Pickleball scoring: the rules and a free score keeper
Pickleball is easy to pick up, but its scoring confuses almost every new player. Only the serving side scores. In doubles, the score is called as three numbers, the game starts at "0-0-2", and both partners serve before the serve passes across. Our free pickleball scorer keeps track of all of it on a phone at the side of the court: the score call, who serves, from which court, and where everyone should stand.
Watch: how to play pickleball
Games and matches
- A game is usually played to 11 points, win by 2 (12–10, 13–11 and so on). There is no upper limit.
- Tournaments also use games to 15 or 21, still win by 2.
- A match is one game, or the best of three or five games.
Side-out scoring: only the server scores
Traditional pickleball uses side-out scoring. A side can only win a point while it is serving. If the receiving side wins the rally, it doesn't score: it wins back the serve instead (or, in doubles, moves the serve on to the next server).
- The server keeps serving for as long as their side keeps winning rallies.
- In singles, losing a rally on serve is a side out: the serve passes to the opponent.
- In doubles, both partners serve before a side out. When the first server loses a rally, the partner becomes the second server. When the second server loses a rally, it is a side out.
- The one exception is the start of each game: the side that serves first only gets one server. That is why the first score call of a doubles game is "0-0-2".
Calling the score
The server calls the score before every serve, loud enough for everyone to hear:
| Call | Example | |
|---|---|---|
| Doubles | Server's score, receiver's score, server number (1 or 2) | "4-2-1": the serving side has 4, the receivers 2, and the first server is serving |
| Singles | Server's score, receiver's score | "5-3" |
| Rally scoring | Server's score, receiver's score | "12-9" |
Where to serve from
- The serve goes diagonally to the opposite service court and must land beyond the non-volley zone. A ball on the kitchen line is a fault; a ball on the centre line, sideline or baseline is in.
- In singles, the server serves from the right court when their score is even, and from the left when it is odd.
- In doubles, the first server of each side out is whoever is standing in the right-hand court. Each time the serving side wins a point, the server switches courts with the partner and serves again. The receiving side never switches.
- A useful check in doubles: the player who started the game in the right-hand court (the "starting server") is back on the right whenever their side's score is even, and on the left when it is odd.
A worked doubles example
Anna and Ben play Cara and Dan. Anna and Ben win the toss; Anna starts in the right court, and Cara receives from the right court opposite.
| What happens | Next call | Next server and court |
|---|---|---|
| Start of the game | 0-0-2 | Anna, right court |
| Anna's side wins the rally | 1-0-2 | Anna again, now from the left (she swaps with Ben) |
| Cara's side wins the rally: side out | 0-1-1 | Cara, who is in the right court |
| Cara's side wins the rally | 1-1-1 | Cara again, from the left |
| Anna's side wins the rally | 1-1-2 | Dan, from the right court where he is standing |
| Anna's side wins the rally: side out | 1-1-1 | Ben: Anna's side has 1 (odd), so Ben is on the right |
The app shows the call, the server and number, the service court and both sides' positions after every rally, so you can glance down before each serve.
Rally scoring
Rally scoring is used by Major League Pickleball, many leagues and some tournaments, because matches are shorter and more predictable:
- Every rally scores a point, whichever side served. The side that wins the rally serves next.
- Games are usually to 21 (sometimes 15), win by 2.
- The score is called as two numbers. There are no first and second servers.
- In doubles, the players keep their sides of the court for the whole game. When the serving side's score is even, the player on the right serves from the right; when it is odd, the player on the left serves from the left.
- Under the 2026 USA Pickleball rules, a point counts no matter who served, including at game point. Some leagues still play a freeze: a side on game point can only win the game on its own serve. The app offers both.
The rules that decide most rallies
- The serve is underhand: the paddle hits the ball below the waist, moving upwards. A drop serve, where the ball bounces before you hit it, is also allowed. A serve that touches the net and lands in the right court is in play: there are no lets on the serve.
- Two-bounce rule: the return of serve must bounce before it is hit, and so must the serving side's next shot. After that, players may volley (hit the ball in the air).
- The kitchen (non-volley zone) is the 2.13 m (7 ft) area on each side of the net. You may not volley while standing in it or on its line, and your momentum after a volley must not carry you into it. You can step in to play a ball that has bounced.
- A ball that lands on any line is in, except a serve that lands on the kitchen line.
- Touching the net, or the opponent's court, while the ball is in play is a fault.
Timeouts and changing ends
- Each side gets two one-minute timeouts per game in games to 11 or 15, and three in games to 21. Signal the timeout clearly before you leave the court.
- Sides change ends after every game, with up to 2 minutes between games.
- In the deciding game (or a one-game match), sides change ends when the first side reaches 6 in a game to 11, 8 in a game to 15, or 11 in a game to 21. The score and the server stay the same.
- In the next game, the side that received first in the previous game serves first.
The app counts each side's timeouts and reminds you to change ends at the right score.
The calls that cause the most arguments
- "Who serves now?" At a side out, the player in the right-hand court serves first. Check the score: if it is even, the starting server should be on the right.
- "I think the score is wrong." Stop before the serve and agree on the score. The app's call and its list of games settle it quickly.
- "Was that a kitchen fault?" Only a volley counts. If the ball bounced, you may stand in the kitchen to hit it.
- "The serve clipped the net." If it lands in the correct service court, play on.
Pickleball in South Africa
Pickleball is one of South Africa's fastest-growing racket sports, organised nationally by Pickleball South Africa, with courts at country clubs, tennis and squash clubs and schools from Johannesburg and Centurion to Durban. Courts are the size of a badminton doubles court (6.1 m by 13.4 m), so many venues paint lines on existing tennis, badminton or padel courts. Club nights and league days are easy to run with our free tournament manager, and you can link the evenings into a series ranking.
Scorer's checklist
- Agree the format before you start: side-out or rally scoring, the game length and the number of games.
- Toss, and enter who serves first and who starts in each right-hand court.
- Read out the call before every serve. In doubles it starts at "0-0-2".
- Tap the side that wins each rally. Faults count as a rally won by the other side.
- Use the timeout buttons, and watch for the change of ends in the deciding game.
- After the last rally, read out the game scores, for example "11–7, 9–11, 11–8", and save the result.
Glossary
- Side out: the serve passes to the other side.
- First server / second server: in side-out doubles, the order in which partners serve during their side's turn.
- Kitchen: the non-volley zone, 2.13 m from the net on each side.
- Dink: a soft shot that drops into the opponent's kitchen.
- Third-shot drop: the serving side's soft shot after the return, used to move up to the kitchen line.
- Erne: a volley played from outside the sideline, next to the kitchen, without touching the kitchen.
- Freeze: in some rally scoring formats, a side on game point can only win it on its own serve.
How to use the pickleball scorer
- Choose doubles or singles, enter the names, and pick side-out or rally scoring, the points per game and the number of games.
- Select who serves first and, in doubles, who receives first. The first server and receiver start in the right-hand courts; use Swap at the start of a game if a side wants to change.
- Tap the side that wins each rally. The call, the server and server number, the service court, both sides' positions, game and match points, and the change of ends update automatically.
- Use Undo if you tap the wrong side, and the timeout buttons when a side calls one.
- The finished match is saved under My results and can be shared. In a tournament, enter the match code and the result goes straight into the draw.
These notes summarise the USA Pickleball rules for club play. For tournaments, follow the current official rulebook and your event's regulations.