The rules of padel, explained in five minutes
Padel borrows tennis scoring, adds walls, and sprinkles in a few rules that surprise every beginner. Here is the whole rulebook you actually need, in five minutes.
Scoring
Points go 15, 30, 40, game — exactly like tennis. Six games win a set (with a tie-break at 6-6), and most matches are best of three sets. At 40-40 most club and pro matches play one deciding 'golden point': the receiving pair chooses which side returns, and whoever wins the rally wins the game.
The serve
- ✓Bounce the ball behind the service line, hit it at or below waist height
- ✓Serve diagonally; the ball must bounce in the opposite service box
- ✓You get two attempts, like tennis
- ✓After the bounce the serve may hit the glass — but if it hits the metal fence before the second bounce, it's a fault
The walls
On your own side, the walls are your friends: after the ball bounces on the floor, you may play it off the glass — or even smash it into your own glass to send it back over the net. Your opponents' shot, however, must bounce on the floor first: if their ball flies straight into your glass or fence without bouncing, the point is yours.
Points you win (and lose) instantly
- ✓The ball touches a player's body or clothes → that team loses the point
- ✓Racket, body or clothing touches the net during the rally → point over
- ✓The ball bounces twice on your side → their point (even off the glass, it's live until the second floor bounce)
- ✓A ball that bounces and flies out over the wall may legally be chased through the gate and played from outside
That's genuinely all you need
Everything else is tactics, not law. Once these basics feel automatic, the interesting question stops being 'may I play this ball?' and becomes 'what's the smartest thing to do with it?' — which is exactly what our quiz trains.