It’s been said that Pickleball got its name from a family dog. But actually, Pickles the dog came after the game was created. Here are some fun facts about this game we’ve all come to adore.

• The Invention:
• Pickleball was invented in 1965 by Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum on Bainbridge Island, Washington.
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• The Name:
• Joan Pritchard, Joel's wife, came up with the name "pickleball" because the combination of different sports and equipment reminded her of "pickle boats" in rowing, where crews were made up of leftover rowers.
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• The "Pickle Boat" Connection:
• In competitive rowing, "pickle boats" were crews made up of rowers who didn't quite fit into the main boats, or were leftover rowers. Joan saw a parallel between this and the way pickleball combined elements from badminton, tennis, and ping-pong.
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• The Dog Story:
• There's another, more popular story that the game was named after the Pritchards' dog, Pickles, who would chase after the ball. However, the Pritchards have stated that the dog came years after the game was created, and the dog was actually named after the game, not the other way around.
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• Official History:
• Joan Pritchard documented the "pickle boat" story in articles in the Parkersburg, West Virginia News and Sentinel newspapers, and her children, Frank Pritchard and Peggy Pritchard-Olson, support and confirm this theory in several interviews done over the years.

At Pickleball.com, we too have embraced Pickles the dog as part of our family and you can see him dancing around throughout the pages of our products. And now, Pickles has a new friend named DinkBot to help you navigate our products even better.  Don’t be shy in asking DinkBot anything you need to know or learn and if DinkBot needs help, our team is there ready to jump in.