What Is Pickleball? The Game, Its History and Rules

Pickleball is a paddle sport that combines elements of badminton, table tennis and tennis. It is played with solid paddles and a perforated plastic ball on a 20 by 44 foot court with a tennis-style net, as either singles or doubles.

That one-paragraph definition comes almost word for word from the official rulebook. The rest of this guide fills in the picture: how a game works, where the sport came from, and why so many people have picked it up.

Pickleball at a Glance

If you want the full layout, including every line and zone, see our guide to pickleball court dimensions.

How a Game Works

A pickleball rally always starts the same way. One player serves the ball diagonally across the net into the opposite service court. From there, the ball goes back and forth until someone commits a fault, such as hitting the ball into the net, hitting it out of bounds, or letting it bounce twice.

Three features make pickleball feel different from other racket and paddle sports.

The Two-Bounce Rule

After the serve, the receiving team must let the ball bounce before returning it. Then the serving team must let that return bounce before hitting it. Only after those two bounces can players volley, which means hitting the ball out of the air. USA Pickleball's rules summary notes that this rule removes the serve-and-volley advantage and extends rallies.

The Non-Volley Zone

The 7 feet of court on each side of the net is the non-volley zone, better known as the kitchen. You may not volley the ball while you are touching this zone or its lines. You can step in at any time to play a ball that has bounced. The details matter here, so we cover them in a separate guide to pickleball kitchen rules.

Scoring Only on Your Serve

In standard pickleball, only the serving side can score. Win the rally while serving and you get a point. Lose it and you either pass the serve to your partner or hand it to the other team. Games are normally played to 11 points and must be won by 2.

In doubles, the score is called as three numbers: the serving team's score, the receiving team's score, and the server number (1 or 2). That third number confuses nearly every new player, so we walk through it step by step in how to keep score in pickleball.

A Brief History of Pickleball

The history below follows the timeline published by USA Pickleball, the sport's national governing body in the United States.

1965: A Backyard Invention

Pickleball was created in the summer of 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Washington, near Seattle. Joel Pritchard, a congressman, and Bill Bell, a businessman, came home from a round of golf to find their families with nothing to do. The property had an old badminton court, but they could not find a full set of rackets. They improvised with ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball.

At first they set the net at badminton height, 60 inches. Once they saw how well the ball bounced on the asphalt surface, they lowered it to 36 inches. The following weekend, Barney McCallum joined in, and the three men wrote rules that leaned heavily on badminton. Their goal was a game the whole family could play together.

How It Got Its Name

There are two popular stories about the name, and USA Pickleball has looked into both. Its conclusion is that Joan Pritchard, Joel's wife, came up with the name as a reference to the pickle boat in crew racing, a boat crewed by leftover rowers thrown together from other teams. The game itself was a thrown-together mix of other sports, so the name fit.

The other story says the game was named after the Pritchards' dog, Pickles. According to USA Pickleball, the dog was born in 1968, three years after the game was first played and named. The dog was named after the sport, not the other way around.

Key Milestones

Why Pickleball Grew So Fast

USA Pickleball's timeline shows how quickly the numbers climbed. It cites Sports and Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) reports of just over 2 million US players in 2015, 3.3 million in 2019 and 8.9 million in 2023. For 2025, USA Pickleball lists an estimated 24.3 million players. SFIA's participation reports named pickleball the fastest-growing sport in America several years in a row.

No single factor explains that growth, but the design of the game does a lot of the work:

• The court is small. At 20 by 44 feet, a pickleball court is badminton-sized, in USA Pickleball's words. There is less ground to cover than in tennis, and one court takes up little space in a park or gym.
• The serve is easy to learn. Serves are hit underhand or off a bounce, so new players can start a rally on their first day. See pickleball serving rules for the exact requirements.
• The rules slow down the power game. The two-bounce rule and the kitchen keep players from ending every point with a smash at the net. Rallies last longer, and placement matters as much as strength.
• Doubles is the default. Four players share one court, which makes the game social and keeps wait times short at busy courts.
• The gear list is short. A paddle, a few balls and court shoes cover the basics. Our pickleball equipment list breaks down what you need and what can wait.

If you are coming from tennis, the differences in court size, scoring and strategy are worth a closer look. We compare the two sports in pickleball vs tennis.

What You Need to Start

You do not need much to play your first game:

1. A paddle. Any approved paddle will do for learning. If you are shopping, start with our guide on how to choose a pickleball paddle or the roundup of the best paddles for beginners.
2. Balls. Balls with larger holes are customarily used indoors, and balls with smaller holes are customarily used outdoors.
3. A court. Many public parks and recreation centers now have dedicated pickleball courts or shared courts with pickleball lines.
4. The basic rules. Our pickleball rules overview covers everything a first-time player needs in one page.

The Short Version

Pickleball is a net game played with paddles and a perforated ball on a compact court. You serve diagonally, let the ball bounce once on each side, stay out of the kitchen when volleying, and score points on your own serve until one side reaches 11 with a 2-point lead. It started as a backyard game in 1965 and, by USA Pickleball's count, now has millions of players across the United States.