8 Pickleball Rules That Might Change in 2027

Status: As of Nov. 12, 2026, USA Pickleball’s rule database shows no board vote on any of the 112 proposals. Everything below is a proposal, not a rule. We’ll update this page the day the 2027 rulebook is published.

You hit a good serve. It clips the kitchen line. Your opponent calls it a fault, and under today’s rules they’re right: on the serve, the kitchen line counts as part of the kitchen.

Two of the 112 rule proposals USA Pickleball received for 2027 would flip that call. Others would rewrite the serve, change how you call the score, and settle two strange situations at the kitchen.

None of it is decided. Members submitted these proposals in the spring. USA Pickleball’s Rules Committee reviews them, and its Board of Directors has the final word. Here’s what’s on the table that you’d actually feel at open play, and when you’ll find out.

8 Rules Changes Being Considered

1. A serve that clips the kitchen line could be in. Today it’s a fault. (Proposals 2598 and 2702)
2. One serve motion for everybody. The waist and wrist checks on the volley serve would go, leaving one test: a clear low-to-high swing. (Proposal 2796)
3. Drop serves could get one bounce. Today there’s no limit. You’d also have to drop the ball from no higher than your shoulders. (Proposal 2796)
4. “Zero, zero, two” could become “zero, zero, start.” (Proposal 2795)
5. Your partner could call the score when you have trouble with it. Today they can only step in when you’re unable to. (Proposal 2544)
6. Stumbling into the kitchen after the rally ends could stop being a fault. (Proposal 2562)
7. You could volley from the ground after a dive into the kitchen, as long as no part of you is still touching it. (Proposal 2538)
8. Game point could go back to serve-only under rally scoring. (Proposal 2744) Separately, USA Pickleball decides in 2027 whether rally scoring stays provisional, becomes permanent or goes away.

The serve: the kitchen line, and one motion for everybody

The kitchen line. Today a serve that lands on the non-volley zone line is a fault. It’s the only line that’s out on a serve. Two proposals would make it good.

• Proposal 2598 would count the line as part of the service area. Its text: the ball “may clear or touch the net and land in the serving area which includes the NVZ line.”
• Proposal 2702 gets there by redefining the service court. Each one would include “all lines that bound them, including their portion of the Non-Volley Zone line.” Its title pitches it as “unifying rules for all bounding lines.”

Same result on court either way: clip the kitchen line on a serve, and it’s in.

One serve motion. Today a volley serve has to pass three checks: a clear upward arc, the paddle head not above your wrist, and contact no higher than your waist. In 2026, USA Pickleball added the word “clearly” to the wrist and waist checks.

Proposal 2796, titled “Simplification of Service Rules,” would scrap the waist and wrist checks and keep one: “The paddle must be moving in a clear low-to-high arc when it contacts the ball.”

It goes further than that. Under 2796:

• A drop serve could bounce only once before you hit it. Today there’s no limit.
• If you drop the ball, you’d release it from no higher than your shoulders. Today the rule only asks for a “natural (unaided) height.”
• Today’s rule already bans adding spin with your hand or paddle before you hit the ball. Under 2796, the ban would cover “significant spin or manipulation.”
• Most of today’s replay provisions for questionable serves would be cut.

Is 0-0-2 going away?

Today a doubles game starts with “zero, zero, two.” Three proposals would change the call, and they’re not equal.

• Proposal 2795 is the big one. Every game would start with “zero, zero, start,” and after the first side out the third number would become “first” or “second.” It isn’t offered as an option: to start each game, the score “will be called” that way.
• Proposal 2609 would let you say “zero, zero, second” as an alternative to “zero, zero, two.” Optional.
• Proposal 2670 would add an optional format that puts the server first, as a letter. Its example, “B-2-0,” means second server, serving team 2, receiving team 0.

One more is about who calls it. Today, “when a server is unable to call the score, the server’s partner may call the score.” Proposal 2544 would add the words “or has difficulty calling the score.” Its reasoning names dyslexia, vocal strain and anxiety.

At the kitchen: momentum and the save from the ground

Momentum (Proposal 2562). Today, if you volley and your momentum carries you into the kitchen, it’s a fault “even after the ball becomes dead.” The proposal would change “even after” to “before.” Picture it: you volley at the edge of the kitchen, the rally ends, and only then do you stumble in. Under 2562, that would no longer be a fault.

The save from the ground (Proposal 2538). Today, once you’ve been in the kitchen, you can’t volley until “both feet contact the playing surface completely outside the non-volley zone.” The proposal adds a second way to be out: you’ve fallen, and no part of your body is touching the kitchen. The scenario it describes: a player dives for a ball that dribbles into the kitchen, stays down to dodge the next shot, and volleys from the ground before getting up.

Rally scoring: what is being decided, and what is not

Rally scoring is in the 2026 rulebook as a provisional format. A tournament director may choose it, except in double-elimination doubles events, 2026 Golden Ticket events and 2026 National Championship events.

USA Pickleball’s 2026 change document says it “will continue to study rally scoring and will decide in 2027 whether to extend the provisional period, make the format permanent, or discontinue its use in sanctioned tournaments.” That call belongs to USA Pickleball, not to any member proposal, and nothing we’ve read says it arrives with the 2027 rulebook in December.

One member proposal does touch it. Proposal 2744 would bring back the 2025 doubles version, where game point could only be won by the serving side: “except game point can only be scored when serving.” Its reasoning cites a survey of the submitter’s 43 “very active players.” That’s their group, not ours.

Smaller than it sounds

Spectators (Proposal 2614). The rulebook already says “Spectators must not be consulted on any call.” The proposal adds examples, “such as ball hitting players, double bounces or any fault calls.” Its title also mentions spectators volunteering information, but the proposed text doesn’t add a rule on that.

What happens next

• The vote. The Rules Committee votes on each proposal: approve as submitted, approve with amendments, or disapprove. Its results go to USA Pickleball’s Board of Directors for final approval. USA Pickleball hasn’t posted a date for the board’s vote.
• Where results show up. Committee and board actions are posted in USA Pickleball’s public rule database. As of Nov. 12, the Board Vote column is blank for all 112, and none of the entries we read shows a committee action.
• The rulebook. USA Pickleball says it’s published “by December 20.” Two rules sites say on or about December 15, and last year’s change document came out December 17. It takes effect January 1, 2027.
• This page. The day the rulebook is out, we’ll mark every proposal above as adopted, adopted with changes, or not adopted, and add anything big we didn’t cover.

Until then, play by the 2026 rules: Inside USA Pickleball’s 2026 Rule Updates.

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