How To Play Pickleball (Rules-Ins and Outs)

Pickleball is an international sport, played by over 2.5 million people all over the world. Its popularity is no less in the United States. There is at least one pickleball court in each state, with over 15,000 indoor and outdoor courts.

It is not a difficult sport to play, nor is it hard to remember the simple Pickleball rules.

The rules of pickleball are actually quite basic and simple to follow.

Keeping score for pickleball is also easy. The sport was invented to be fun and entertaining, not fierce and competitive. It’s a game meant to be played with family and friends, indoors or outdoors.

So let us dig down to the topic how to play Pickleball, Here we will discuss the basic rules of Pickleball, Serving rules, single rules and double rules.

#The Rules of Pickleball:

Each and every sport has its own set of rules and regulations, but pickleball is a particularly interesting sport with equally interesting rules derived from a combination of three different sports: tennis, badminton, and Ping-Pong. Despite its complicated roots, pickleball has a very light set of rules for a ball and paddle sport.

In our other study, we talked about how to choose a Pickleball paddle. Make sure you stay up to date with all the facts of choosing Pickleball paddle.

Basic rules

Serves must be made underhanded and paddle contact with the ball must be below the server’s waist, just like in badminton.

The serve must be initiated with at least one foot behind the baseline; and neither foot may contact the baseline or the court until after the ball is hit, just like in tennis.

The serve must be made diagonally across the court and must land within the confines of the diagonally opposite service court, also a rule that is common in tennis matches.

Only one serve attempt may be allowed, except in the event of a let, which occurs when the ball touches the net on a serve—a rule that applies to both badminton and tennis.

Doubles rules

In a doubles match, both players on the serving team have the opportunity to serve and score points until they commit a fault.

The first serve of each sequence must be made from the right-hand court.  Should a point be scored, the server switches sides and starts the next sequence from the left-hand court. The server continues switching back and forth until a fault occurs and the first server loses the serve.

In doubles, when the first server loses the serve the partner serves from the correct side of the court.

The second server serves until their team loses the serve to the opposing team. Once there is a side out, the first serve is from the right-hand court and both players on that team have the ability to serve and score points until their team commits two faults.

In singles, the server serves from the right-hand court when their score is even and from the left when their score is odd. Points can only be scored by the serving team. Games are normally played to 11 points, and tournament games may be to 15 or 21. The game is normally won by 2 points.

Scoring for singles and doubles

Points can only be scored on the serve. The receiving team cannot score points.

At the beginning of the game, the player on the right side of the court is the server. If a point is scored, the server moves to the left side and serves to the opposite court.

Every time that a point is scored, the players on the serving side switch from the right to left or left to right. That server continues to serve until the serve is lost by losing a rally, and players on the serving team do not switch sides unless a point is scored.

In singles play, each player only serves one time and once a player loses the rally, it is side out.

Calling the score

You call the score in the order of server’s score, the receiver’s score, then the server number.

For example, if the score of the serving team is 6 and the score of the receiving team is 8 and the first server on the side is serving, the score would be announced as 6-8-1.

Some people might say “first” or “second” for the server number, for example 6-8-first. Both ways are correct. It is only necessary to call out the score during singles and not the server’s number.

If your score is an even number, you should be serving from the right service court and if your score is odd, you should be serving from the left service court.

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