Two against two around a circular net. The four of you stand 90 degrees apart. One player serves the ball off the net at the opponent standing directly opposite. That team has up to three touches to put the ball back onto the net, then it is the other team's turn. Whoever wins the rally wins the point.
That is the whole game. Everything below is detail you can pick up while you play, and I would genuinely rather you started now and read the rest afterwards.
Written by Jakub Popluhar, roundnet coach since 2019, 1,000+ coaching hours, former national coach of Belgium.
"Wait, no sides at all, Jakub?" None. It is the thing volleyball players find hardest, because their instinct is to hold a position and cover a zone. Here you go where the ball is, and getting out of your partner's way is a real skill you have to learn.
You get two serves, the way you do in tennis. One fault costs nothing and you serve again. Two faults in a row and the other team takes the point.
The faults a beginner actually runs into, straight from the IRF rulebook:
In a garden game you can ignore most of this and call rim hits only. The shoulder rule is the one worth keeping from day one, because without it the serve becomes a smash and nobody has any fun.
A team is entitled to a maximum of three hits, alternating between players. That second half is the part people miss. You cannot receive the ball and then set it for yourself. You touch, your partner touches, you touch.
One exception in the rules that saves arguments: if both teammates touch the ball at the same time on the first contact of a possession, that counts as one touch. After the first touch, a simultaneous contact counts as two.
You do not have to use all three. One touch straight back onto the net is legal and is sometimes the right answer. It is just rarely the best one.
Every rally is a point, no matter who served. Games usually run to 21, win by two. That is all you need tonight, and the full version, including the tie at 20 and what a hard cap is, lives on the scoring page.
Who serves first? The rulebook says a coin flip or one game of rock, paper, scissors. I have never seen anyone in a park do either. Whoever holds the ball starts.
The full ruleset runs to twenty pages, and roughly two of them matter to you right now. The rest exists because four people playing without a referee need a written answer for every argument they might have.
Ignore hinders, the no hit zone, pivot feet, and everything about seeding and formats. Keep three things: three touches alternating, the ball has to hit the net and not the rim, and the serve stays below the receiver's shoulders.
There is no referee in this sport, not even at a world championship. Players call their own game, and when they cannot agree the rules say replay the point. Learn that habit early and you will fit in anywhere.
Up to three, alternating between the two players. The same player may not hit twice in a row. Receive, set, hit is the standard pattern.
Four positions around the set, 90 degrees apart, partners opposite each other. The receiver is directly across from the server and is the only one allowed to take the serve.
No. Once the serve is away all four players move anywhere around the net. Tournament courts have an outer circle at 8.5 m, but there is no line between the teams.
Two. Two faults in a row hands the point to the other team.
No. Touches alternate between partners. The one exception is a simultaneous contact by both teammates on the first touch of a possession, which counts as a single touch.
Almost never, at any level. Players make their own calls, and the rules say a point is replayed when the teams genuinely disagree.
Get four people around the net and play one game to 21. You will learn more in that game than in anything I can write here. Then come back for the parts that annoyed you.