Padel rules in 5 minutes — scoring, serves, the walls.

You can learn enough padel rules to play in five minutes. The official rulebook is longer, but most of it covers edge cases you'll never hit as a recreational player. Here's what you actually need before stepping on court.

1. Scoring is tennis scoring

Every game is 15 / 30 / 40 / game. Deuce when both sides reach 40, then advantage. A set is six games (win by two, tiebreak at 6–6). A match is best of three sets.

Most casual matches are best-of-three with no tiebreak in the first sets, or just play to the clock until the booking runs out.

2. The serve is underarm — and that's strict

• Stand behind the service line, with both feet behind it.
• Bounce the ball once on the ground first.
• Hit it below waist height. Waist, not shoulder.
• It has to bounce in the diagonal service box.
• If it hits the side glass after bouncing in the box, it's a fault.

You get two serves, like tennis. Most clubs are relaxed about strict waist-height in casual games — but a club league or tournament referee will absolutely call it.

3. The walls are in play (but only on your side)

A ball must bounce on the floor before it touches a wall. After that bounce, walls are live:

• Yes: ball bounces on your floor, hits your back wall, you hit it back over the net.
• Yes: ball bounces on your floor, your side glass, then you play it.
• No: ball hits your back wall before bouncing on your floor — that's your point.
• No: you hit a ball that bounces on the opponents' floor, then their wall — fine; their problem.

4. The fence (the metal mesh)

The mesh is in play on your own side too. A ball that hits your own mesh after bouncing is still playable, though it's usually unrecoverable in practice. A ball that hits the mesh before bouncing on your floor is the other team's point.

5. Out of the box: the famous "por tres"

You're allowed to leave your court through a gap in the side walls (when there is one), play the ball from outside, and return it back over the net. Yes, really. It's rare, dramatic, and most clubs have no gaps to do it through anyway. File it as "cool fact, won't come up."

6. Lets, faults, and what counts as in

• A ball that clips the net and lands in the service box on serve is a let — re-serve.
• Any ball that touches the line is in. Lines are in.
• If the ball hits a fixture (light, camera bracket, etc.) the point is replayed.

7. Who serves where

Same team serves the whole game, just like tennis. The server alternates sides (deuce / ad) each point. Receivers stay on their assigned side for the whole set — this matters more than you'd expect because half of strategy is targeting the weaker receiver.

Five rules to actually remember

1. Underarm serve, bounce first, below the waist.
2. Ball must bounce on the floor before it can touch a wall.
3. Walls only count after the bounce — not before.
4. Lines are in.
5. Same team serves the whole game; sides alternate.

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