The Ultimate Pickleball Scoring Guide
New and experienced players are always curious about Pickleball scoring rules and which are the most important. Playing singles and doubles means that there are different ways for pickleball scoring to work - although it’s really just a difference in cadence. We have created a Pickleball scoring guide for you to use as you progress your game. Learn how to serve in pickleball, how to keep score in pickleball, how to call the score in pickleball, and singles vs doubles pickleball scoring rules.
Pickleball Scoring Guide
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Points to Win: Pickleball is played to 11 points, and you must win by 2 points.
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Player Position: The player on the right service court will always serve first for a team.
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Scoring Points: You can only win points when it is your team’s serve.
- If you are serving and win the point, you get to continue serving.
Doubles Pickleball Scoring Guide & Rules
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You can only score a point when your team is serving. If you are on the receiving side, you can’t score a point. This is much like other sports where the serving team is the only team that will accumulate points.
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The first serve is served by the player on the right side of the court, or what we call the even court. The server serves underhand, diagonally to the opposite court.
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If the serving side wins the point, the server moves to the left court, the odd court, and serves diagonally again.
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To start a game, the first team to serve will start as the #2 serve, meaning it will be a team sideout if they lose the rally. This only happens on the first serve of a game.
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The server continues to serve from right to left each time that they score a point.
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Players on the serving side are the only players who alternate right to left, and you only alternate when you score a point. The receiving side does not alternate sides.
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When the first server loses the rally, the serve passes to the second server on the team. Players stay on the side they were when the point ended and the server serves from that side.
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When server two loses the serve, it is the other team’s turn to serve and try to win some points. The player on the right serves first. This same pattern continues throughout the game.
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The server number (1 or 2) applies for that service turn only. Whoever is on the right side when the team gets the serve back is the first server for that service turn only. The next time that the team gets the serve back, it might be the other player that is on the right and is therefore the first server for that service turn only. Beginning players often mistakenly assume that the player keeps the same server number throughout the game.
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For the very first serve of the game, only one person from that team serves. The first score that is called in pickleball is 0-0-2. The “2” means that the second server starts the game, and when the serving team loses a point, the serve goes to the other team. This minimizes the advantage of being the first team to serve in a game.
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Pickleball court dimensions are the same for singles and doubles.
- Please see here for a comprehensive guide on all doubles pickleball strategies.
How to Call the Score in Pickleball
The score is always called by the person serving, saying three numbers.
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Number One: Serving Team’s Score
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Number Two: Receiving Team’s Score
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Number Three: Server Number (either 1 or 2)
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We like to remember it as: me, you, who
Singles Pickleball Scoring Guide & Rules
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You can only win points when you are serving.
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When the server's score is even, you serve from the right side. When the server's score is odd, you serve from the left side.
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If you are serving, you call your score first: server score, receiver score.
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The first person to 11 wins the game. You must still win by two!
- Pickleball court dimensions are the same for singles and doubles.
- Please see here for a comprehensive guide on all singles pickleball strategies.
Pickleball Necessities
Two Pickleball Paddles + Three Pickleballs + 1 Court Bag
Now that you know all of the pickleball scoring rules, it's time to hit the court.
Recess has everything you need to get started with pickleball. Grab a Recess set or build your own pickleball paddle set today!
If you’re looking for a little more details on how to score in pickleball, check out USA Pickleball’s Scoring page with official pickleball scoring information.
Are you interested in improving your Pickleball singles game? Check out these top 10 Pickleball Strategies For Playing Singles
