Although pickleball is a simple sport, the scoring rules are tricky. Primarily, you can only score a point if you’re on serve. Receiving players can’t win points.
We’ll clarify the rules in this guide on how to score pickleball points.
How Do You Score a Point in Pickleball?
You can score points in pickleball when your team is serving. Alternatively, you can win a point if the opponent is called for a technical foul. The rule applies to both singles and doubles matches. You must win the rally to win points in your match as the server.
The player on the serving end can keep serving until they or their teammate makes a fault. Faults occur when the ball comes in contact with the non-volley zone on the serving side.
It also happens if you send the ball out of bounds, don’t clear the net, volley the ball from the non-volley area, or volley the ball before it bounces at least once on both sides.
Winning a pickleball match requires you to win the deciding point. Most games are played to 11 points, and you need to win by at least two points (e.g., 11-9, 12-10, 13-11). However, some tournaments require you to win 15 or 21 points. Either way, the two-point differential applies to all settings.
Player Positioning
As serving is integral to scoring points in pickleball, you need to understand proper player positioning during serves.
Once your match starts, you need to be on the correct side of the court if you’re the server and serve diagonally to your opponent. If you score a point, you move to the other side of your court and serve diagonally to the other player.
If you’re playing doubles, you (and your teammate) keep switching sides whenever you win a point. If you don’t win a point, you don’t alternate sides.
In doubles, positioning rules are less complex for the receiving players because they never alternate sides, whether or not the opponent scores. The first server keeps serving until they make a fault, which is when their teammate becomes the server.
When servers make a second fault, they remain in their current position (left and right side of the field) and hand the ball to their opponents. The person to the right is the first server, and the pattern continues all game long.
A coin flip decides the first server. After determining the serving and receiving teams, the match is underway. Although some rallies are longer than tennis points, there are usually shorter breaks between points to ensure a fast-paced game.
Another important detail you should remember is that your serve mustn’t land in the non-volley area in the diagonal court zone. You must also hit the ball underarm, and the point of contact must be under your belly button.
You win points if the opponent misses the ball, which might not happen that often because receivers can return your ball practically anywhere on the court.
Calling the Score in Pickleball
Knowing how to score pickleball points is essential, but you also need to know how to call your points. Let’s start with doubles.
In your doubles matches, you should call your score using three numbers. Here’s what the correct sequence involves:
- Server score
- Receiver score
- Server number one or two (In doubles matches only)
At the start of a doubles match, you call the score this way: zero-zero-two. This means the serving team has zero points, the receiving team has zero points, and you’re the second server. You’re probably wondering how you can be the second server if you’re making the first serve of the game?
The answer lies in the first-serve exception rule, designed to reduce the advantage of getting the match’s first serve. It allows only one player on your team to serve during the first service turn.
As the opponent gets the right to serve after you lose your serve, you need to designate yourself as the second server, hence the call zero-zero-two.
When the score is even, you must be on the even or right side of your pickleball court if you were the first server. Conversely, you must be on the odd or left side of your court when the score is odd.
The scoring rules for singles are similar to those for doubles. The only major exception is that there are no second servers. As a result, you need to use only two numbers when calling the score: the server’s score and the receiver’s score.
If the score in your singles match is even, you must serve from the even (right) side of the court. With odd scores, you need to move to the odd (left) side of the court.
Pickleball Score Examples
The easiest way to understand pickleball scoring is through an example. Let’s again assume you’re playing a doubles match.
At the start of the game, you say zero-zero-two if you’re calling the score. Both teams have zero points, and you’re the second server due to the first-serve exception rule.
If you win the rally, you switch sides with your partner and announce the score: one-zero-two. It means your team has one point, the opponent has none, and you’re still the second server.
Keeping track of your score until you reach 11 is easy if you don’t lose a point, but this rarely happens. Pickleball scoring gets slightly trickier after losing a point.
Say your opponent returns the ball after your serve, and you miss the ball. The opponent must now serve the ball and try to win their first point. This is known as a side-out.
The players who started the game on the receiving end are now serving. The person on the right side is the server, but they announce zero-one-one. This scoreline means the serving team doesn’t have any points, the receiving team has one point (won before the side out), and the player is the first server during the service turn.
After announcing the score, the play serves until their team doesn’t return the ball and loses the right to serve. The second server comes into play, and they announce zero-one-two. It means they still have zero points, the receiver has one point, and they’re the second server on their team.
They serve and win the next point, requiring them to switch sides and announce one, one, two before the next serve. The player continues to serve, but they miss the ball. Therefore, the person won a point before the second side out.
The roles change in the next point, but the principle remains the same. Once again, you’re the server and need to announce the score. If you know how to score pickleball, you’ll say, “one-one-one.” This means both teams have a point each, and you’re the first server on your team during the service turn.
The point is underway, and after several exchanges, your team misses the ball. No points are scored, and your teammate takes the serve after announcing one-one-two.
Your score is one, the opponent’s score is one, and your teammate is the second server. This continues until another side out, which is when the opponents receive the right to serve.
To keep track of scoring more easily, use the Me-You-Who phrase:
- Me (my score) – You start your announcement by stating your team’s score.
- You (your score) – The next number you need to mention is the score of the receiving team.
- Who (serve turn) – Are you or your teammate the first server on your team?
Master the Basics of How to Score Pickleball
Knowing how to score pickleball points and memorizing the pickleball rules can initially seem daunting. But as you play more and more matches, keeping track of the proper positioning and announcement will come naturally.
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