What is Pickleball?

Pickleball is a fun and fast-paced paddle sport that’s easy to learn and great for all ages! It combines elements of tennis, badminton, ping-pong, and other racquet and paddle sports — it’s played on a specific court with a low net and a plastic ball with holes.

Empty tennis court with a tennis ball and racket on the court, surrounded by a green fence.

The Court.

  • It’s about the size of a badminton court — 20 feet wide by 44 feet long.

  • There’s a 7-foot “no-volley zone” near the net, called the kitchen. No smashing in the kitchen!

A ping pong paddle resting on a green outdoor tennis or pickleball court with three colorful perforated plastic balls underneath it.

The Gear.

  • You use a paddle (like a big ping-pong paddle) and a plastic ball with holes (like a wiffle ball).

  • Pickle Paradise will have equipment for sale and available to rent.

A person in a blue jacket is holding a blue paddle with a yellow perforated ball on it, positioned over a ping pong net.

The Basics.

  • You can play singles (1 vs 1) or doubles (2 vs 2) — most people play doubles.

  • The game starts with an underhand serve that must land diagonally across the court.

  • The ball must bounce once on each side before players can start hitting it out of the air. This is called the “double bounce rule.”

A diagram of a tennis court with an orange arrow pointing down at the center of the court.

The Non-Volley Zone (“Kitchen”)

  • "The golden rule of pickleball: No volleys in the kitchen

  • The kitchen, or non-volley zone, is that 7-foot space on each side of the net (see the picture above).

  • Players are not allowed to hit volleys (shots before they bounce) while standing in the kitchen. Players also can’t go into the kitchen even if their momentum pushes them in right after hitting a volley (includes their paddles).

  • These rules help ensure that players don’t just stand right at the net, smashing each ball that comes their way.

  • Even though players can’t volley in the kitchen, they can play in the kitchen as much as they want, as long as they let the ball bounce before hitting it.

  • Most doubles games are won and lost by the level of play at the kitchen line — that’s where shots like dinks, counters and resets come into play

A scoreboard with two blue and two red sections, each displaying the number zero.

The Scoring.

  • Only the serving team can score points.

  • Games are usually played to 11 points, and you have to win by 2.

  • The score is called out before each serve — and yes, it sounds a little quirky at first, but you'll get the hang of it!