Dingles for Pickleball

The game is a blend of singles and doubles, hence the name “dingles.” Four players begin each point positioned at the baseline, with each player occupying one of the four service areas.

Each point begins with two balls rallied cross court at the same time and continues until one rally ends. Players do not have to stay at the baseline for the dual ball rally, but the ball must stay on the cross-court pattern.

Once one of the rallies ends (either on a winner or error), one of the two players involved in that rally alerts the others that the first point ended by loudly announcing, “Dingles!”

At that moment, the second ball is live for the entire court. All four players can hit anywhere in the court until the conclusion of the point.

Dingles is often played to 21, but you can modify the point limit according to time restraints, etc. There are three points to fight for each turn.

The first part, with two balls rallying cross court, is worth one point. The second half (after a player yells, “dingles,” and there is only one ball in play) is worth two points.

If either team wins all three points, the losing team’s players swap their service area positions before the next point begins. In other words, the player on the left service area moves to the right service area and vice versa.

Dingles adds variety to the game and forces players to hit, thus improve, their cross-court shots and consistency. The patterns played in dingles complement both singles and doubles and will improve your rally tolerance and focus.

The fast-paced nature and somewhat chaotic dual ball rally aspect help players get comfortable with the pressure of the simultaneous activity.

Playing dingles requires you to play with purpose. The point patterns will help improve your ability and confidence to keep a cross-court rally going and aim shots to smaller targets instead of just landing the ball on the other side.

The two parts of each point allow everyone to play as an individual and as a team. This is valuable for camaraderie and complements both doubles and singles strategies.

After even just a short time of playing dingles, players will find ways to take advantage of the small seams of space and time that briefly occur during the action. In addition, dingles patterns help players get comfortable with hitting crazy angles, along with targeting the lines and corners of the court during standard doubles or singles point play.

Remember these key points:

• The first part of a point in dingles is the dual ball cross-court rally, which continues until one of the two rallies ends with an errant shot or winner.
• Immediately after the first point has ended, one of the players yells out, “Dingles!”
• At that moment, the remaining rally ball is open to full-court play.
• There are three points total per dingles rally. The first is worth one point, and the second all-court ball rally is worth two points.
• If one team wins all three points, the losing team switches positions to the opposite service area’s baseline and begins the next point from there.

Learn how to play more fun games and drills in our third shot drop article.