How to play
Everything you need
to play pickleball.
Tennis, badminton and table tennis in a blender, with a plastic ball and a rule about a kitchen. Most people are rallying within five minutes — here is what you need before your first game.
The basics
Six rules and you are playing
Learn these and you know enough to have a genuinely good game. Everything else is refinement.
The court
20 feet wide, 44 feet long — about a badminton court. The net is 36 inches at the posts and 34 in the middle. The seven-foot strip either side of the net is the kitchen, or non-volley zone.
The serve
Underhand, from behind the baseline, diagonally into the opposite service box. Contact happens below your waist and both feet stay behind the line until you have hit it.
The double bounce
Pickleball's signature rule. The return must bounce once, and the serving team's next shot must bounce once too. After that, volley away.
The kitchen
You cannot volley while standing in the non-volley zone. Step in to play a ball that has bounced, then get back out before hitting anything out of the air.
Scoring
Only the serving side scores. Games run to 11, win by two. In doubles you call three numbers: your score, their score, and whether you are server one or two.
Winning points
Consistency beats power. Most points are lost, not won — keep the ball in, make them move, and let the errors come to you.
Shots
The six shots worth learning first
Nobody needs a highlight reel. Learn these, keep the ball inside the white lines, and you will beat players who are swinging harder than you.
Serve
Underhand and deep into the service box.
Return
Hit deep to buy yourself time to move up.
Dink
A soft shot that drops into their kitchen.
Drive
A flat, fast ball at shoulder height or below.
Lob
High and arcing, over opponents parked at the net.
Third shot drop
The soft ball that lets you take the kitchen line.
Learn it somewhere nobody is watching.
A private court is the least intimidating place to be new. Book an hour, miss a lot of balls, laugh about it, get better.