Rules
A short overview of pickleball rules. For the full official rulebook, use the PDFs linked below.
Basics
- Court: Doubles court is 20×44 feet (same size for singles). There’s a non-volley zone (the “kitchen”) 7 feet from the net on each side.
- Serve: Underhand, below the waist; must land in the diagonal service court. Only the serving side can score.
- Double bounce: The ball must bounce once on the serve and once on the return before either side may volley.
- Non-volley zone: You cannot volley (hit in the air) while standing in the kitchen or touching it.
Scoring
- Games are typically played to 11, win by 2.
- Only the serving side can score. If the server’s side wins the rally, they get a point and the server switches side (and may switch server in doubles).
- In doubles, each side has two servers (first and second server) until they lose the serve.
Serving
- Serve must be underhand, contact below the waist, paddle below the wrist.
- Serve must land in the diagonal service court (past the non-volley zone).
- One fault (e.g. into the net or out) ends that server’s turn (or the side’s turn in doubles, depending on first/second server).
Faults
- Hitting the ball out of bounds
- Hitting the ball into the net
- Volleying from inside the non-volley zone (or touching the zone during the volley)
- Not letting the ball bounce once on each side after the serve and return (double-bounce rule)
- Wrong server or wrong court (when applicable)