Rules
Roundnet rule changes 2025-26: what the IRF rulebook changed
The International Roundnet Federation's rulebook of 17 October 2025 brought equal serving, an 85 g ball of 33 cm around, an 8.5 m boundary, a 100 cm No Hit Zone for every division that serves and hits may not land in, and three touches on the serve return. The July 2026 edition changed overtime rotation and banned grip substances.
Every change since the 2024 rulebook
The International Roundnet Federation (IRF) has published five editions of its Official Rules of Roundnet: adopted on 21 October 2021, then updated on 10 August 2022, 12 June 2024, 17 October 2025 and 17 July 2026. The October 2025 edition is the overhaul. It wrote in the results of the 2025 Roundnet Rule Revolution, a season of test events whose stated aim was to "Increase Rallies, Decrease Aces and Double Faults". The July 2026 edition is mostly a tidy-up, and the IRF published a change log saying what it removed and why.
| Rule | IRF rules to June 2024 | 17 October 2025 | 17 July 2026 (current) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who serves next | The winners of the rally | A fixed order: 1 point for the first server, then 2 per server (4.2) | The same; the leftover winner-serves clauses deleted |
| Rotation | Every 5 points | After points 3, 7, 11, 15 and so on (3.8.8) | The same, plus every 4 points in overtime (4.2.2.1) |
| Ball | 29 to 31 cm around | 330 mm (±10) around and 85 g (±5) (1.1.4) | The same; the old size deleted from 1.1.5 |
| Boundary | None: "there are no out of bounds" | A circle of 8.5 m radius (1.2.3, 5.5.1.5) | The same |
| No Hit Zone | 3 ft, given as 90 cm or 91.4 cm | 100 cm for all divisions (1.2.5, 5.6.1) | The same |
| A ball landing in the No Hit Zone | No rule | A serve is a fault (4.5.15); a hit loses the point (5.5.1.6) | The same |
| The toss | Either hand; 5 seconds after "service" | Not with the hitting hand (4.3.7); 3 seconds (4.4.1) | The same |
| Teammates during the serve | May not step until the serve is struck | May move, within limits (3.8.6, 3.8.7) | The same |
| Returning the serve | One to three touches | Exactly three touches (5.5.1.7) | The same |
| A simultaneous first touch | Two hits | One hit (5.2.4) | The same |
| A serve that hits the server's partner | Both a service fault (4.6.12) and a lost point (5.5.5.2) | Both, still | A lost point only |
| Grip substances | Not mentioned | Not mentioned | Banned: chalk, tacks, pine tar, grip gloves (2.2.4) |
| Misconduct | Rude, offensive, aggression | The same | Poor Spirit, Behavioral, Aggressive, equipment damage (7.3, 7.4) |
The numbers in brackets are rule numbers: the June 2024 edition's in its own column, the July 2026 edition's everywhere else. The sections below take the changes that alter play, in the order a game meets them.
Equal serving: the serve no longer follows the rally
Up to June 2024 the serve went with the rally. Rule 3.3.1 said "If the serving team wins a rally, they score a point and continue to serve", and 3.3.2 "If the receiving team wins a rally, they score a point and must serve next". Which of the pair served was set by the score: on the right of the partner when the team's score was even, on the left when it was odd.
Since 17 October 2025 the order is fixed before the first serve. Rule 4.2.1: "The first server starts to the right of their partner and serves for only one point." Rule 4.2.2: "After the first point, each team serves two points in a row and all servers start from the left of their partner." After the first of the two, the server swaps spots with the partner and serves to the other opponent. The four players serve in a loop, two points each, whoever wins the rallies, and they all rotate one spot counterclockwise after points 3, 7, 11 and so on. The roundnet score counter tabulates the first twelve points server by server.
Two loose ends were tied in July 2026. The October 2025 edition still carried the old 3.3.1 and 3.3.2, so it said both that the serve follows the rally and that it does not; the change log removed them as "No Longer Applicable due to Equal Serving". And overtime changed. From 21–20 without a two-point lead each player serves one point in turn. In October 2025 "players keep the same positions for the rest of the game"; since July 2026 they "rotate counterclockwise every 4 points before the first server of the game begins any subsequent serve rotation".
A bigger ball and an 8.5 m boundary
The ball is bigger and now has a weight. Rule 1.1.4 since October 2025: "the ball weight is 85g (± 5g tolerance). The ball circumference is 330mm (± 10 mm tolerance.)" The June 2024 rule asked for a circumference of 29 to 31 cm, so the new ball is about 3 cm bigger around. The October 2025 text kept that old range in rule 1.1.5 as well, contradicting 1.1.4; the July 2026 edition deleted it, and its change log confirms "330mm=13 inches". The pressure range, 0.3 to 0.5 PSI (2,000 to 3,500 pascals), did not change.
The IRF rules had no out of bounds at all until October 2025. The June 2024 edition recommended a court of at least 10 × 10 m, "however, there are no out of bounds". Now rule 1.2.3 draws an outer boundary as a circle 8.5 m (27.9 ft) from the centre, and rule 5.5.1.5 makes it a lost point for the hitting team when "the ball touches the ground outside the outer boundary without the opposing team touching the ball before it contacts the ground". The line is in, and the boundary does not apply to the serve.
The 8.5 m figure came out of testing. The Rule Revolution's three packages each tried a different circle and No Hit Zone before the October 2025 edition settled on the third.
| Package | Months | Boundary radius | No Hit Zone | Serving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A, "Bolster Defense" | March and April | 7.5 m | Not changed | Not changed |
| B, "Nerf Hitting" | May and June | 9 m | 110 cm men, 100 cm women | Two points per server, alternating teams |
| C, "Synergy" | July and August | 8.5 m | 100 cm, all divisions | A revised rotation and order |
| Rules of 17 October 2025 | From October 2025 | 8.5 m | 100 cm, all divisions | Equal serving (4.2) |
The No Hit Zone: 100 cm, and the ball may not land in it
The No Hit Zone is the circle round the set inside which the final hit of a possession may not be started. It is now 100 cm (3.28 ft) from the centre of the net "for all divisions" (rule 1.2.5). It used to be 3 ft, and the older rulebooks could not agree how many centimetres that was: the June 2024 edition gave 91.4 cm in its court rules (1.2.4) and 90 cm in its playing rules (5.6.1). Most campus rule sheets in search results still say 3 ft.
The bigger change is what the zone now does to the ball, not to the hitter. Since October 2025 a serve that lands on or within the No Hit Zone lines is a service fault (4.5.15), and a hit that lands there loses the point (5.5.1.6). The 2025 test events called this the "no-drop zone", and USA Roundnet's 2026 tour notes use the same name. A shot that dies just past the rim, inside 100 cm of the centre, now loses the point instead of winning it. In July 2026 the IRF deleted a sentence about using the men's line in mixed play, because there is only one size.
The serve: three seconds, the other hand, three touches back
The four steps of a serve were already in the June 2024 rules: the server calls the score, serving team first, with "first" or "second"; the receiver acknowledges readiness within three seconds; the server says "service" within three seconds; then the toss. What changed in October 2025 is the last step. The server now "has three seconds to toss the ball" (4.4.1); in June 2024 it was five. A late toss is a service fault (4.5.13).
Three more serving changes arrived at the same time:
- No same-hand toss. "The ball cannot be released and struck with the same hand" (4.3.7), with an exception for players with physical limitations. Doing it is a service fault (4.5.14).
- Teammates can move. In June 2024 the server's teammate and the receiver's teammate could not step until the serve was struck. Now the server's teammate may move at any time but stays outside the service line until the serve is hit, may not cross in front of the receiving team (a lost point) and keeps 1.5 m from both receivers until the receiver has touched the ball (3.8.6.1, 4.4.1.2.2). The receiver's teammate may move only along a straight line from the centre of the court through their starting spot (3.8.7.1).
- Three touches back. Rule 5.5.1.7 makes it a lost point if "the receiving team returns the serve without using three touches". Before, a receiving team could send a serve straight back with one touch. Because the receivers can no longer return the ball before their third touch, July 2026 removed "a change of possession" from the window for calling a service fault (4.4.2.1), which now runs until the ball is hit a second time, or about three seconds after a dead ball.
One clause went the other way. The rulebooks of 2024 and October 2025 listed a serve that hits the server's own partner as a service fault, worth a second serve, while rule 5.5.5.2 already made a shot off the net that hits the hitter or a teammate a lost point "(includes serves)". The July 2026 change log removed the service-fault version as "inaccurate" because it "contradicts 5.5.5.2". Serving into your partner now simply loses the point.
Touches and contacts
Four changes affect what counts as a hit, two from October 2025 and two from July 2026:
| Situation | Before | Now | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Both players touch the ball at once on a team's first touch | Two hits | One hit; either player may take the next | 5.2.4 |
| The first touch glances off two players' bodies in one action | One player's body only | One or both players' bodies, as one hit | 5.3.5 |
| What counts as "one action" | Not defined | The players move in reaction to the opponent's hit, not to the ball's new path after their own touch | 5.3.5.1 (July 2026) |
| A player touches the first ball twice before it starts to fall (the "soft touch") | Allowed, not straight onto the net | Allowed, and must be set to the partner | 5.3.6.2 (July 2026) |
The soft touch is still not allowed on serve receive (5.3.6.1). And July 2026 reworded the hinder rule so that "a player experiencing a possible hinder" chooses whether to stop play, which the change log describes as "Only Hindered Player may call Hinder".
Conduct: grip substances and a new misconduct ladder
From July 2026, rule 2.2.4 strictly prohibits "materials or substances that introduce friction or stickiness to the hand" and anything that alters the ball's surface "from a dry and degreased state". The list names grip-enhancing gloves, tacks, pine tar, "all forms of chalk" and sweat-prevention hand lotions. Wiping rain off the ball and using a towel stay legal.
Misconduct was rewritten into four categories, and most sanctions now count against the team within a match rather than the player:
| Category | First | Second | Third |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poor Spirit: repeated infractions for advantage, taunting, noise during the opponent's serve | Warning | Lost point | Match forfeit |
| Behavioral: abusive or insulting conduct, misuse of the ball, net or player equipment | Lost point | Tournament disqualification | — |
| Aggressive: any attempted or actual attack or threat | Tournament disqualification | — | — |
| Equipment damage | Tournament disqualification, and the player replaces the equipment | — | — |
Delay of game also got a clarification. After a warning, a second delay costs the team its time-out or, if it has none, a point (3.10). Since a time-out may not be called between the first and second serve (3.9.1), a delay at that moment now costs the point.
What did not change
The scoring and the shape of a match are as they were in 2024:
- Rally scoring; games to the designated number, "typically 15 or 21", won by two, with an optional hard cap set before the game (3.4).
- A match is usually two games won (3.5), with three minutes between games (3.11) and one 60-second time-out per team per game (3.9.1).
- The set is 91.4 cm across and 20.3 cm high (1.1.2), and the service line is 2.13 m (7 ft) from the set's edge, 2.6 m from the centre (1.2.4).
- Two attempts at a legal serve; the serve must not be higher than the receiver's shoulder, and the ball must travel 10 cm from the release before it is struck.
- The pocket rules for serves (4.5.7, 4.5.8) and the No Hit Zone rule that the final hit starts outside it (5.6).
Which rules your game uses
The IRF rules are written for sanctioned tournaments. USA Roundnet's 2026 North American Tour Series "will follow the IRF's 2026 Rules", listing the bigger ball, the 8.5 m boundary, the 100 cm No Hit Zone and the no-drop zone, and equal serving in its Open, Women's and Squads divisions. Its 2027 college series uses "the standard IRF ruleset". The Rule Revolution is finished; the IRF says future changes will be tested at selected events and "Updates made annually between seasons".
Most other play has not moved. The rule sheets that rank for "spikeball rules" are campus intramural and city league PDFs, and nearly all of them give the winner-serves rule, no boundary and a 3 ft No Hit Zone. Neither version is wrong for a backyard game; the mistake is mixing them. Agree which rules apply before the first serve, and if it is the IRF's, note that the serving order no longer depends on who wins the rally.
Frequently asked questions
What are the new roundnet rules for 2026?
The rules in force are the IRF's of 17 July 2026. They keep the October 2025 overhaul: equal serving with a rotation after points 3, 7 and 11, an 85 g ball of 330 mm, an 8.5 m boundary, a 100 cm No Hit Zone that serves and hits may not land in, and three touches on the serve return. July 2026 added a ban on grip substances, a new misconduct ladder and overtime rotations.
Is there out of bounds in roundnet?
Yes, under the IRF rules since 17 October 2025. The court has an outer boundary, a circle 8.5 m (27.9 ft) from the centre, and a ball that lands outside it without the opponents touching it first loses the point for the team that hit it. The line is in, and the boundary does not apply to the serve. Until October 2025 the rulebook said there were no out of bounds.
How big is the no hit zone in roundnet?
100 cm (3.28 ft) from the centre of the net, for every division, under the IRF rules since October 2025. It used to be 3 ft, given as 90 cm or 91.4 cm. The final hit of a possession must start outside it, and since 2025 a serve that lands on or inside its line is a fault and a hit that does is a lost point.
Do you have to use three touches in roundnet?
On the serve return, yes. Since October 2025, IRF rule 5.5.1.7 makes it a lost point if "the receiving team returns the serve without using three touches". In every other possession a team may still use one, two or three touches. The IRF's July 2026 change log puts it plainly: "Must use all 3 touches on first possession."
How big is the new roundnet ball?
330 mm around, plus or minus 10 mm, and 85 g, plus or minus 5 g, under IRF rule 1.1.4 since October 2025. The rule it replaced asked for 29 to 31 cm around. The pressure range is unchanged at 0.3 to 0.5 PSI, or 2,000 to 3,500 pascals. The October 2025 text still quoted the old circumference in rule 1.1.5; July 2026 deleted it.
Can you toss and hit the serve with the same hand in roundnet?
No, not since October 2025. IRF rule 4.3.7 says the ball cannot be released and struck with the same hand, and doing it is a service fault (4.5.14), so the server gets a second serve or, on a second fault, loses the point. Players with physical limitations are exempt. The ball must still travel 10 cm from the point of release before it is struck.
What happens if you serve into your partner in roundnet?
Your team loses the point. Rule 5.5.5.2 makes it a lost point when a shot off the net hits the hitter or their teammate, and it says this includes serves. Until July 2026 the rulebook also listed it as a service fault, worth only a second serve. The IRF removed that clause as "inaccurate" because it "contradicts 5.5.5.2".
How long do you have to serve in roundnet?
Three seconds for each step after the score call: the receiver acknowledges readiness within three seconds, the server says "service" within three seconds, then has three seconds to toss. The toss limit was five seconds until October 2025. Missing it is a service fault (4.5.13), and other delays bring a warning, then a time-out or a lost point (3.10).
What was the Roundnet Rule Revolution?
The IRF's 2025 project to test rule changes at real events, with the stated aim to "Increase Rallies, Decrease Aces and Double Faults". Three packages ran from March to August 2025 at events including USA Roundnet's tour and Roundnet Germany's Masterseries, trying different boundaries, No Hit Zones and serving orders. The rulebook of 17 October 2025 adopted the result.
Do the new roundnet rules apply to casual games?
Only if you choose them. The IRF rules govern sanctioned play, and USA Roundnet's 2026 tour and 2027 college series use them. Backyard games and many campus intramurals and leagues still play older rules: the winners serve, no boundary, a 3 ft No Hit Zone. Agree which rules you are playing before the first serve, and keep score to match.