Racquetball Rules

Basic Racquetball Rules
Special note: The ball can only bounce once on the floor. The opponent must hit it after one bounce. The ball must always return to the front wall before you have to hit it again.

• You must be in the service area to serve. Only the server scores a point.
• The server must bounce the ball once and hit the front wall first and have the ball come back across the solid red line behind the server in order to be a good serve.
  • The ball may hit one side wall after the front wall on a serve as it crosses the red line behind the serve.
  • The server gets two chances to make a good serve. If the first serve is not good he gets a second serve as in tennis.
  • Bad serves:
    • Hitting the front wall land the ceiling.
    • Hitting the front wall and being short of the second red line.
    • Hitting the floor, ceiling, or side wall before the front wall.
    • Hitting the front wall and two other walls before the ball hits the floor.
    • Hitting the front wall and going all the way to the back wall in the air and the opponent does not hit the ball along the way.  If the ball would have hit the back wall but the receiver hits it first then it is a legal serve.
    • Hitting the front wall and the ball comes back and hits the server.
    • Hitting the front wall and the ball comes back so close to the server that the receiver could not get a good view of the serve, is called a screen hinder and you serve again. You get two serves again if this is called.
  • Losing your serve: Not getting a second serve    
    • Hitting the front wall and the ball comes back and hits the server.
    • Hitting anything but the front wall first.
    • Not hitting two good serves.
    • Not staying inside the red lines on a serve.
• The dotted red line is a no-hit line. The ball on the serve cannot be hit inside this line nor can the receiver be inside this line on a serve.
• Hinder: One person calls “hinder” when they cannot hit the ball because the opponent has bumped into them or is in the way and could be hurt if you tried to hit the ball back to the front wall. You start the point over again from the serve.
• Hitting your opponent with the ball is not always a hinder. It sometimes happens because of the closeness of the field of play and speed of the game. If a person gets hit you start the point over again from the serve.
• Side-out or changing positions: anytime you hit the ball and it comes back off the wall and it hits you before the opponent had an opportunity to hit it.
• Never hit the ball again after a point has been made. Your opponent is going to be “letting up” and getting ready for the next serve and your swing or hit could cause injury to the opponent who is not expecting any more hits to take place.
• After a point has been made or a stop in action to start serving again return the ball to the person serving in an easy manner so they can get it quickly and start over again. Courtesy on the court is a must.
• Games are usually played 2 out of 3. Each game is played to 15 points. In tournaments the third game is usually played to 11.
• There are other rules and you can buy a rule book but these are the basics and will help you have fun in getting started. So have fun!