Pickleball borrows a little from tennis, a little from table tennis, and a little from badminton — but its actual rulebook is short. Here’s everything you need to follow (and play) a game.
The court and equipment
A pickleball court is 44 feet long by 20 feet wide for doubles (the same court is used for singles, just played narrower in practice) — small enough that four players comfortably fill it. You need a solid paddle, a hard plastic ball with holes, and a net set at 34 inches at the center.
The serve
Serves are underhand, struck below the waist, and hit diagonally into the opposite service box. The server keeps serving as long as they keep winning points; a fault hands the serve over instead of losing a point outright, except on the very first serve of the game.
The two-bounce rule
After the serve, the receiving side must let the ball bounce once before returning it, and the serving side must also let that return bounce once before hitting it back. Only after those two bounces can either side start volleying the ball out of the air.
The kitchen (non-volley zone)
The 7-foot zone on either side of the net is the "kitchen." You can stand in it, but you can’t hit the ball out of the air (volley) while any part of you is touching that zone — you have to let it bounce first.
Scoring
Games are usually played to 11 points, win by 2, and only the serving side can score. In doubles, both players on a team typically get a serve before the serve passes to the other team (except at the very start of the game).
That’s the whole rulebook in practice — the rest is muscle memory you pick up in your first session or two. Book a court and try it for yourself.
