Pickleball Rules & Scoring

Basic Rules

Serving Rules

  • Server must keep one foot behind the baseline
  • Serve must be made underhand
  • Serve must be diagonal
  • Only one serve attempt is allowed
  • The serve cannot land in the "kitchen" (non-volley zone)
See How To Serve →

Scoring System

  • Games are played to 11 points
  • Must win by 2 points
  • Points can only be scored by the serving team
  • Each side gets two serves (except for the first serve of the game)
See How To Serve →

Common Faults

Service Faults

  • Serving overhand
  • Foot over the baseline
  • Ball landing in non-volley zone
  • Ball landing out of bounds
See All About service faults →

Gameplay Faults

  • Volleying from non-volley zone
  • Not letting the ball bounce once per side after serve
  • Hitting the ball out of bounds
  • Touching the net
See All About Game Play faults →