What Is a Side Out in Pickleball?

If you have ever heard three numbers called before a serve, the third number is counting down to the next side out.

What causes a side out?

A fault by the serving team, once no server is left.

Section 5, Player Positions and Serving Sequence, gives doubles teams two servers, one for each partner, with one exception. On the very first service turn of the game, the starting team gets only one server before a side out. When the first server faults, the serve passes to the partner. When the second server faults, the serve goes to the other team, and that handover is the side out. Section 4, Point Scoring, only lets the serving side add to its total, so a side out is the receiving team’s only path back into scoring position.

In singles there is one server, so any fault ends the turn immediately and produces a side out.

What counts as a fault?

Anything that ends the rally against the serving side.

• A serve or return that misses, landing in the net or outside the correct court, under Section 7 serving rules.
• Volleying while standing in the non-volley zone, or with momentum carrying you into it after the shot, a Section 11 non-volley zone infraction.
• Skipping the required bounce. The two-bounce rule, Rule 10.A, requires the serve and the return of serve each bounce once before either side may volley.
• Hitting the ball out of bounds, or letting it bounce twice on your own side before you return it.
• Being struck by a live ball before it bounces, which is scored as a fault on the player who was hit.

The five basic rules of pickleball walk through how these faults connect to the two-bounce rule and the non-volley zone in more detail.

Why does the third number in the score exist?

It tells everyone which server is up, and how close the next side out is.

Under Section 6, Player Readiness and Calling the Score, doubles teams call three numbers before every serve: the serving team’s score, the receiving team’s score, then 1 or 2 for whether the current server is first or second up. Calling “6, 4, 2” means the serving team has six points, the opponents have four, and the server is the second one on the team, so one more fault ends that side’s turn.

The first service turn of the game is the exception. The starting team gets only one server and calls the score as “0, 0, 2” to keep the opening turn from favoring whoever serves first.

What happens to positioning after a side out?

The receiving team becomes the serving team, and its right side player serves first.

Under Section 5 of the rulebook, service after a side out begins with whichever player is positioned on the right side for that team’s new score, not necessarily the player who served last time the team had the ball. Partners then swap sides only after their own team scores a point, not after every rally. That distinction, side switching tied to scoring rather than to serving, trips up new players more than the scoring itself does. Some doubles teams also plan which partner stands on which side before the match starts, not just after each side out. The guide to picking the stronger player’s side in doubles covers how to set that positioning up.

Does the side out still exist in rally scoring?

The term survives, but its weight in the game shrinks.

Under rally scoring, a point goes to whichever side wins the rally, so losing the serve no longer means losing the chance to score. The rulebook lists rally scoring as a provisional option under Rule 14.A, meaning a tournament director may choose it, but it is not the default. That rule also excludes rally scoring from double elimination doubles events, all USA Pickleball Golden Ticket events, and the USA Pickleball National Championship, where traditional side out scoring still applies. How pickleball scoring works compares the two formats side by side.

Why does the side out format make games longer?

Because a large share of rallies produce no points at all.

Under traditional scoring, a rally won by the receiving team returns only the serve, not a point. Two teams trading side outs back and forth can play a dozen rallies without the score moving. That stalemate is part of why rally scoring keeps getting proposed, and part of why traditionalists resist changing anything. A run of side outs at 9 to 9, with neither team able to convert, is the format working exactly as designed. It is tense to play and just as tense to watch.

How do you stop giving away side outs?

Fix the serve and the return before anything else.

Most side outs at the recreational level come from a missed serve or a missed return, not from a clever shot by the other team. A serve that lands deep and a return that lands deep will win back more service turns than any fancy shot. After that, the next most common cause is rushing a dink rally instead of waiting for a ball worth attacking. What score do you need to win a game shows how a few of those small mistakes add up over a full game.

Frequently asked questions

What is a side out in pickleball? It is the moment the serve passes to the opposing side, which in doubles happens once both partners have lost their serve.

Do you score a point on a side out? Not under traditional scoring. A side out only wins back the serve, which is the chance to score. Under rally scoring, in effect only where a tournament director selects it, every rally awards a point instead.

Why does the first team only get one server? Section 5 gives the starting team a single server, called as 0, 0, 2, so that side does not get an unfair head start with two chances to build a lead.

Who serves first after a side out? Under Section 5, it is whichever player on the new serving team is standing on the right side of the court for that team’s current score.

Do partners switch sides after a side out? No. Partners switch sides only after their own team scores a point, not after winning back the serve.

Is rally scoring replacing side out scoring? Not currently. Rally scoring is listed as a provisional option under Rule 14.A and is excluded from double elimination doubles, Golden Ticket events, and the National Championship.

Does a side out happen in singles? Yes. There is only one server in singles, so a side out follows that player’s first fault.

What is the two-bounce rule? Under Rule 10.A, the serve and the return of serve must each bounce once before either side is allowed to volley the ball.

Learning to call the score and read the serving sequence makes the rest of the rules click into place faster. If you want a coach to drill scoring, rotation, and serve placement with you in person, the pickleball coaches directory is a good place to start.

Written by the Pickler Junction Team.