On each side of the net is a 7-foot area (2.1 m) known as the non-volley zone (or the kitchen); a player standing there has to strike the ball before it has bounced.

The growing popularity of the sport has been attributed to its short learning curve, its appeal to a wide range of ages and fitness levels, and its low startup costs.

[4] Pritchard and two of his friends, Barney McCallum and Bill Bell, are credited with devising the game and establishing the rules.

"[6] Similarly, the game of pickleball was created from leftover equipment from several sports; a badminton court, paddleball paddles, a wiffle ball and a net height like that of tennis.

They said the confusion arose when a reporter interviewing the Pritchards in the early 1970s decided it would be easier for readers to relate to the dog rather than a pickle boat.

Representatives of USA Pickleball claim that research on their part has confirmed that the dog Pickles was born after the game had already been named.

[9] They did, however, discover a third possibility: Bill Bell claimed that he had named the game because he enjoyed hitting the ball in a way that would put his opponent in a pickle.

The adults and kids ended up at the badminton court and began experimenting with different balls and rackets, including table tennis paddles.

In February 1968, Pritchard, along with McCallum's son David and two other friends, formed Pickle Ball, Inc.[17] to promote and sell the sport.

[14] Interest in pickleball continued to grow, and spread from the Pacific Northwest into warmer areas as "snowbirds" brought the sport south to Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Florida.

It was billed as "The World's First Pickleball Championship" by Joel Pritchard and received a mention in the July 1976 edition of Tennis magazine.

In the same year they published the first official rulebook for the sport and held the first National Doubles Championships in Tacoma, Washington.

The pickleball tournament was held at the Happy Trails RV Resort in Surprise, Arizona, and within five years included 275 participants.

[25] The facility, located in the 93-acre (38 ha) Snyder Park, will include 43 pickleball courts, a 4,000-square-foot (370 m2) event center, a restaurant, and several other sporting and entertainment venues.

On March 28, 2022, the legislation was signed by Governor Jay Inslee on the original Pritchard family court where the sport was invented.

[32] The 2022 SFIA report, released in 2023, estimated that approximately 900 million dollars of court infrastructure investment is needed to keep up with the fast growth of the sport.

[35] An analysis by DUPR, whose software is used to set player ratings world-wide, found that the growth of pickleball is accelerating around the globe.

Their data shows the top five countries with the fastest growing number of registered DUPR players are India, Thailand, Venezuela, China, and Philippines.

Balls must be made of a durable molded material with a smooth surface and must have between 26 and 40 evenly spaced circular holes.

One common paddle material is T700 Raw Carbon Fiber, which is valued for its durability and ability to generate spin.

This allows tournament directors to group players of similar skills, thereby increasing the competitiveness of brackets and matches.

[57] A self-rating is determined when a player evaluates their own playing abilities against a table that describes progressively more difficult pickleball skills.

[58][59][60] DUPR was developed by Steve Kuhn, owner and operator of the Dreamland family amusement center in Austin, Texas, and founder of Major league Pickleball.

[73] In 2018 a second international governing body, the World Pickleball Federation (WPF) was established challenging the IPF.

If a team reaches game point, their score will remain frozen until they win a rally on their serve, or they lose their game-point advantage.

[87][88] The noise, combined with the rapid rise in pickleball's popularity, has produced an intense backlash against the sport in communities across the United States.

In June 2021, at a West Linn City Council meeting, one resident said the noise resulted in family gatherings being "... wrought with discord and physically debilitating stress."

[90] Similar noise issues were raised in 2023 by residents of an apartment building adjacent to a pickleball court in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

[97] One of the previous documented Pickleball endurance record was in 2011 and 2012 by Justin Lawrence and Jeffrey Baker of New Port Richey, Florida.

Lawrence is a multi-sport athlete (football placekicker and soccer goalkeeper) who was focusing on endurance and OCR events at the time, with no real racquet sport experience.