How to Play Pickleball Dice

It seems that everyone is into Pickleball these days. Although I haven’t actually picked up a paddle, when I found the game Pickleball Dice I was excited. After all, we have the sporty dice games of Tennis, Curling, Hockey, a bunch of golf dice games and of course our signature Whacky Putt mini golf dice game!

With that excitement I reached out to the company and I was fortunate enough for them to send me a copy so that I could review it for you.

In this post, I will cover how to play, the rules, the Pickleball theme and if we think you should make room on your Family Game Shelf for it. Let’s dive in.

This post may contain affiliate links. I receive a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase using my link.

Setting Up Pickleball Dice

To start, I should point out that I have never played Pickleball before but I have looked at it a time or two. This lack of knowledge might have made it harder to understand the rules to this dice game.

You can play with either two or four players. It will take about 15 minutes to pay and it’s for players 13 and up.

To start, you set up the ball on its stand and place the pickle tokens on the side of the board as point markers. There are two paddles that are just for fun that can he handed out. To decide who goes first, you flip the Doubloon “coin”.

Playing Pickleball Dice

Once you have decided who will be severing first, that player will roll all five of the green dice. She will then decide what, if any, dice to set aside. She has up to three dice rolls to make the best shot as she can. The ball will then be moved to the spot on the court that she hit it to. Her opponent will now have up to three rolls to return the ball to her court. If she wasn’t able to get the ball onto his side, or lands in his kitchen or over shoots the court, he gets a point and then gets to serve.

The Shots

Awesome Pickleball Dice Shot

First, there is the Awesome shot. This is done by rolling threes 6s. When you shoot an Awesome shot, you automatically score a point and your opponent gets to sever.

High Lob

 The next shot is the high lob which is done by rolling three 5s. This shot will have the ball sent to the very last spot on your opponent’s side of the court. He will then attempt to shoot it back to you.

Pickleball Dice Kitchen Shot

A roll of three 4s will land the ball in your opponent’s kitchen. For non-pickleball payers, the kitchen is the space closest to the net. You can’t sever into a player’s kitchen. If you do, they get the point and the serve goes to them. On a non-sever turn, you can place the ball into their kitchen and they have the chance to return it.

Five of a Kind

There is one more special roll. If you roll five of one kind on a single roll, this is a single roll trick shot. You automatically score and the sever goes to your opponent.

The Other Rolls

But what happens if you don’t roll a special roll? You can still move the ball by using any three dice that show a 1, 2, or 3. This is done by adding up the three dice and then moving the ball that many spaces. For example, if the ball is at the back of your court, you need a sum of at least 4 to get the ball back to the other side of the court. But if your sum is too high the ball could land outside of the court. When this happens, your opponent scores and gets to serve. For example, if the ball is in your kitchen, you will need a sum of 4 or under, otherwise he gets the point.

You can choose to use the sum of three dice (with 1, 2, or 3 on them) at any time during your roll. For example, if the ball is in the back of your court and you roll a 1, 2 and 2 on your first roll you can choose to make that your shot and send the ball into the middle of his court.

Scoring Points

There are a couple of ways to score a point. First, you score a point if your opponent fails to put the ball in your court. Remember if a serve lands in your kitchen, you get the point.

Second, if you roll three 6s, you score. You also score if you roll five of one kind in one roll.

Third, when your opponent is unable to return a shot by either over shooting the court or not making it over the net.

Advanced Rules

When you get comfortable playing Pickleball Dice, then you can move onto the advanced rules.

The first rule is about kitchen returns.  When the ball is in your kitchen, you must return it by rolling either three 4s landing the ball in their kitchen, rolling three 5s and sending the ball to the back of their court, or by rolling three 6s.

The second advanced rule is about returning awesome shots. In the basic rules, when you roll three 6s it’s an Awesome shot and you score a point. However, in the advanced rules you don’t automatically score. Instead, when an Awesome shot is rolled, you get the chance to return it. You get one roll to roll what is known as a “around the post” or ATP shot. You do this by rolling three of any number. If you roll three of any umber, then you score the point and get to sever. On the other hand, if you don’t roll three of a kind, then your opponent score the point and gets to serve.

Winning Pickleball Dice

The first player to score 11 points wins. The winner gets the cardboard trophy and the lose gets the cardboard “JUCE” drink.

What We Like

First, remember that we are not Pickleball players and this may affect our overall impression of the game. With that said, we thought that the Pickleball theme was quite fun and well done. We like that the score markers are pickles and adding in the extras of the paddles and trophies is really fun. The quality of the game is really good. We also liked that it plays pretty quick and is pretty easy to play once you understand the rules.

The advanced rules are a nice touch as it’s always fun to breathe new life into a game you like.

We have to say that we enjoyed playing as a four player more than when we played with just two. Although the game is the same, it was just more fun with four players.

What We Didn’t Like

First, we found the rules a little hard to understand. There is a video to watch on their site which is good but it didn’t help in figuring out that when you roll three dice with either 1, 2 or 3. We debated the rule quite a bit before we understood that you didn’t need 1, 2, 3 to score and that it was the SUM of any three dice showing a 1, 2, or 3. Once we worked through all of the rules, we did find it easy to play.

Next, we didn’t really understand the JUCE bottle. Is this a Pickleball thing? I did look on their site and I think they sell it. I think it’s probably a cute addition if it’s a Pickleball thing that is common. We just didn’t get it.

Is Pickleball Dice Worth Adding to Your Family Game Shelf?

First, if you love Pickleball I’d say that this is a must play game. For the rest of us, the Pickleball Dice game is a cute, fun game. It’s easy to play (once you get a handle on the rules). It’s well made and compact enough to fit on any shelf. I would say if you’ve ever wanted to try out Pickleball or enjoy spots games then I would recommend adding this game to your Family Game Shelf.

For right now, you can only get Pickelball Dice on their website. It will be coming to Amazon soon.

UPDATE: It’s now available on Amazon! Get your copy here. I also found this really cute severing Pickleball dish that would be perfect for any Pickleball lover or party!

If you’re looking for some more dice action, check out our very own Tennis dice game, Tug of War and Whacky Putt mini golf dice game. Be sure to visit our Family Game Shelf shop where you will find games like Three Strikes and Dice Sticks.

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