Let’s face it — nobody likes looking a like a newbie. Even though pickleball is a welcoming and fun community, it always feels better when you show up and have the basics down. And nothing is more basic in the sport than the pickleball scoring rules.

Pickleball Scoring Rules

The good news? Pickleball scoring is fairly straightforward and simple compared to other sports. No touchdowns, free-throws, or birdies here. Just good old fashioned points.

The game is played with two to four players, depending on whether you’re playing singles or doubles. A pickleball match usually consists of 11 points, and the first player or team to reach 11 points wins the game. Easy right? The only caveat is that you have to win by two points, meaning that if the score is tied at 10-10, the game will continue until one player or team reaches 12 points.

If the server wins a point on their serve, they go again, and continue serving until they lose the point. If the server does not win the point, they hand the ball over. The server must also win the game by two points, meaning that if the score is tied at 10-10, the game will continue until one player or team reaches 12 points.

Pickleball Scoring Basics

Ok let’s start with the basics. There’s a misconception that pickleball mirrors tennis scoring — false! It’s completely unique and totally it’s own thing. Keep in mind scoring in slightly different for singles and doubles. But before you get your sweatband in a knot, take a breath and relax. Your PickleWire crew has you covered.

Singles and doubles both share some common ground. In both, players (or teams) starts with a score of 0 and serves until they reach 11 points. The player (or team) who reaches 11 points first is the winner. Easy.

The first important detail to flag is that in pickleball, points are only awarded when the server scores. It’s the same thing with tennis — basically if you weren’t the one to serve, you can’t score during that rally. If you aren’t the server and you win the rally, your reward is that the person who was serving loses their turn. If you are the server and you win the rally, you win a point and go again.

You can win a rally a few ways — the most common is if you get the ball to bounce twice in your opponents court. Additionally, if your opponent hits the ball outside of the court or into the net, then you win a point. Or if they violate any of the kitchen rules… bingo. Another point for you.

Serving and Rallies

For a point to be awarded, a serve must be legal and follow the serving rules. When you serve, you have to hit the ball into your opponent’s court and not out of bounds. If the ball lands in bounds but is not returned by their opponent, then congratulations, you scored a point. If the ball lands out of bounds or in the no-volley zone, then your turn is over. Remember in pickleball that if a ball lands on any part of the line, it is in play.

Your serve must go diagonally across the court. You also need to make sure you are behind the baseline and don’t step over before you hit. Finally, the serve must be in an underhand motion. If you violate any of these rules, then it’s a fault and you lose your serve.

If the ball is returned by the receiving team, then the rally continues until one team fails to return the ball or hits it out of bounds. Remember that pickleball scoring rules dictate that you can only score when you (or your team) served.

Winning a Game

The question on everyone’s mind, how do you actually win a game? The answer is simple: be the first to 11 points. Like we said a pickleball match usually consists of 11 points. The only exception is if the score reaches 10-10 in singles or doubles, then the game continues until one player or team has two points more than their opponent.

In some cases, the game may be extended to 15 points. This is usually done when the players or teams are evenly matched and the game is close. This allows for a longer and more exciting match, as the players or teams battle it out to see who will come out on top.

But hey, you can play to as many points as you want to. I’ll often play till 21 to have a little more fun — I’ve even done marathon games to 35. As long as you’re having fun. That’s what counts.

Doubles Scoring rules for pickleball

If you’ve ever been confused about pickleball scoring rules, chances are it was during doubles. There are a couple small quirks to scoring in teams you should know before heading out there.

To start, you and your partner each will have a chance to serve during your teams serve. After your opponent gives up the ball, the player on your team that’s on right starts by serving. To signal this when they call out the score, they should say “one” followed by their score followed by their opponents. So if your team is up 5 to 4, the server would say, “one-five-four,” and then serve. If the player scores, they swap places with their partner and serve again. This goes on until they lose a rally.

Once they lose a rally, then it goes to the other player on the team. They preface the score by saying “two” instead of one. Same rules for scoring apply — if they win a point, they swap sides with their partner and serve again. Once they lose a rally the ball goes to the opponent.

Not too complicated right? Hate to break it to ya but there’s one more rule. On the first serve of the game, the player on the right side of the court serves first (doesn’t matter which team serves first, usually the team that won the previous game). However, they start the game as a two calling out “two-zero-zero.” Once they lose a rally, the ball goes to the opponent and both of their players carry on serving as normal.

To sum it up, whatever team starts with the ball only gets to have one player serve their first turn. That player can score multiple points, but once they are done, the ball goes to the opponent. From then on scoring continues as normal.

Strategies for Maximizing Points

Although scoring in pickleball is fairly straightforward, actually scoring is a little trickier. If you’re having problems putting points on the board, try these tips.

1. Serve from different locations on the court. This can give you an advantage over your opponents since they may not be expecting certain shots. Additionally, playing close to the kitchen and utilizing dink shots can level up your game.
2. On the note on shots, try changing them up. Mixing up your shots, will keep your opponents guessing and make it more difficult for them to anticipate your next move.
3. Use strategic positioning to your advantage. We mentioned being close to the net is helpful, but staying aligned with your partner is a double’s strategy that can really boost your game.

Common pickleball scoring Mistakes

Scoring is fairly straightforward, but that doesn’t mean people always do it perfect. The most common mistakes I see are:

1. Players forgetting who’s turn it is to serve.
2. Counting points from rallies one while not serving.
3. Forgetting to call out the serve and losing track.

Most of these can be avoided just by paying attention. But if you want some additional tips, we can help you out.

Tips for Keeping pickleball Score

Keeping track of the score in pickleball can be tricky if you’re not used to it (especially in doubles). If it’s your first time, you might want to make sure someone else is also tracking it so you have a backup. It also helps to have every player call out the score before they serve. This is common practice on most courts anyways and helps keep everybody honest.

Wrap up

Congrats! Now that you know how all the pickleball scoring rules, you don’t have to be that person who always asks their partner what the score is or mumbles inaudibly to hide your ignorance. Go forth and pickle my friend.