What equipment do you need to play pickleball?

There are only 5 essential pieces of equipment you need to play pickleball: 1. Pickleballs (outdoor or indoor) 2. Pickleball paddles 3. A pickleball net 4. A lined hard court 5. Appropriate shoes for the court you’re playing on.

(And maybe it goes without saying, but it’s a 2 or 4 person game so you’ll need either 1 or 3 other people too! I don’t consider them equipment though. )

By no means does this mean you need to own all of these things but regardless of where and who you’re playing with, you’ll need each of the above to play a game.

If you’re playing at a pickleball club the only thing you’ll absolutely need are appropriate shoes because they will likely have paddles and balls to buy/borrow/rent when you get there — and obviously they’ll have a great court setup!

Let’s get into each type of pickleball gear you need to play pickleball in a bit more detail:

1. Pickleballs – Outdoor or Indoor

Believe it or not, pickleball has 2 different types of balls — reminiscent of whiffle balls — that are tailor made for playing either outside or inside. I covered this in detail in a previous article on the difference between indoor and outdoor pickleballs and recommended the best indoor and outdoor pickleballs.

variety of pickleballs — Colorful Pickleball collection…yellow, pink, blue, green etc.

Outdoor balls are harder and smoother and have smaller, more numerous holes which make them more well suited to playing in the elements and wind of the outdoors.

Indoor balls are softer, lighter and have larger, fewer holes — tailored to the smooth indoor court surfaces you’ll generally encounter.

They usually come in white, orange or yellow.

Remember: once you know if your’e playing outside or inside, make sure you have at least a few balls available for your game because balls might get out of round or could even crack in the middle of a game.

2. Pickleball Paddles

Pickleball paddles are specialized paddles (sort of a cross between ping pong paddles and paddle ball paddles) that you need to play. You can’t really get around either renting/borrowing/buying a paddle, and just don’t try to substitute a pickleball paddle with some other type of paddle – that’s just uncalled for.

You’ll need 2 paddles for a singles game and 4 paddles for a doubles game.

This also gets into the most difficult decision area for any player — which type of paddle to buy? There are 900 USAPA approved paddles listed — and those are just the ones officially approved by that organization!

It’s crazy! There are so many variations on every one of these features:

cost
grip size
weight
length
paddle face shape
core material
face material
design
edge guards

The paddles will run you anywhere from $20 to $200.

Wouldn’t you know it? I’ve written a bunch of articles covering recommended paddles depending on what you’re looking for:

If you’re just trying the game out, it doesn’t matter much what paddle you are playing with — but I do recommend if at all possible that you NOT play with a wooden paddle. At this point it just doesn’t give you a good representation of the game given all of the advances in paddle technology over the last 30 years.

3. A pickleball net

Hopefully, if you’re just getting started you’re able to play at a place that already has a net in place. If you are in a SERIOUS pinch, you can always use a tennis net as your net. This isn’t ideal though because those nets are 2 inches higher than pickleball nets. Given that the game can get pretty close up to the net, it can make a difference.

The nets are at least 20 feet wide, 36 inches tall at the posts and 34 inches at the center strap.

If you’re in the market for a pickleball net, I reviewed the best portable net options here.

4. A lined hard court

The court is:

20 feet wide (inclusive of lines)
44 feet deep (inclusive of lines)
48.4 feet diagonal (from corner to corner)

In terms of lines, if you don’t have access to a court with the right lines in place already you can set up your own temporary lines. There are a few options for setting up the lines, head over to my article on options for creating taped, painted or chalked lines or grab one of the best pickleball court tape for boundary line marking.

5. Appropriate shoes for the court you’re playing on.

No matter what you’ll need court shoes. Tennis and cross training shoes are a good bet for outside. But if you’re playing inside on a wooden surface, you should be looking at volleyball or basketball shoes. Regardless, the shoes give you support for side-to-side as well as forward and backward movement.

I took a look at the best court shoes for men and women here.

Optional Pickleball Equipment

So the 5 items above were all of the absolutely essential items, below are not needed but if you’re interested….

Pickleball Bags:

If you’re transporting your paddle and balls, you might want a pickleball bag to keep things together, easy to carry and protected from damage en route. Check out 7 of the best bags.

Pickleball Sets:

While I already technically covered paddles and balls above, these sets package up balls, bags and paddles together.

Pickleball Grips:

Depending on the paddle you get you might need either extra width on the paddle if it’s too small or if the grip you have is warn out you might want a new one that is easier to keep hold of. I cover the best paddle grips and overgrips here.

Pickleball Paddle Covers:

If you have a decent pickleball paddle, protect it with a one of my recommended best pickleball paddle covers.

Other accessories:

I covered a bunch of other accessories that you can learn about in my article. I cover:

Pickleball machines for practice and drilling particular shots – we reviewed the best pickleball machines here.
Best Pickleball Clothing
PIckleball tubes and collectors to pick up stray pickleballs on the court
Ball band and ball holder to hold pickleballs in between points
Scoreboards
Pickleball gloves – help you maintain grip and decrease chance of blisters

Where can I buy pickleball equipment?

Your best bets for finding pickleball equipment for sale, either online or near where you are some of the below national retailers.

Where can I play pickleball?

While not completely on topic, I figure if you’re looking for the basics of what equipment you need to play, you might also be interested in finding a place near you to play.

If you just want to try out playing pickleball, I’d recommend going to this site and looking for a local pickleball court or club places2play.org or https://www.pickleballrush.com/ Many times at dedicated pickleball facilities they will have options for coming in without any equipment and borrowing or renting it along with lessons.