How to Play Pickleball: Complete Rules & 2026 Scoring Updates Explained

A pickleball court shares its footprint with a standard badminton court — 44 ft x 20 ft (about 13.4 m x 6.1 m) — which is why converted badminton courts are common at rec centers. The net sits at 36 inches on the sidelines and dips slightly to 34 inches at the center, lower than a tennis net but higher than badminton's.

The ball is a hard plastic, perforated sphere — but the hole count and size depend on whether it's built for indoor or outdoor play, a detail worth knowing before you buy a set:

Paddles are solid (no strings, unlike a tennis racket) and made from wood, fiberglass, carbon fiber, or hybrid composites — material choice affects power versus control, which matters more once you're past the beginner stage than it does on day one.

Serving Rules

• Underhand only: Paddle contact with the ball must happen below waist level, with the arm moving in an upward arc.
• Paddle position: The paddle head can't be above your wrist at the moment of contact.
• Diagonal placement: The serve must land in the diagonally opposite service box, clearing the non-volley zone ("the kitchen") entirely.
• Foot position: At least one foot must stay behind the baseline at the moment of contact — both feet don't need to be behind it, but neither foot may land on or beyond the baseline or the imaginary sideline extension.

The Double-Bounce Rule

This is the rule that most separates pickleball from tennis: the serve must bounce once on the receiving side before it's returned, and that return must also bounce once on the serving side before anyone can volley it. Once both of those bounces have happened, players are free to volley (hit the ball out of the air) — but never while standing inside the kitchen.

Serving Position & Rotation

• Who serves first is decided by any mutually agreed fair method — a coin flip, paddle spin, or similar; there's no single mandated procedure.
• Teams switch sides after each completed game, not mid-game.
• In doubles, the very first serve of the game is a single-fault situation — only one partner serves before the serve passes to the other team. After that opening exception, both partners on a team get their own serve turn before the serve changes sides.

Singles

The server starts from the right-hand court when their score is even, and switches to the left when it's odd — the score itself tells you which side to serve from, which is a common early-beginner mix-up. After winning a point, the same server switches sides and continues serving from the new position.

Doubles

Only the player the serve is directed at may return it — a partner stepping in to take their teammate's return is a fault. Players switch sides with their partner only after winning a point while serving, not automatically each rotation. As noted above, the first service sequence of the game only gives the starting team one server before the ball passes to the opposing team; from the second service turn onward, both players on each team serve in sequence before possession changes.

In traditional side-out scoring — what nearly all recreational, league, and non-rally-scoring tournament play uses — only the serving team can score points. Games go to 11, and a team must win by at least 2 points. Matches are typically best-of-three games.

Score Calling Format

Scores are called out loud in a specific three-number sequence: serving team's score – receiving team's score – server number (1 or 2). For example, "5–3–2" means the serving team has 5 points, the receiving team has 3, and it's the second server on the serving team's turn. This format trips up nearly every beginner in their first few games — it's worth practicing the callout even before you focus on strategy.