Whether you’re brand new to the game or just looking to brush up on the basics, you’re in the right place. Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in the country—and for good reason. It’s easy to learn, fun to play, and a fantastic way to stay active and social at any age. In this guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know to start playing pickleball with confidence—from the court layout and serving rules to scoring and the all-important kitchen.
You can watch a short video explaining the rules here. Let’s get started!
Pickleball is often described as a mix of tennis, table tennis, and badminton. It’s played on a 44′ x 20′ court with a net that stands 36 inches at the ends and 34 inches in the middle. While you can play singles or doubles, doubles is by far the most popular—and that’s our focus here.
Basic Rules – Doubles
Serving
A pickleball game and each rally starts with a serve. Whichever team is serving first, the first server for that team for every rally will always be the server on the right side of the court, which is sometimes referred to as the “even” side. For all points in a game except for the first point, each team gets two serves, meaning both players on that team get to serve at least once and keep serving until their team loses the rally.
The only exception is on the very first point of the match, the serving team only gets to serve once, so only one of the two players – the players on the right (even) side of the court – will serve. That player is considered the “second” server since their team gets only one serve for that point, so they will call the score out as 0-0-2, meaning 0 points for each team and “2” representing the second server.
Serve Mechanics
The server must stand behind the baseline and serve underhand, contacting the ball below the waist with an upward motion, and hitting the ball diagonally into the box across from them. The head of the paddle must not be above the highest part of the wrist when contacting the ball.
When the server is serving from the right side of the court they must serve to the opponent on the right side for the other team, and when the server is serving from the left side of the court they must serve to the opponent on the left side for the other team.
The serve can either be hit as a “drop” serve off of a bounce, or as a “volley” serve from the server’s hand with no bounce. If hit as a drop serve, the ball must not be thrown, and it can bounce an unlimited number of times. The server may use a forehand or backhand stroke to hit the serve.
The serve must land past the non-volley zone line or it is considered out. If it lands on any of the other lines – baseline, center line or side line, it is considered in.
If the serve hits the net and lands in, it is a live serve, not a “let” or replay.
Return of Serve / Double Bounce Rule
The return of serve must bounce on the server’s side of the court; it cannot be hit in the air as a volley.
Non-Volley Zone (Kitchen)
The area that is 7 feet from the net on each side of the court is called the non-volley zone (or “kitchen”). Players are not allowed to hit the ball in the air as a volley if they are standing in the non-volley zone (NVZ). Players may stand in the non-volley zone and hit the ball from within the NVZ if the ball has bounced first but not if it has not bounced.
If the player is standing outside the NVZ when they make contact with the ball but their follow-through or momentum of their shot moves their foot into the NVZ after hitting the ball this is still considered a fault. If a player’s paddle touches the NVZ during or just after contacting the ball, or any part of the player’s clothing (hat, glasses, etc.) falls into the NVZ during or just after contacting the ball, that is also considered a fault.
Scoring
Pickleball is typically played as a game to 11 points that must be won by 2 points, with points only scored by the serving team. Since the game must be won by 2 points, some game scores will go higher than 11 if the score is tied at 10-10 or 11-11 or higher, until one of the teams eventually wins by 2 points.
After winning each point on your serve, you switch sides of the court (left and right or even and odd) with your partner and serve to the other opponent. When your team loses a point your partner then begins serving until another point is lost by your team. When that happens it is considered a “side out” meaning now the serving side switches to the other team.
The current score must be called out before each serve, loudly enough so that your opponent can hear it. When you call the score you will say three numbers, for example: 3-3-1. This would mean that the score is 3 for your team, 3 for your opponents, and you are the first server for this rotation. If you lose the next rally, then your partner will serve, and will announce the score as 3-3-2, since your opponent does not earn a point for winning a rally when they are not serving, and your partner is the second server in this rotation. If your team loses this next rally, a side out occurs. The ball now goes to the other team, and their first server (the player on the right/even side of the court) begins by calling the score as 3-3-1 before they serve.
As noted above, the one exception to this as on the very first point of the game when the first server will call out 0-0-2 because the starting team only gets one serve since they have the advantage of being able to score points first to start the match.
Check out the official USA Pickleball rules here:
👉 Official Pickleball Rules Summary