Dinker's Digest

Published March 16, 2026

Once Upon a Time in Bainbridge: How It All Started in '65, and How You Can Start Today

From the summer of '65 to your local court. We're diving in to the origins of America's fastest growing sport, while getting your beginner's guide packed up and ready for you to join in on the action.

Birthed in the backyard of a bored Congressman one summer day in the mid 1960's, Pickleball quickly caught on as the family-friendly, all-inclusive game of preference, eventually finding its comfy slice of life amongst retirement communities throughout the country. It wouldn't be until a few decades later that the sport would come roaring back.

Whether you're brand new to the sport or you've already gotten your toes wet, we're packing your starter's guide with the important things to know and understand, with hopes of setting you up with a proper mindset as you approach the court with confidence. We'll take a detailed look at how the sport came to be, the people responsible, and walk you through the rules and scoring so nothing catches you off guard on day one.

Section OneThe Sport

Pickleball is a paddle sport played on a court roughly a quarter the size of a tennis court, with solid paddles and a plastic ball full of holes. Doubles tends to be the standard format over singles. Games are typically played to 11 points, win by 2.

An easy way to grasp it is through comparison: the court and serve mechanics come from badminton, the volleying and groundstrokes from tennis, and the touch game at the net feels a lot like ping-pong. The result is something that's faster than tennis up close, slower from the back, and genuinely easy to pick up. Most people can play a real game within an hour of their first time out. The ceiling, though, tends to feel a lot higher after you've played a bit than you'd originally thought.

The Origin Story

Pickleball was invented in the summer of 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Congressman Joel Pritchard and friend Bill Bell, a prominent businessman of the time, arrived back at Joel's family home after a day out on the links. Pritchard took note of a bored-looking family, so he and Bill set out to solve the issue. An old badminton court on the property sparked inspiration. After a dig through the garage, they turned up short on badminton equipment, but weren't ready to throw in the towel just yet. Resorting to ping pong paddles and a wiffle ball, Joel and Bill were determined to see this through. Through the weekend and some trial and error, they realized the 60" badminton net wasn't working out. The ball was bouncing well on the asphalt though, so they lowered the net down to 36", and there you have it.

The following weekend, the trio was officially brought together, as curious neighbor Barney McCallum joined the fun. The three of them began writing rules to this new game, vowing to keep in mind the sole purpose of "a game the whole family can enjoy together." Fast forward to '67, and the first official pickleball court was built right there in the Pritchard family's backyard. Five years after that, 1972, the three men started the corporation Pickle-Ball Inc.

As for the name, one story credits the Pritchard family's cocker spaniel, Pickles, who had a habit of stealing the ball mid-rally. That version was later debunked, and the credit went where it was deserved: to Joel's wife Joan. She named it after the crew-rowing term "pickle boat," a boat assembled from the leftover oarsmen of other teams, which fit perfectly given the sport's origins in borrowed and mismatched equipment.

How it Differs From Sports Alike

• The court is small. Twenty feet wide, 44 feet long. A tennis court is 78 by 36. The smaller footprint means less running, closer quarters, and a game that rewards touch and positioning over pure athleticism.
• The serve is underhand. Unlike tennis' overhand serve, which can take months to develop before you'll see any legitimate action, pickleball requires an underhand serve, making it likely for anoyone to be able to play almost immediately. This largely contributes to the notion of pickleball being such a beginner-friendly sport.
• The kitchen changes everything. There's one rule that reshapes how every single rally is played, only thing is it shares a name with a certain room in a house where food is cooked.... 🤔 We'll get back to that one.
• Anyone can play. The shorter court, slower ball, and underhand serve reduce the physical barriers without gutting the competitive depth, making it enjoyable for kids, serious athletes, and age groups well into their 70s and 80s. Just as Joel, Bill, and Barney intended.

Section TwoThe Part That Trips Everyone Up

Most of the confusion on day one comes from three things. Get these down and the rest falls into place pretty naturally.

The Two-Bounce Rule

After the serve, the ball has to bounce once on each side before anyone can volley. Server hits it, it bounces on the receiver's side, receiver hits it back, it bounces on the server's side, and then the rally opens up normally. The rule exists to prevent serve-and-volley domination and force every point to start as a real exchange.

It's also the most-broken rule by beginners, by a wide margin. Someone's going to volley too early in your first game. Probably more than one person. Don't sweat it.

The Kitchen

The kitchen is the seven-foot zone on either side of the net, officially called the non-volley zone. You cannot volley while standing in it, and foot on the line counts as a fault. You can stand in it all day if the ball has bounced, the restriction is only on hitting out of the air. Most of the strategy in pickleball lives in that tension, players pushing as close to the net as possible without losing their ability to legally volley.

Scoring

Only the serving team can score. Win a rally while receiving and you earn the serve, not a point. Your score goes up only when your team is serving and wins the rally. Games go to 11, win by 2.

In doubles, the score gets called as three numbers: serving team's score, receiving team's score, and which of the two servers is currently up, 1 or 2. "5-3-2" means the serving team has 5, receiving has 3, and the second server is up. The server announces it out loud before every serve. It clicks a lot faster than it sounds once you're actually out there playing.

Serving

Underhand only, contact below the waist. There's also a drop serve variation, where you drop the ball and hit it after one bounce, that's widely used and easy for beginners. Has to clear the net and the kitchen, landing in the receiver's service box diagonally, same as tennis. One attempt only. Miss it, you lose the serve. No second chances like tennis gives you.

Pickleball TakeoverTime to Go Mingle

Pickleball participation has roughly tripled in the last five years. The community energy is unlike anything else in recreational sports. A few things to keep in mind:

• It's social by design. You'll most likely find your way into doubles matches, as it's basically the universal standard at most clubs. A lot of courts run open play where you rotate partners and opponents every game, giving you the chance to meet and play with new people constantly. Remember to be polite and wear humble feet when walking onto a new court. Enter with respect and you'll get the same back tenfold.
• It's cheap to start. Can it get expensive? Sure, but there's no need for it to be. A decent paddle and a pack of balls will run you $50 to $100. Reaching for the $250+ paddle as a beginner is shooting yourself in the foot. Beginner-friendly paddles are more forgiving, giving you room to learn from mistakes when an advanced paddle won't slow down even if you need it to. If Joel and Bill figured it out with ping pong paddles, you can do it with a $65 beginner paddle.
• Word on the streets. Tennis courts are being converted to pickleball courts left and right, all over the country. YMCAs, country clubs, parks departments, they're all building dedicated facilities. Once you start looking, you'll quickly realize just how many courts are around you that you probably never noticed.

Before You Head Out...Here's One for the Road

There's plenty more important notes to hit, as we merely scratched the surface. You've got the foundation working with some rule basics, what to expect during game-play, and where you can look to find a court. For the comprehensive deep dive, our Guide to Getting Started With Pickleball covers just about all of it, and then some. 

And there you have it! With the resilience of dad and his friends not allowing boredom to be on the itinerary, and Joan's off-head knowledge of rowing, a powerful force was born. So here's to Joel, Joan, Bill, Barnie, and everyone else involved, the original group and sole reason we now have this wonderful sport to play and an unmatched community surrounding it. Hear, hear!

— Andy Dobric  |  March 16, 2026