Pickleball is a fun sport to play on the pickleball court and many people enjoy playing it. There are many reasons for this. However, it is not easy to explain the game’s scoring. Without further ado, here is what you need to know about pickleball scoring.

Pickleball Scoring: The Basics

Scoring in pickleball can be complicated, so we will begin with the basics. There are a number of different types of scoring systems in pickleball. As a result, it is important to go over them all in order to fully explain scoring in pickleball. Also, we will first explain the side-out singles scoring system.

Side-Out Singles Scoring Explained

In this system, a player serving the ball only wins a point when they win a rally. When the serving player loses a rally, the serving player takes the ball out to the side of the court and gives it to the other player. The opponent also wins the serve when the server loses a rally. Where the players serve the ball from depends on the server’s score.

If the server has an even score (like two or four), they serve from the court’s right side. If the server has an odd score (like one or three), they serve from the court’s left side. Also, the server’s score determines where each player stands on the court. The receiver’s score doesn’t matter. The receiver stands on whichever side of the court the server isn’t serving from at the time.

In other words, if the server serves from the right side, the receiver stands on the court’s left side. If the server serves from the left side, the receiver stands on the right side of the court. Players call the score by saying the server’s score first, then saying the receiver’s score.

Players have to win the game by at least two points. This means that if the scheduled ending score is 14 and the game is tied 14-14, whoever scores the next point doesn’t automatically win. The two players play until one wins by two points. This rule of pickleball scoring is a concept that applies to table tennis, as well.

Side-Out Doubles Scoring

Players can only score points if they are on the serving team in side-out doubles scoring. It is impossible for any player on the receiving team to score a point. The player on the right side of their half of the court serves to the left side of the other half of the court to begin the game. The right side of the court is the ‘even court’ and the left side of the court is the ‘odd court’. If the serving team scores a point, the server goes to the court’s left side and serves to the right side of their other half of the court.

Players who are serving keep moving from left to right or right to left every time their team scores a point. The serving team’s players don’t change sides unless they score a point. Also, the receiving team never changes sides. The first server serves until their team loses a rally and then the second server starts serving.

When the team’s second server loses the serve, the other team gets a chance to serve. The player on the other team’s right side serves first, based on their score. This pattern keeps going throughout the duration of the game.

How to Call the Score and Positioning

In side-out doubles pickleball scoring, one calls the score as a sequence of three numbers. One calls the server score first, then the receiver score, and finally the server number, which is either one or two. The score is zero, zero, two at the start of the match. Also, the server number only applies for that specific service turn.

Whichever player stands on the court’s right side following a side out is the first server for that turn. When their team gets to serve again, the other player might be the number-one server based on the score. Inexperienced players may think that one player retains the same server number throughout the game. This is a common misconception, so it is important to address it.

Also, when a team has an even score, the player who first served in the game should be on the right or even side of the court. When the team has an odd score, the player who made the first serve should be on the left or odd side of the court. Otherwise, the players aren’t positioned correctly or the players did not keep track of the score properly.

An Exception to a Serving Rule

There is an exception to the rule about the first server continuing to serve until their team loses a rally and the second server takes over serving. That exception is that only the player on the right side can serve during the game’s first service turn. The serve goes to the court’s other side when the server loses the serve. This means that the original server in the game is actually designated as the second server. That is why the score at the start of the game is ‘0-0-2’.

Pickleball Scoring in Mini Singles Games

The receiver and the server line up according to the score of the game. Even score means right court and odd score means left court. The starting server serves diagonally from the court’s even, or right, side. A team scores a point when their server wins a rally. After scoring a point, the server moves to the left side. However, the receiver remains in whichever part of the court that corresponds to the team’s score.

In other words, the receiver remains on the left side if the team’s score is odd and on the right side if the team’s score is even. After the first serve, the server can serve to the receiver on their side or serve diagonally. The server keeps serving until they end up losing a rally. After that, the new server lines up based on the score and starts a new rally. The serve alternates until a player gets to the game point and wins by a total of two points.

That concludes our explanation of pickleball scoring.