Learn it in five minutes
The rules, simplified.
Pickleball has a reputation for confusing scoring and one weird zone. This page covers everything you need for your first game — with pictures.
Rule one
Scoring: only the servers score
Games are played to 11, win by 2. If the serving team wins the rally, they get a point. If the receiving team wins the rally, nobody scores — the serve just changes hands.
The three-number call
Before every serve you'll hear three numbers, like "4 – 2 – 1." That's our score, their score, then which server (1 or 2).
Each team gets two serves per turn (one per player) — except the very first serve of the game, which starts at server 2 so nobody gets an extra turn. That's why games open with the odd-sounding "0 – 0 – 2."
"Four – two – one." You'll be calling it yourself by game three.
© Dink Sarasota
Rule two
The serve: underhand & diagonal
One attempt, no second serves. Keep it low, keep it behind the line, send it crosscourt.
Serve from behind the baseline, diagonally, past the kitchen.
© Dink Sarasota
Four things, that's it
Underhand, with the paddle below your waist, swinging in an upward arc.
One foot behind the baseline — no stepping on or over the line.
Diagonal, into the opposite service box.
Past the kitchen — land it in the kitchen (or on its line) and it's a fault. Clip the net but land in? That's live — play it.
Rule three
The double-bounce rule
The one rule that makes pickleball pickleball. Two bounces, then the real rally starts.
Let it bounce. Twice.
The serve must bounce before the return. The return must bounce before the server's second shot — the third shot of the rally.
After those two bounces, anything goes — volleys included. That's why nobody charges the net on the first two shots: the ball has to bounce first.
Must bounce before the return
Must bounce before the third shot
Volleys allowed from here
Bounce, bounce, then play.
© Dink Sarasota
Rule four
The kitchen: the no-volley zone
The 7-foot box on each side of the net. One rule governs it, and it's simpler than it sounds.
The shaded box: feet stay out when you volley. That's the whole rule.
© Dink Sarasota
Don't volley from the kitchen
You can't hit the ball out of the air while standing in the kitchen — or touching its lines, or if your momentum carries you in after the volley.
Everything else is fine: you can stand in the kitchen all day as long as the ball bounces first. That's the dink game — soft shots that land in the kitchen and force your opponent to hit up.
Rule five
Faults: ways to lose the rally
A fault ends the rally immediately. Commit one on your serve and the serve passes on (or over).
- Out of bounds — the ball lands outside the lines. Lines are in, except the kitchen line on a serve.
- Into the net — and it doesn't make it over (net-cord serves that land in are live).
- Short serve — the serve lands in the kitchen or on the kitchen line.
- Kitchen volley — volleying while touching the kitchen or its lines.
- Skipping the bounces — volleying the serve or the return before they bounce.
- Foot fault — stepping on or over the baseline during the serve.
Know enough to be dangerous.
The rest you learn by playing. Mornings at Pompano are the friendliest classroom in town.
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