What Are the Rules of Pickleball?
If you’re new to pickleball, Friendly Pickle has put this guide together to help you get a grasp on the basics, as well as some of the finer details. From simple pickleball rules to specifics like how you can hit the ball, it’s important to know the rules of pickleball to better enjoy your time playing. By having a good understanding of the rules, you can avoid any long breaks in play due to confusion or an argument about the rules of the game.
The Basic Rules
As a general rule, there are some basic rules to pickleball that we at Friendly Pickle do our best to teach everyone. Fundamentally, the goal of pickleball is to hit the ball across the court toward the opposing team and have it land in bounds. But, there are some standard rules that apply to how you can do this, as well as how you score if you do get in some ball hits. Some of these standard rules include:
Player Count
Pickleball is played as either singles (1v1) or doubles (2v2). Doubles is typically more common. The same rules and size of play area apply to both singles and doubles. Doubles is a great way for beginners to learn because it requires less individual court coverage and allows you to learn alongside other new players or, possibly, with a more experienced player to learn from.
Scoring Rules
Pickleball has two different methods of keeping score:
Traditional Side-Out Scoring
- Only the serving team scores points.
- Games are played to 11 points, but a team wins only when they win by at least 2 points.
- Compared to friendly games, tournaments can be played up to 15 or 21 points, but a team must still win by at least 2 points.
Rally Scoring
- A point is scored after every rally.
- Each team may score a point, regardless of who is serving.
The Serving Team
For the serving team, you get only one serve attempt (compared to two with tennis). The service sequence then dictates that the server continues serving until the serving team either loses a rally or fails to properly serve the ball (a fault). For some other specifics related to serving:
- When a team’s score is even (0, 2, 4, 6, etc), a serve is delivered from the right side court. If your team has an odd score (1, 3, 5, 7, etc), then you serve from the left side court.
- A serving doubles team maintains the same server until they lose a rally or fault on a serve – then, the serve moves to the other teammate. This service sequence continues back and forth until the end of the game.
- If the server serves the ball and the serve hits a player, that is considered a fault, regardless of where the player who is hit is standing.
The Double Bounce Rule (two-bounce rule)
For the receiving team on a serve, they must let the ball bounce once before returning it. Then, the serving team must also let it bounce on their side of the court before continuing the rally. This individual bounce on both sides is where the name “double bounce rule” or “two-bounce rule” comes from. After the ball has bounced once in a team’s court, they can then volley the ball or play it from a bounce. This rule attempts to address the serve-and-volley advantage in tennis, extending rallies.
The Non-Volley Zone Line
In pickleball rules, the non-volley zone (commonly called “the kitchen” by players or NVZ by coaches/trained staff) is the area on the court within 7 feet of the net on both sides of the net. As the name implies, a player cannot volley within this zone (area). This helps to alleviate any smashes done within the NVZ. Some rules to remember with the NVZ include:
- Even if at least one foot is within the non-volley zone when you perform a volley, it is considered a fault. This also includes stepping on the line, or if that player’s momentum causes them or anything they’re wearing to touch the NVZ.
- A player can move and hit within the NVZ at any time, so long as they are not volleying the ball.
Line Calls
Line calls are the decisions made when the ball hits lines associated with your area of play during a game. To put it simply, a ball contacting any line on the court, except the non-volley zone line on a serve, is considered “in” and should result in play to continue. The only other line rule to keep in mind is when a serve contacts the NVZ line. This is considered short on the serve and, therefore, called a fault.
Learn More Pickleball Rules with Friendly Pickle
We hope that this gives you a good baseline understanding of the rules of pickleball and how they apply to your games. At Friendly Pickle, we love the opportunity to introduce new players to the game to help them learn the rules. If this describes you, we encourage you to sign up for our free Intro to Pickleball course to get started! We’ll help you pick up the rules fast so you can play with confidence when joining our other events like Open Play!
