The quick version
Bounce and serve underarm diagonally; the receiver must let it bounce. After the return, volleys are allowed. Return the ball before its second floor bounce. Score love, 15, 30, 40 and game, winning by two points; win six games by two, with a seven-point tie-break at 6–6. First pair to win two sets wins.
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Book the right court and choose pairs
Arrange four players and reserve a purpose-built doubles padel court: 20 metres long by 10 metres wide, divided by a net, with service boxes, rebound walls and metal fencing. A tennis court with portable barriers is not this setup. Confirm rental rackets and balls if needed, the playing surface's footwear requirements and the booking end time. Indoor and outdoor padel facilities can both work; follow the venue's conditions.
Give each player a perforated padel racket with its safety cord around the wrist. Have two or three padel balls available, but only one in play. Keep spare balls and bags out of the playing area. Bring drinking water and suitable court shoes. Ask staff to explain unfamiliar court access and equipment; check the surface and net before starting.
Use two fixed pairs. A coin toss winner chooses to serve or receive, chooses an end, or lets the other pair choose first; the other pair makes the remaining choice. Each pair names its first server and its right-side and left-side receivers. If A1 opens, the game-by-game serving order is A1, B1, A2, B2, then repeat. Keep that order and each pair's receiving sides throughout the set.
Agree advantage scoring and best of three sets before warming up. For this friendly session, use an unscored warm-up and take needed rest breaks rather than enforcing tournament delay penalties. Use a court session where outside play is not authorised: nobody runs through the doors after a ball. If your booking cannot accommodate a full match, select a shorter house variation before starting.
Serve, rally and score
Start from the right
The server calls the score with their pair's score first, beginning love–love. Stand behind the service line in the right half, between the centre-line extension and sidewall. Keep your feet clear of both lines and the service box ahead of you. Bounce the ball behind the service line in that half, then strike it underarm at or below waist height with at least one foot grounded. Send it over the net into the diagonally opposite service box; its boundary lines count as in. Wait until the receiver is ready.
Check the serve
A missed swing, wrong-box landing, or wall/fence contact before the receiving-court bounce is a fault. A serve that lands in the correct box then hits glass can stay live; touching metal fencing before its second floor bounce is a fault. In this no-outside-play session, a serve bouncing correctly then exiting directly through a doorway is also a fault. One fault gives a second serve from the same side; two give the receivers the point. A net-touching serve that then lands correctly without touching metal fencing before the second bounce is a let: repeat that attempt. A let on the second serve does not restore a first serve.
Return, then play the whole court
The designated receiver must let the serve bounce in their box and return it before a second floor bounce, either before or after a glass rebound. The return may land anywhere in the opponents' court, not just a service box. From then on, either partner may play each incoming ball and volleys are allowed. Each pair makes one return before the other pair's turn; teammates cannot pass the ball between themselves.
Use the walls correctly
After a ball bounces on your floor, it may rebound from your glass or fence before you hit it, provided it has not bounced on the floor again. You may strike a return via your own glass wall; you may not strike it into your own fence or floor before it crosses the net. A shot into the opponents' wall or fence before their floor is out unless they first volley it. A rally shot clipping the net stays live if it otherwise lands correctly.
End the point and change service side
The pair making a failed return loses the point. That includes two floor bounces, a ball hitting a player or clothing, both partners hitting the same return, or touching the net or opponents' court while the ball is live. If a legal shot bounces in the opponents' court then leaves its outer boundary, it wins the point here because outside play is not authorised. After each point the same server alternates right and left; the corresponding receiver takes it.
Win games and sets
A pair's first three points are 15, 30 and 40; zero is love. The next point wins the game unless both pairs have reached 40. At 40–40 call deuce: one point earns advantage, another for the same pair wins; losing the advantage point returns to deuce. Reset point scores after each game and pass service to the next player in the fixed order. A set ends at six games with a two-game lead, such as 6–4. From 5–5, play to 7–5 or 6–6; at 6–6 play the tie-break below.
Floor → glass → racket can be a legal return. Floor → glass → floor ends the point. On a serve, floor → metal fence before that second floor bounce is a fault; during a rally, that fence rebound is playable.
Resolve 6–6 and finish the match
In a tie-break count ordinary points: 0, 1, 2 and so on. The next server in the set's order serves the first point from the right. The next player in that order serves two points, starting left then right; every subsequent server takes two points, left then right, keeping the same four-player sequence. Two serve attempts per point still apply. First to at least seven points with a two-point lead wins the tie-break and the set 7–6. At 6–6 points, keep playing until that margin exists.
Change ends after the first, third and every later odd-numbered game. During a tie-break change ends after every six total points. For the next set, the pair that received the tie-break's first point serves first. Without a tie-break, continue alternating pairs from the previous game's service. Each pair may choose its first server and receiving sides again at the start of a new set, then fixes them for that set.
The first pair to win two sets wins the match; there is no drawn completed match. Confirm the set scores, collect equipment and clear the court for the next booking. If the venue closes or your slot ends before completion, stop and record the match as unfinished, or agree to resume from the recorded score and service order. Do not invent a winner from whoever happens to be ahead.
Explain the tricky calls before keeping score
Before the match, demonstrate a soft diagonal serve, a floor-to-glass return and a floor-to-fence rally rebound. Name the difference between a serve and an ordinary rally. Ask each player to serve and receive unscored; this is a hosting suggestion, not a required number of practice points. Call the score before every serve and say whose turn it is after each game. Partners can call 'mine' before a shared ball so neither has to guess.
A ball arriving wall-first is out even if it then drops into court. A serve landing on a service line is in. Glass contact is not a second floor bounce. Do not catch an incoming ball to declare it out: touching a player while it is live loses the point. Call a ball out after its actual landing or wall/fence contact establishes the fault. Stop immediately if a stray ball enters the court; replay an interrupted rally after clearing it.
For a friendly self-officiated match, use this house dispute procedure: stop when a genuinely uncertain bounce or score is identified, agree the last certain score, and replay only the disputed point with two serves. Do not overrule a clear fault just because it was costly. This replay procedure replaces formal umpire adjudication; it is not an official right to replay every disagreement. For a serving or receiving order mistake, consult the linked FIP Rules 6 and 8 rather than inventing a score penalty.
Keep the wrist cord on, leave spare equipment off court and retrieve balls between points. Stop if the surface becomes unsafe or equipment fails. Respect the venue's access rules; this guide does not teach or authorise out-of-court saves. Extra friends can watch from outside the court and join another match; the base game still needs exactly four players.
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Ideas & Twists
Choose a variation together before you start.
Padel · See main rules
Suggested house variationOne-set match
Replace best of three sets with one complete set. Keep advantage games, the two-game margin, and the seven-point tie-break at 6–6. The set winner is the match winner. Nothing else changes; a shorter format still has no guaranteed finishing time.
Padel · See main rules
Suggested house variationOne ten-point tie-break
Replace all games and sets with one tie-break to at least ten points, winning by two. Toss for first service and ends, choose the four-player service order and receiving sides, then use the tie-break service sequence and six-point end changes above. First server takes one point, everyone afterward takes two. The winning pair wins this short match; 10–9 continues, 11–9 finishes.
Padel · See main rules
Suggested house variationChange partners, play three
With the same four people, play three separate seven-point tie-break matches, each won by two: AB versus CD, AC versus BD, then AD versus BC. Reset points and toss for first service and ends each match; name service order and receiving sides for the new pairs. Give each person one match win when their pair wins. After all three matches, the most match wins leads; equal totals share the result. This is a social partner rotation, not official set or individual tournament scoring.
About this guide
The main match selects FIP 2026 advantage scoring with ordinary set tie-breaks and no authorised outside play. The FIP document also offers Star Point, Golden Point and alternative match formats; those are not blended into these rules. This friendly guide omits tournament administration and replaces strict tournament warm-up/rest timing and umpire dispute handling with the explicitly labeled hosting procedures above. The three shorter formats are house suggestions. Venue instructions still apply.
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