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Editor’s Note: This information is from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickleball

Pickleball is a paddle sport (similar to a racquet sport) that combines elements of badminton, tennis, and table tennis. Two or four players use solid paddles made of wood or composite materials to hit a perforated polymer ball, similar to a Wiffle Ball, over a net. The sport shares features of other racquet sports, the dimensions and layout of a badminton court, and a net and rules somewhat similar to tennis, with several modifications.

Pickleball was invented in the mid 1960s as a children's backyard game. The game started during the summer of 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Washington, at the home of former State Representative Joel Pritchard who, in 1972, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and eventually went on to become Lieutenant Governor of Washington. He and two of his friends, Bill Bell and Barney McCallum, returned from golf and found their families bored one Saturday afternoon. They attempted to set up badminton, but no one could find the shuttlecock. They improvised with a Wiffle ball, lowered the badminton net, and fabricated paddles of plywood from a nearby shed.

Some sources claim that the name "Pickleball" was derived from that of the Pritchard's family dog, Pickles, or from the term "pickle boat", referring to the last boat to return with its catch. But according to Joan Pritchard, Joel Pritchard's wife, the name came "after I said it reminded me of the Pickle Boat in crew where oarsmen were chosen from the leftovers of other boats. Somehow the idea the name came from our dog Pickles was attached to the naming of the game, but Pickles wasn't on the scene for two more years. The dog was named from the game."

Court Dimensions

The pickleball court is similar to a doubles badminton court. The actual size of the court is 20×44 feet for both doubles and singles. The net is hung at 36 inches on the ends, and 34 inches at center. The court is striped like a tennis court, with no alleys; but the outer courts, and not the inner courts, are divided in half by service lines. The inner courts are non-volley zones and extend 7 feet from the net on either side.

Pickleballs

The ball is served with an underarm stroke so that contact with the ball is made below waist level (waist is defined as the navel level) in an upward arc. The server hits from behind the baseline on one side of the center line and aims diagonally to the opponent’s service court.

Only the serving side may score a point. Play ends for a point when one side commits a fault. 

Faults include:

•not hitting the serve into the opponent's diagonal service court

•not hitting the ball beyond the net

•not hitting the ball before the 2nd bounce on one side of the net

•hitting the ball out of bounds

•volleying the ball on the service return

•volleying the ball on the first return by the serving side

•stepping into the non-volley zone (the first seven feet from the net, also known as the 'kitchen') in the act of volleying the ball.

A player may enter the non-volley zone to play a ball that bounces and may stay there to play balls that bounce. The player must exit the non-volley zone before playing a volley.

The first side scoring 11 points leading by at least two points wins the game. If the two sides are tied at 10 points apiece, the side that goes ahead by two points wins the game.

Tournament games may be played to 15 or 21 points with players rotating sides at 8 or 11 total points respectively.

The server or server and partner usually stay at the baseline until the first return has been hit back and bounced once.

At the beginning of a doubles game before any serving, the score is 0–0. Then the side serving first gets only one fault before their side is out, meaning that their opponents serve next. After the first fault each side gets 2 faults (one for each team member serving) before their side is "out".

In singles play, each side gets only one fault before a side out and the opponent then serves. The server's score will always be even (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10...) when serving from the right side, and odd (1, 3, 5, 7, 9...) when serving from the left side.