Pickleball rules, summarized

USA Pickleball publishes the official rulebook for the sport in the United States, together with a separate Equipment Standards Manual. It also posts a shorter rules summary (revised January 1, 2025) for new players. This page restates that summary in plain language and adds the court-related details from the rulebook. If anything here differs from the official documents, the official documents win. New to the game? The step-by-step walkthrough of one game shows how these rules play out from the first serve to the winning point.

Singles and doubles

Pickleball can be played as doubles (two players per side, the most common format) or singles. Both formats use the same 20 × 44 ft court and the same rules, apart from how serving positions and the score call work in singles; see singles rules and positioning basics. See court dimensions for the full layout.

The serve

The volley serve has three requirements at the moment the paddle contacts the ball:

• The server's arm must be moving in an upward arc.
• Contact must be below the server's waist.
• The head of the paddle must not be above the highest point of the wrist.

A drop serve — letting the ball fall and hitting it after it bounces — is also allowed, and it is exempt from those three motion and height requirements.

At contact, at least one of the server's feet must be on the playing surface behind the baseline, and neither foot may touch the court or the area outside the imaginary extensions of the sideline and centerline. The serve travels diagonally crosscourt and must land in the opposite diagonal service court. Each server gets only one attempt per serve. The serve rules page covers foot faults, ball release, spin and net serves in detail.

Service sequence in doubles

• Both players on a team serve before the serve passes to the opponents ("side out") — except at the very start of each game, when only one partner serves before the first side out.
• After each side out, service starts from the right-hand court.
• When the serving team wins a point, the server switches sides and serves from the other court.
• When the serving team commits a fault, the first server loses the serve and the partner serves from their current court; after the second server's fault, it is a side out.
• In singles, the server serves from the right side when their score is even and from the left when it is odd.

The scoring page explains how this sequence turns into the three-number score call. Events using the provisional rally scoring option change this: one server per side out and a two-number call.

The two-bounce rule

When the ball is served, the receiving team must let it bounce once before returning it. The serving team must then let the return bounce once before playing it. After those two bounces, either side may volley (hit the ball in the air) or play it off the bounce. The rule removes the serve-and-volley advantage and is why the first two shots of every rally are groundstrokes. Separately, wheelchair players, and eligible adaptive standing players who declare it before a match, may let the ball bounce twice before returning it; see wheelchair pickleball rules.

The non-volley zone ("kitchen")

The non-volley zone (NVZ) is the area within 7 feet of the net on each side, and the NVZ lines count as part of the zone. Its rules are narrower than many new players assume:

• You may not volley while standing in the NVZ or touching its line.
• It is a fault if, after volleying, your momentum carries you — or anything you are wearing or carrying — into the NVZ, even if the ball has already been declared dead.
• You may stand in the NVZ at any other time, and you may enter it to play a ball that has bounced.

For momentum, partner contact, Erne and around-the-post situations with an illustrated diagram, see the kitchen rules deep dive. Words like dink, Erne and stacking are defined, with rule numbers, in the pickleball terms glossary.

Line calls

A ball that touches any line is in, with one important exception: a serve that lands on the non-volley-zone line is out (2026 Rule 8.C). All lines are 2 inches wide, and court measurements run to the outside edges of the lines. Who may call which line, how quickly an "out" call must come and what a referee can overrule are covered on the line calls page.

Faults

A fault is any rule violation that stops play. A fault by the receiving team gives the serving team a point; a fault by the serving team costs them the serve. Common faults include the list below; the complete faults list gives every fault with its 2026 rule number.

• A serve that does not land in the correct receiving court.
• Hitting the ball into the net on the serve or any return.
• Volleying a ball before the two-bounce requirement has been met.
• Hitting the ball out of bounds.
• Volleying from the non-volley zone.
• Letting the ball bounce twice before returning it.
• A player, their clothing or paddle touching the net or the net post while the ball is in play.
• A live ball striking a player or anything the player is wearing or carrying.
• A live ball hitting a permanent object before it bounces on the court.

Choosing who serves first

Any fair method can decide which side picks first serve, receive or end of the court — the rules summary gives the example of writing a 1 or 2 on the back of the score sheet and having a player guess.

Where to read the full rules

For tournament play, read the full USA Pickleball Official Rulebook and the yearly rule-revision notes posted there. Equipment rules are covered in the separate Equipment Standards Manual — see our paddle specs and ball specs pages.