Basic Racquetball Rules

Racquetball is played with two or four players. When the game is played with two players, it is called singles and when played with four players it is called doubles. A recreational variation of the game that is not played in tournaments is called cut-throat. The cut-throat is played with three players in the court and one player plays against two players. The same rules and scoring system applies.

The objective is to win each rally by serving or returning the ball so the opponent is unable to keep the ball in play. A rally is over when the player (or team in doubles) is unable to hit the ball before it touches the floor twice, or hits the ball before it touches the floor twice but, after taking the shot, the ball touches the floor prior to hitting the front wall, which is called a skip. The rally can also be end when a hinder is called.

Points are scored only by the serving side when the serve is not returnable (an ace) or the server wins the rally. Losing the serve is called a side-out in singles. In doubles, when the first server loses the serve, it is called a handout and when the second server loses the serve, it is a side-out.

A match is won by the first person or doubles team to win two games. The first two games of a match are played to 15 points. If each player or doubles team wins one game, a tiebreaker game is played to 11 points. Please note that 15-14 or 11-10 wins the game.