Pickleball rules for beginners

The rules you need for your first game: serve underhand and diagonally, let the serve and the return each bounce once, don’t volley while standing in the kitchen (the 7-foot zone by the net), and only the serving side scores. Games usually go to 11, win by 2. Everything else is detail, and the most confusing detail, the three-number score, is explained step by step below.

This guide follows the 2026 USA Pickleball Official Rulebook, which Pickleball Canada and several other national bodies also use. The last section covers open-play customs, which aren’t in the rulebook but are what you’ll actually meet at the courts.

The court

• The court is 20 by 44 feet, the same for singles and doubles.
• The net is 36 inches high at the sidelines and 34 inches in the middle.
• The non-volley zone, called the kitchen, is the 7-foot area on each side of the net. Its lines count as part of the zone.
• A ball that lands on a line is in, except a serve landing on the kitchen line, which is out.

The serve

• Serve diagonally into the opposite service court. The ball must clear the kitchen, lines included. Touching the net on the way is fine if it lands in; there are no lets on the serve.
• At least one foot behind the baseline, and neither foot on the court or outside the extended sideline or centreline.
• You get one attempt. A fault ends the serve.
• Volley serve: hit the ball out of the air with an upward arc, below your waist, with the paddle head not above your wrist. The 2026 rulebook tightened this wording to “clearly”.
• Drop serve: drop the ball from your hand without throwing or pushing it, and hit it after it bounces. None of the volley-serve motion rules apply, which makes it the easiest legal serve for beginners.

The two-bounce rule

The serve must bounce before the receiver hits it, and the return must bounce before the serving side hits it. After those two bounces, either side may volley (hit the ball out of the air) or play it off the bounce. That is why the serving team stays back for the third shot: if they rush the net, they have to let the return bounce anyway.

The kitchen

You may stand in the kitchen at any time. You may not volley while touching it. It is a fault if:

• you volley while touching the kitchen or its line;
• your momentum from a volley carries you into the kitchen, even after the ball is dead;
• you volley while still stepping out of the kitchen with one foot inside.

Stepping in to play a ball that has bounced in the kitchen is fine. Step out before you volley again.

Scoring in doubles: the three numbers

Pickleball normally uses side-out scoring: only the serving side can win a point. If the receiving side wins the rally, they don’t score; they win the serve. A game goes to 11, win by 2 (15 and 21 are also used in tournaments).

The server calls three numbers before every serve:

1. the serving team’s score,
2. the receiving team’s score,
3. the server number, 1 or 2.

Each partner serves in turn. The first partner is server 1. When their team loses a rally, server 2 takes over. When server 2 loses a rally too, it is a side out and the other team serves. The exception is the start: the first serving team only gets one server, which is why the first call of a game is “0–0–2”.

Worked example

Who stands where

The player who served first for a team serves from the right when their team’s score is even (0, 2, 4…) and from the left when it is odd. Only the serving team switches sides, and only after it wins a point. If you’re ever unsure who should serve, that rule tells you.

Singles and rally scoring

• Singles: two numbers only (server’s score, receiver’s score). Serve from the right when your own score is even, from the left when odd.
• Rally scoring, where every rally scores, is a provisional rule that tournament directors may choose. In 2026 every rally scores, including a game point won by the receiving side (in 2025 the receiving side couldn’t win the game that way). USA Pickleball will decide in 2027 whether to keep it. At open play, assume side-out scoring unless you’re told otherwise.

Other faults to know

• The ball goes into the net or lands out.
• The ball bounces twice on your side before you hit it.
• The ball hits you or your clothing.
• You touch the net or the net post during a rally.
• Line calls: call your own side, and don’t call a ball out unless you clearly see space between the ball and the line. If you’re not sure, it is in.

Stacking is legal

You may see partners lining up on the same side before a serve. That is called stacking: it keeps each player on their preferred side, usually the forehand in the middle. It is legal as long as the correct player serves and receives from the correct court. Don’t confuse it with paddle stacking, which is how players queue for a court.

Open play customs (not in the rulebook)

These vary by venue, so watch for a posted sign. The most common:

• You join by putting your paddle in a rack, and the next four paddles play the next game.
• After a game, all four come off (4 on, 4 off), or winners stay and split up. See paddle rack rules.
• Shout “ball on court” when a stray ball rolls onto your court; play stops and the rally is replayed.
• Wait for a rally to end before walking behind a court.
• Ask before joining a game well above your level, and tap paddles at the net after the game.

Next, read pickleball doubles strategy for where to stand, and how PaQueueKa runs pickleball open play if you organise sessions.

Questions people ask