A 2025 Pickleball Rule Change now endorses Rally Scoring in Doubles. In rally scoring pickleball, a point is awarded to a team for every rally they win, regardless of which team is serving. This means that a team can score even when they are receiving the serve. Games are typically played to 21 points, and a team must win by two points.
Is this the future of Pickleball? How many times have you played a game and you were stuck on a 2-2 score with neither side being able to break the tie. Rally Scoring will speed up games and add a different level of excitement to pickleball.
Here’s a more detailed breakdown:
Key Differences from Traditional Scoring:
Points on Every Rally:
In traditional pickleball, points are only scored when the serving team wins a rally. Rally scoring eliminates this restriction, allowing either team to score.
Simplified Serving:
In rally scoring, each team only has one server per side-out. The server switches sides after each point won during their serve.
Faster Pace:
Because points are scored more frequently, games in rally scoring tend to move at a quicker pace.
How it Works:
1. Serve:.
The game starts with one player serving from the right side of the court, and the serve must bounce once on the opponent’s side.
2. Scoring:.
If the serving team wins the rally, they score a point and continue serving, alternating service positions. If the receiving team wins the rally, they score a point and become the new serving team.
3. Game Point:.
Games are played to 21 points, and a team must win by two points.
4. Side Change:.
Players change sides of the court after every point during their service turn.
Example:
Imagine a game starting at 0-0.
If the serving team wins the first rally, the score becomes 1-0, and they switch sides.
If the serving team wins the second rally, the score becomes 2-0, and they switch sides.
If the receiving team wins the third rally, the score becomes 1-2, and the receiving team becomes the new serving team.
The key question is will people adopt the rally scoring approach or keep playing the serve score system? What do you think?