My friend recently strained his oblique, so playing doubles was out of the question, so we had to decide to play 3-person pickleball.
I played 3 player pickleball again today, so we are getting the hang of it.
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So, here’s what we decided how to play with 3 people. I also mention handicaps later on in this article that can help make 3-player pickleball more even.
1. How to Score in 3-Person Pickleball.
Scoring may be the most challenging in 3 person pickleball. Here are the different options:
Keeping Track Of All Scores
Each person will keep track of their score, so it’s effectively 1 vs 1 vs 1. The first person to 11 wins, and the second place finisher would have the second amount of points.
For example, the score can be 6-7-2 if you have 6 points and serve players with 7 and 2 points respectively. It’s important that you keep track of your score, and it does not matter what variation you state the other two player’s points (6-7-2 vs 6-2-7).
Like doubles and singles pickleball, you can only score when you are serving.
You rotate through who serves. So, for example, if player 1 serves first and faults, then player 2 would serve next and then player 3, and then back to player 1.
Keeping Track Of Just Your Score
Another less cumbersome option is just keeping track of your score and announcing that score before serving.
This worked best for us.
Let’s talk about the 2 options where you can stand.
2. Where Do People Stand
When you play 3-person pickleball, you have two options where the 3-person stands.
Below is potentially the most common where the 3rd player is playing defense on the same team. Please note that these games will often go slower because scoring takes longer when a single player plays a doubles team.
Please note for this option that only Player 1 would rotate to the other side on serve if he scores a point.
See the illustration below that I created for you:
The other version is where player 1 and player 2 are on offense against player 3.
Please see the illustration below. As you can see these games may move faster because it’s essentially doubles on offense and singles on defense.
With this game type, the player serving would rotate after scoring and the player on defense would rotate as well on defense.
3. Where can a doubles player return the ball?
One thing to determine when you are playing 3 person pickleball is whether the doubles players can only put the ball on the side where the singles player plays.
See the illustration I created for you below to show what I mean.
Here’s an example video from YouTube:
So, you can play 3 player pickleball, but is it fun?
4. Handicaps
Recently, my friend and I were much more experienced than the 3rd player, so we had handicaps. Here are a couple of handicaps to consider:
- More inexperienced players get unlimited serves
- The more inexperienced player gets to serve as if they were doubles. In this situation, the 3rd player could serve twice while the other 2 players only served once.
When we implemented these handicaps, I believe the final games scored 11-8-6.
5. Is 3 Person Pickleball Fun?
3 person pickleball provides fun elements from both singles and doubles.
For example, you potentially get to burn more calories and have a better workout when you are playing singles against doubles. But, you also enjoy having a partner in doubles when you are on the doubles side.
So, you essentially get the best of both worlds.
Also, when you win in 3-person pickleball, you win against 2 players instead of 1 making the win even sweeter.
Conclusion
3 person pickleball can feel a bit odd when you start playing, but I may prefer 3 person pickleball to doubles and singles in some instances.
It’s a lot of fun and forces you to improve your singles and doubles game.
Also, it can be difficult when you are playing singles vs doubles, forcing you to play more strategically.
See you on the courts!