I’m glad you decided to learn how to play pickleball. It’s growing fast and is a lot of fun to play. There are lots of rules and strategies, but not everything matters when you are just getting started. So, I put together this no fluff beginner guide with all the pickleball rules you need to know to play your first game.
Here are few essential terms you need know to understand the rules and gameplay described below. You’ll also hear these words tossed around on the courts, so it will help you comprehend what others are saying to you as well.
Rally: A rally starts with a serve and ends when the ball goes out of play. At the end of a fun rally, a person might congratulate the other team by saying, “nice rally”.
Volley: A volley is when you hit the ball out of the air before it bounces.
No-Volley Zone: The no-volley zone is the section of the court closes to the net. It extends 7 feet on each side of the net. More to come on this.
Drop: A drop or a drop shot is a common term and shot used in pickleball. The drop shot is a soft, arching shot taken anywhere on the court (other than at the no-volley zone line) that is intended to land softly in your opponents no-volley zone.
Drive: A drive is shot that is hit hard with little to no arch. It’s the opposite of a drop shot.
Dink: A dink is a shot taken when standing at the no volley zone line and is hit softly over the net and lands in your opponents no-volley zone. The goal of a dink is to prevent your opponents from attacking the ball and forcing them to hit it back softly.
Fault: When the ball goes out of play or some other rule is broken, then it is called a fault.
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You may have seen a pickleball court before, but let’s review some of the key components of the court and learn what everything is called and what function it performs.
Baseline: The short ends of the court are called the baseline. Any ball that is hit past the baseline before it bounces is considered out of play.
Sideline: The longer ends of the court are called the sidelines. Any ball that is hit wide of the sidelines before it bounces is considered out of play.
Service Squares: The service squares are used when serving the ball, more on this later in the serving section of this article.
No-Volley Zone (NVZ): The NVZ is often called The Kitchen. You cannot be standing in the NVZ and hit the ball unless the ball bounces in there first. If a player is standing in the NVZ (that includes the line) and hits the ball before it bounces is considered a fault and the other team wins the rally.
You can only step into the NVZ and hit the ball when the ball bounces in their first.
It’s a common misconception that you cannot step into NVZ until after it bounces in their, but you can step into the NVZ at any time, it is only a fault if you volley the ball while standing in the NVZ.
Games are most often played to 11, but sometimes are played to 15. You must win by 2. You can only score a point when you serve and win the ensuing rally.
Ways a rally ends:
The player serving the ball will continue to serve the ball until the other team wins a rally, at which point the server will give the ball to his teammate to serve. Once both players lose a rally from their serve they give the ball to the other team to serve the ball. With one exception at the beginning of the game. The team who takes the first serve only gets one server. After that, they get two servers the rest of the game.
Before you serve the ball you should announce the score and what number of server you are. For example, you might say 4-3-1, which means your team has 4 points, the other team has three points, and you are the first server.
Another example my be 4-7-2, which means your team has 4 points, the other team has seven points and you are the second server.
At the start of the game, the server will say 0-0-2 because the serving team only gets one server to start the game.
When the ball is served the player on the receiving side must let the ball bounce once before hitting it. When the ball is returned to the serving side the ball must again bounce once before being hit. This is known as the two-bounce rule. It takes a few rallies to get used to letting the return of serve bounce but you get used to it after a while.
After the ball has bounced once on each side, the ball can be hit out of the air or after it bounces. You just need to honor the no-volley zone where you can’t be standing and hit the ball before it bounces.
I sincerely hope you enjoy playing and that my video and explanation of the rules helped get you started! Like any game, it takes a couple of times of actually playing until you internalize the rules and can play without thinking about them. You’ll get there!
For more advanced strategy and tips, check out our strategy and tips section. And if you are hunting for some new equipment, check out our paddle reviews.
Looking for the right paddle to fit your game? Take our paddle fitting quiz for three recommendations that will match your style of play.
