Rating: 8+

Pickleball is played on a badminton-sized court with a 36-inch-high net. There are two teams of one or two players each. Players hit a large, plastic, perforated ball with a large wooden paddle. The ball is served underhand diagonally into the opponent's court.

Points are awarded only to the serving side. Points are scored when the opponent fails to return the ball or hits it out of bounds. The serve switches to the other side when a server faults. A fault occurs when the server hits the ball into the net or out of bounds. If the ball hits the net and goes into the correct court the server reserves the ball. The first side to reach 11 points wins. However, they must win by a 2-point margin. Rules of the game are fairly simple:

1. The server can have one foot in the baseline if the other is out.

2. After the serve, the ball must bounce once before volleying.

3. When the serving team wins the point, the teams switch serving areas of the court. If they lose the point, they turn the ball over to the other side.

4. In doubles, the first serving team can fault only once before the serve changes to the other side. After the first fault, both members of the team serve and fault before the other side serves.

5. Faults include: ball out of bounds, ball hits the net, stepping into a nonvolley zone while volleying, and volleying the ball before it bounces once.

6. The ball may land on the line and be counted.

Standard court for pickleball