Pickleball Scoring Made Easy

Understanding the scoring system is fundamental to mastering any sport, and pickleball is no exception. The game is played to 11 points, but a team must win by 2. This means that if the score reaches 10-10, the winning team must get to 12 points to claim victory. The scoring system can be used for both a singles or doubles game.

The scoring system, however, is not as simple as it might first appear. In fact, it is somewhat complicated, and this is what often leads to confusion among new players. Only the serving team can score points. If the receiving team wins the rally, they simply gain the right to serve. They don’t score any points. If the serving team wins the rally, then they score a point. When the serving team scores, they must switch and serve again. They continue to serve until they lose a rally. If the serving team loses the rally and the receiving team wins the rally, then the receiving team must serve to score any points. In this way, the game is somewhat like tennis, where the team that is serving has the advantage. Both players from each side have to serve at least once before the returning team receives the ball.

Players are instructed to say the score before serving. The score is in a three-number format: [Serving team score] – [Receiving team score] – [Server number]. If the serving team has 2 points, receiving team has 1 point, and it’s the first server on the serving team, the server would say “2 1 1 serving”. If the serving team loses the point, the second server will serve. They would say “2 1 2” where the third number is the server’s number. The only time a side serves only once is at the match start so there’s no advantages to starting first.

Match Scenario

Match setup:

• Teams: Team A (Alice & Alex) vs. Team B (Ben & Beth)
• Starting server: Alice from Team A
• Scoring format: Standard side-out scoring (only the serving team scores)

Rally-by-Rally Breakdown

1. Game start.
   1. Team A starts the game by serving.
   2. They start with server #2 because the first serving team only gets one serve to balance the game.
2. Alice serves — Team A wins the rally
   • Team A scores a point.
   • Score: 1-0-2 (1 point for Team A, 0 for Team B, server #2)
3. Alice serves again — Team A loses the rally
   • No point.
   • Team B gains the serve (side-out).
   • Ben (server #1) starts serving.
   • Score: 0-1-1
4. Ben serves — Team B wins the rally
   • Team B scores their first point.
   • Score: 1-1-1
5. Ben serves again — Team B loses the rally
   • No point.
   • Beth (server #2) takes over.
   • Score: 1-1-2
6. Beth serves — Team B loses the rally
   • No point.
   • Team A gets the serve back.
   • Score: 1-1-1 (Alex serves again because the right side always starts serving when receiving the serve)
   • No point awarded (only serving team scores).
7. Alex serves again — Team A loses the rally
   • Alice (server #2) takes over.
   • Score: 1-1-2
8. Alice serves — Team A wins the rally
   • Team A scores a point.
   • Score: 2-1-2

Master Pickleball

If you want to learn more about how to start playing pickleball, read our Get Started article to master pickleball.