In pickleball, a fault is a rule violation that ends the rally. A dead ball is a ball that is no longer in play. Most dead balls are easy to see, such as a shot landing out, but some disputes come from stopping play too early, calling an opponent's fault, or assuming a rally should be replayed.
A live ball is part of the active rally. The ball becomes dead when play is stopped by a rule event, such as a fault, a valid line call, a hinder call, or another rule that ends or restarts the rally.
A fault is not just a mistake. It is a rule violation that results in a dead ball and loss of the rally. In side-out scoring, that usually means a point for the serving team if the receiving team faults, or a loss of serve or side out if the serving team faults.
Common pickleball faults include serving illegally, serving before the full score is called, missing the correct service court, volleying the serve or the return before the required bounce, failing to return a ball before it bounces twice, hitting a ball out of bounds, hitting the ball into your own side of the net, or being hit by the ball after the serve.
Other faults involve equipment and court contact. Examples include touching the net while the ball is live, crossing the plane of the net too early, hitting a ball before it fully crosses to your side, carrying the ball on the paddle, or using more than one paddle during a rally.
A player who stops a rally before the ball would otherwise become dead usually commits a fault. That matters when someone catches a ball they think is going out, stops because they believe the score was wrong, or pauses play for a fault they are not allowed to enforce.
There are limited exceptions. A player may stop play for a valid hinder, to correctly identify certain server, receiver, or position errors, or to ask for correction of an incorrect score before the return of serve. If the stoppage is wrong, the player who stopped the rally can lose the rally.
Most pickleball faults occur only while the ball is live. Once the rally is already over, ordinary live-ball restrictions such as net contact normally no longer matter for that rally.
The main exception is a non-volley-zone momentum fault. If a player volleys and their momentum carries them into the kitchen, or into something touching the kitchen, the fault can still count even after the ball has otherwise become dead.
In ordinary non-officiated play, players are expected to call faults on themselves and their partner as soon as the fault is committed or detected. That keeps the game workable because many faults happen too quickly or too close to the player for opponents to judge reliably.
Players may call non-volley-zone faults and service foot faults on opponents. For other opponent faults, a player may mention the issue after the rally, but the final decision belongs to the player who allegedly committed the fault unless a referee or event rule applies.
Some dead balls lead to a replay rather than a won rally. A hinder is a transient outside occurrence that affects play, such as a stray ball entering the court. Any player may call a hinder, and a valid hinder call results in a replay.
A replay can also be required when the rules specifically say so, such as certain disputes over allowed opponent fault calls. A replay is not the default answer for every awkward rally. If the ball was hit out, bounced twice, hit a player, or was stopped without a valid reason, the usual result is a fault, not a do-over.
In officiated play, referees can call faults and decide rule questions that players cannot settle themselves. They watch for service faults, non-volley-zone faults, live-ball contact with the net or opponent's court, player-position issues, and whether a player stopped play with a valid reason.
Officials also separate faults from replays. If a hinder genuinely affects play, the rally is replayed. If a player simply stops a rally on a mistaken assumption, the referee can award the rally to the other side.