Rally Scoring Can Take Many Forms in Pickleball

Raymond H. Goettsch

Under standard pickleball scoring, players can only score points when they are serving, and players cannot score points when their opponents are serving. However, rally scoring is often used in group play or round robin play when players are on more than one court and will play with different opponents in the next game. Then, if the games have ended in all of the courts but one, the remaining court switches to rally scoring to end the remaining game more quickly. Generally, with rally scoring, a point can be scored regardless of who is serving. Moreover, in this context, the winning score is usually 9, not 11, and the winners do not have to win by 2 points.

That said, rally scoring can take other forms. For example, a foursome on a reserved court could agree to play a game or games with rally scoring. The foursome could also agree to play to 15 or another number in lieu of the standard 11 points. In addition, the foursome could decide that partners can only score the winning point when they are the servers. Again, the players could agree to win by 1 point or 2 points.