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Pickleball Rules for Beginners: Serving, Scoring, and the Kitchen
By the TennisCourtFinder team · Updated June 29, 2026 · 6 min read
Pickleball looks simple from the sideline, and the good news is that the basics really are. You can learn enough to play your first game in about ten minutes. A few rules trip up every beginner though, so here is what you actually need to know before you step on the court.
The serve
The serve in pickleball is underhand. You hit it below your waist, diagonally across to the other service box, with both feet behind the baseline. There is no second serve like in tennis. If you miss, you lose the serve. Keep it simple at first and just get it in. Power on the serve matters far less here than people expect.
The two-bounce rule
This is the one new players forget. After the serve, the ball has to bounce once on the receiving side, and then once again on the serving side, before anyone is allowed to hit it out of the air. So the serve bounces, the return bounces, and only then can players start volleying. The rule exists to keep the serving team from rushing the net and smashing every return.
The kitchen, or non-volley zone
The kitchen is the 7 foot zone on each side of the net. You cannot hit the ball out of the air while standing in it, and you cannot let your momentum carry you into it after a volley. You can step into the kitchen any time to play a ball that has already bounced. New players lose a lot of points by drifting into the kitchen and volleying out of habit, so learn where that line is early.
How scoring works
Games usually go to 11 points, and you have to win by 2. Only the serving side can score. In doubles, the score is called as three numbers before each serve, your score, then the other team's score, then whether you are the first or second server. It feels awkward for a week, then it clicks. When your side loses a rally on serve, the serve passes to your partner, and once both of you have served and lost, it goes to the other team.
Common faults to avoid
- •Serving into the kitchen or the wrong service box
- •Volleying the ball while standing in the kitchen
- •Hitting the ball out of the air before the two bounces have happened
- •Stepping on or over the baseline as you serve
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Frequently asked questions
- Games go to 11 and you must win by 2. Only the serving side scores. In doubles the score is called as three numbers: your score, the other team's score, and your server number.
- After the serve, the ball must bounce once on the receiving side and once on the serving side before either team can hit it out of the air.
- The kitchen is a nickname for the non-volley zone, the 7 foot area on each side of the net where you cannot volley the ball. The name is just pickleball slang that stuck.