is the most important rule in the sport. Players cannot hit the ball out of the air while standing inside this zone, or while touching the line that marks it. The ball is allowed to bounce inside the kitchen and be played normally, the restriction is only on volleying.

This single rule is what slows the game down at the net and rewards patience, soft touch, and placement over raw power. It's also the rule newer players break most often, usually by stepping in to volley out of habit.

Scoring

The traditional format is side-out scoring: only the serving side can score a point. Games are typically played to 11, and a team must win by at least 2 points.

In doubles, the score is called as three numbers before each serve: the serving team's score, the receiving team's score, and whether the server is the first or second server on their team (1 or 2). In singles, only two numbers are called.

Some leagues and casual formats use rally scoring instead, where a point is scored on every rally regardless of who served, usually played to a set number of points. Check the format of your specific league or session, since 404's own formats vary between our league and ladder play.

Common faults

A fault ends the rally and gives the point (or the serve, depending on the format) to the other side. The most common faults are:

  1. Hitting the ball into the net or out of bounds.
  2. Volleying while standing in the non-volley zone.
  3. Volleying before the double bounce rule has been satisfied.
  4. A serve that lands in the wrong service box, or in the kitchen.
  5. The ball bouncing twice on your side before you return it.

Singles vs doubles

Doubles is by far the more common format and the one most clubs, leagues, and social sessions are built around. The rules stay mostly the same in singles, with a few adjustments: the server serves from alternating sides of the court depending on their score, and there's no need to track a second server number since there's only one player per side.

This guide covers what you need for your first games. For the full, most current version, see the Official USA Pickleball Rulebook.

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