How to play pickleball

Pickleball takes about ten minutes to learn and years to master. If you can hold a paddle and count to eleven, you can play a real game today. This guide covers everything you need for your first session.

What pickleball actually is

Pickleball is a paddle sport played on a court the size of a badminton court, with a lowered net, solid paddles and a perforated plastic ball. It borrows the court from badminton, the net from tennis, and the underhand serve and non-volley zone from nothing else at all — that combination is what makes it its own game.

It is played as doubles (two per side, by far the most common) or singles (one per side). The court is exactly the same size for both.

What you need

A paddle. Larger than a table-tennis bat, smaller than a tennis racket, and solid — no strings. Anything in the $40–$100 range is more than enough to start.
A ball. Hollow plastic with holes. Outdoor balls have smaller, more numerous holes and are harder; indoor balls are softer with larger holes. Use the right one for where you play.
Court shoes. Running shoes are the most common cause of rolled ankles in beginners — pickleball is played sideways, and running shoes are built to go forwards.

The court in one paragraph

The court is 20 feet wide by 44 feet long, with the net across the middle at 36 inches at the sidelines and 34 inches in the centre. On each side of the net there is a 7-foot non-volley zone — universally called the kitchen. Behind the kitchen, the court is split into a left and right service court by a centre line.

Starting a game

One team serves. The server stands behind the baseline and hits diagonally across into the opponent's service court, the same way you serve in tennis. The serve must be underhand and must clear the kitchen entirely.

In doubles at the very start of a game, the serving team gets only one server before the serve passes over — this is why the opening score is called "0–0–2". After that first turn, both partners serve before a side-out.

The two-bounce rule — the one beginners break

After the serve, the ball must bounce twice before anyone may volley: once on the receiving side, and once again on the serving side when the return comes back. Only after those two bounces may either team hit the ball out of the air.

In practice: serve, let it bounce, return it, let it bounce, and only then is the rally live. Charging the net to volley the return is the single most common beginner fault.

The kitchen

You may not volley — hit the ball out of the air — while standing in the non-volley zone or touching any of its lines. You are free to stand in the kitchen at any time; you simply cannot volley from it. Your momentum after a volley also cannot carry you into the zone, even if you hit the ball from outside it.

Scoring

In traditional pickleball, only the serving side can score. If you are receiving and you win the rally, you do not win a point — you win the serve. Games are played to 11 points, win by 2.

In doubles the server calls three numbers before each serve: their own score, the opponent's score, then 1 or 2 to say whether they are the first or second server of that turn. So "6–3–2" means the serving side has 6, the other side has 3, and this is the second server.

How a rally ends

A team loses the rally if they:

hit the ball into the net
hit the ball out of bounds
volley while in the kitchen or touching its line
volley before the two bounces have happened
let the ball bounce twice on their own side

Your first game, step by step

Decide who serves. Winner of a coin flip or a rally chooses.
Serving side calls "0–0–2" and serves diagonally, underhand, from behind the baseline.
Let the serve bounce. Return it deep.
Let the return bounce. Now the rally is live.
Work your way to the kitchen line — that is the strongest position on the court — and keep the ball low.
Serving side scores a point for each rally won and switches sides of the court. Non-serving side does not switch.
First to 11, win by 2.

Three habits that make you good quickly

Get to the kitchen line. Points are won at the net, not from the baseline. After returning serve, move up.
Keep the ball low. Anything you float above net height near the kitchen will be put away.
Return serve deep. A deep return keeps the serving team pinned at the baseline and buys you time to advance.

Keeping score without arguments

Scoring is where social games break down — someone forgets the server number, the score is disputed, and the session sours. Paddle Time Bro handles it for you: it splits your group into teams, builds a fair schedule, and keeps score on a screen everyone can see, with a live link so players waiting their turn can follow along.