The game of pickleball was created in 1965 by a group of enthusiasts that wanted to have a game they could play on a court that was smaller than a tennis court and the rules were easy to learn for anyone playing the game. Little did they know that the game they created would become one of the most popular participation sports in the US with the popularity of pickleball just starting to gain momentum. Pickleball scoring can be a challenge for some new players so we will explain how to keep score in pickleball in the article that follows.
10 Key Pickleball Rules Every Player Should Know
Basic Scoring Rules in Pickleball
Starting out in pickleball there are some basic, fundamental rules to know about scoring. Most of our focus will be on the pickleball doubles scoring rules because the doubles game makes up most of the pickleball recreational play you will see at your local courts.
Some of the basic pickleball scoring rules are:
- Points are only scored on the serve, the receiving team cannot score a point
- The first serve is served by the player on the right side of the court, also known as the even court. The server will serve to the receiving teams diagonally opposite court
- If the serving team wins the point, the server moves from the right side to the left side of the court, also known as the even side to the odd side of the court to continue to serve.
- The serving team only alternates sides when they win a point
- If the receiving team wins a point, they do not switch sides of the court
- The first server continues to serve until a point is lost. If a point is lost, the players do not switch sides and the serve now passes to the second server on the team
- The second server now serves until the point is lost. Now the serve passes to the receiving team and the first server will serve from the right, or even side of the court.
- When the serve passes from the serving team to the receiving team, this is called a Sideout. A Sideout is when the receiving team wins the point from the serving team and now has the chance to serve and start winning points
How to Keep Score in Pickleball Doubles
Pickleball scoring can be quite confusing, especially for the beginning player. The scoring in pickleball is like a mash-up of scoring rules in tennis, badminton, and ping pong, but with a few tweaks and changes that make the scoring rules unique to the game of pickleball.
The first thing new doubles pickleball players need to learn is what the three numbers in pickleball doubles scoring mean. Here is a quick summary:
1. First number: the current score of the serving team
2. Second number: the current score of the receiving team
3. Third number: this number will always be 1 or 2 and indicates which server is currently serving for the serving team
Here is a visual summary of how to say the score in pickleball doubles
What if the score was 5 – 8 – 1? That means the serving team is losing at the moment which is why the first number is less than the second number. And server # 1 is serving at the moment for the serving team. Makes sense so far?
More on That Third Number in Pickleball Doubles Scoring
The third number in pickleball doubles scoring will always be either a 1 or a 2. That number indicates which player is currently serving on the serve team and should be called out along with the score before starting every point.
The serving player will only go from server 1 to server 2 when the serving team loses a point and the serve transfers from server 1 to server 2. This may be a bit confusing at first for new players and may take some getting used to when starting to play, but it will become second nature as you play more to always keep track of which server has the serve at the moment.
There is a unique start to a doubles pickleball game in terms of who serves the ball first and we are going to explain more about that next.
Doubles First Server Exception Rule
There was a rule created to minimize any advantage the first team to serve in a game might have. So, the first server exception rule was created to address this potential advantage where the first server to serve in a game will lose the serve if/when the serving team loses the point.
This means the first server will be designated as server 2 and the score to start out a game will be called out as 0 – 0 – 2.
How to Keep Score in Pickleball Singles
If you have a good handle on scoring for pickleball doubles, then scoring for pickleball singles will be a breeze. There are only a few rules to learn for pickleball singles scoring and here are the things you need to know.
- Each player gets one Serve
- When the score is even, the serve is always done from the right side, when the score is odd, the serve is done from the left side
- There is no third number in Pickleball singles. With no teammate to share serving duties with there is no need for a third number to track who is serving
How to Keep Track of the Score in Pickleball
The obvious answer to the best way to keep track of the score in pickleball is to make sure the server calls out the score before every point. Calling out the score in tournament play is required and will be called by the referee if there is one. If not, the server is required to call out the score before every point in tournament play.
In recreational play, it is considered common courtesy for the server to call out the score before each point so all players know the correct score. This practice normally removes any score disagreements from a game and keeps everyone on track with the correct score.
There is also another way to keep track of the score in pickleball and that is by knowing the following rule. Take note of which player starts the game on the right, even side of the court for both teams. Any time that player is on the right side of the court the remainder of that game, the score will be even. And when that player is on the left side of the cort the score will be odd. If you can remember this rule, you will always be able to keep track of the score in pickleball.
How Many Points are Needed to Win in Pickleball
In most instances, pickleball games are played to 11 points, with the winner required to win by 2 points to win the game. That is most common in recreational play as well as most tournaments.
However, there are some tournaments that play to a score of either 15 or 21, again with the winner required to win by 2 points to win the game.
In tournaments, players must play and win two out of three games to win a match against their opponent and move on in the tournament. That is a common format for tournaments so expect some version of that format if you plan to play in an upcoming sanctioned pickleball tournament.
Calling the Score in Pickleball
We explained this already but this is an important point that bears repeating in order to keep your pickleball games peaceful and problem free.
When playing either pickleball singles or pickleball doubles, make sure as the server, you call out the score every time right before you are about to serve. This will remove any score confusion as you move through the game and all players should be in agreement of the score as you play.
A singles pickleball player will call the score as two numbers with the server’s score in the first position and the receivers score in the second position.
A doubles pickleball player will call the score as three numbers with the serving team score first, the receiving team score second, and the third number being either server 1 or 2.
Final Thoughts
Pickleball scoring can be tricky for the new pickleball player but as you play more and have more experience with keeping score it will certainly get easier and become second nature for you to keep track.
We hope our explanations all made sense, if anything in our article needs clarification feel free to leave a comment and let us know.