How to Keep Score in Pickleball (With Easy Examples)

If you have ever heard someone shout “four, two, one!” before a serve and wondered what it meant, you are not alone. Pickleball scoring is the part of the game new players ask about most. The good news: once you understand three simple ideas, it clicks for good.

This guide explains traditional side-out scoring, which is the standard in recreational play and most tournaments, and then covers rally scoring, which you may meet in leagues.

The three ideas behind pickleball scoring

1. Only the serving team can score. If the receiving team wins a rally, they win the serve, not a point.

2. Games go to 11, win by 2. A game at 10-10 continues until one team leads by two points, so a final score can be 12-10 or 15-13. Some tournaments play to 15 or 21.

3. In doubles, each team gets two servers. Both partners serve before the serve passes to the other team, except at the very start of the game.

Calling the score in doubles

Before every serve, the server calls three numbers out loud:

1. The serving team’s score

2. The receiving team’s score

3. The server number: 1 if this is the first partner to serve in this turn, 2 if it is the second

So “4-2-1” means the serving team has 4 points, the receivers have 2, and the first server of the turn is serving. Call the score loudly enough for all four players to hear, and finish the whole call before you serve. Serving while you are still talking is a fault.

Why every game starts at 0-0-2

To reduce the advantage of serving first, the team that starts the game only gets one server in its first turn. To show that, the first serve of the game is called “0-0-2”, as if the first server were already the second. When that team loses a rally, the serve goes straight to the other team.

A worked example

Team A (Alex and Blair) serves first against Team B (Casey and Drew). Alex is Team A’s starting server.

• Alex serves from the right: “0-0-2.” Team A wins the rally and scores. Alex and Blair switch sides.

• Alex serves again, now from the left: “1-0-2.” Team A loses the rally. Because this was server 2, the serve passes to Team B (side out).

• Casey, standing on the right, serves: “0-1-1.” Team B wins the rally. Casey and Drew switch sides, and Casey serves from the left: “1-1-1.”

• Team B loses the next rally. The serve goes to Casey’s partner, Drew, who is now on the right: “1-1-2.”

• Team B loses again. Side out. Team A has 1 point, an odd score, so Alex is on the left and Blair is on the right. Blair serves first: “1-1-1.”

• If Team A then loses a rally, Alex serves as server 2 from wherever Alex is standing: “1-1-2.”

Notice that the server always says their own team’s score first, and that the receiving team never moved during this whole sequence unless they had just won a point on their own serve.

Who serves from which side?

• Every service turn starts from the right-hand service court.

• When your team wins a point, the server switches sides with their partner and serves again from the other side.

• The receiving team never switches sides; they only move when they win the serve and then win points.

A handy check: the player who served first for your team in the game (the starting server) will be on the right side whenever your team’s score is even, and on the left when it is odd. This works whether your team is serving or receiving. If that is not the case, someone is out of position.

Scoring in singles

Singles is simpler because there is only one server per side:

• Call two numbers: your score, then your opponent’s score. The game starts at “0-0.”

• Serve from the right when your score is even and from the left when it is odd.

• If you lose the rally, the serve goes to your opponent.

For example, if you lead 5-3, you serve from the left and call “five, three.” Win the point and you move to the right and call “six, three.”

What about rally scoring?

In rally scoring, a point is scored on every rally, no matter who served. USA Pickleball lists rally scoring as a provisional option, and some leagues and events use it to make match times more predictable.

The main differences in doubles:

• The score is called as two numbers, server’s score then receiver’s score. There is no server number.

• Only one player serves per turn. When the serving team loses a rally, the other team scores a point and gets the serve.

• Positions still follow the same pattern: the starting server is on the right when their team’s score is even.

Rally scoring games are often played to 15 or 21, though 11 is used too. Always check which format is being used before you start.

Common scoring mistakes

• Forgetting the server number. Say all three numbers every time; it prevents most arguments.

• Switching sides after losing a rally. Partners only switch when their team wins a point on their serve.

• Calling the opponents’ score first. The serving team’s score always comes first.

• Serving before everyone is ready. Look up, make sure the receiver is set, then call the score and serve.

FAQ

What happens if the wrong player serves or receives?

Before the serve, any player can ask the other team who should be serving or receiving, and the other team must answer. If a rally is stopped because someone correctly spots a wrong server or wrong position, the rally is replayed. If nobody notices until the rally is over, the result stands, and players simply get into the correct spots for the next serve.

What if someone calls the wrong score?

You can stop play to correct the score, but only before the return of serve is hit; the point is then replayed with the right score. If you stop play over a score that was actually correct, or stop it after the return, you lose the rally. When a mistake is found after a rally ends, the result counts and the score is fixed before the next serve.

How do we figure out the score if everyone has lost track?

Use the starting-server check. Find the player who served first for each team. If that player is on the right, their team’s score should be even; if on the left, odd. Agree on the last score everyone remembers and work forward from there.

Why does the server number matter so much?

It tells everyone whether the serve passes to the partner or to the other team after the next lost rally. Without it, teams can accidentally give themselves an extra service turn.

Quick recap

• Only the serving team scores in traditional scoring.

• Doubles score: serving score, receiving score, server number.

• The game starts at 0-0-2, and the first team gets only one server.

• Starting server on the right means an even score; on the left, odd.

• Play to 11 and win by 2.

Print or save this guide for your next open play, and the score will never trip you up again.