League Rules

The Linden Pickles play by standard USA Pickleball rules, with a few house rules to keep Wednesday nights moving. New to the game? Start here.

🥒 House Rules

These are specific to our league — read them even if you know pickleball.

Round-robin format
New match-ups every week. Over the season everyone plays everyone — fresh pairings each Wednesday.
Games run sequentially
One court, one game at a time, back-to-back. First serve at 6:00 PM, the next match starts every 40 minutes.
Best 2 of 3
Each match is best two of three games. Win two games and the match is yours.
Scoring
Games 1 and 2 are played to 11 (win by 2). A deciding third game is played to 7 (win by 2).
45-minute time limit
If a match hits 45 minutes, finish the game in progress; the match result stands on games won so the night keeps moving.
Be ready to play
Show up a few minutes before your slot. Forfeits go down as a 2–0 loss, so grab a sub if you're short a player.

Pickleball is played as doubles (two players per side) on a 20' × 44' court with a net in the middle.
The ball must stay in bounds. A ball landing on any line is in — except the non-volley-zone line on a serve.
Win by 2 points. Our league games go to 11 (or 7 in a deciding third game).

Serves are made underhand with the paddle contacting the ball below the waist.
Serve diagonally cross-court, landing past the non-volley zone (the “kitchen”).
Only the serving team can score points. The serve is made from behind the baseline.
In doubles, both players on a team get to serve before the serve passes to the other team (except the very first service turn of the game).

After the serve, the receiving team must let the ball bounce once before returning it.
Then the serving team must also let the return bounce once before hitting.
After those two bounces, either team may volley (hit the ball out of the air) or play it off a bounce.

The 7-foot zone on each side of the net is the non-volley zone, a.k.a. the kitchen.
You may not volley (hit the ball in the air) while standing in the kitchen or touching its line.
You can step into the kitchen to play a ball that has bounced — just be fully out before you volley again.

A fault ends the rally. Common faults: hitting the ball out of bounds, into the net, or volleying from the kitchen.
Letting the ball bounce twice on your side is a fault.
Violating the double-bounce rule or serving incorrectly is a fault.
If the serving team faults, they lose the serve; if the receiving team faults, the serving team scores.

Players make the line calls on their own side — call them fairly and promptly.
If you're not sure whether a ball was in or out, the benefit of the doubt goes to your opponent.
Call the score clearly before each serve. Keep it friendly — it's a neighborhood league.

Full rulebook at usapickleball.org. When in doubt, replay the point and have fun.