Pickleball was invented in 1965 by Congressman Joel Pritchard and his friends Bill Bell and Barney McCallum. Pritchard and Bell were at Pritchard's home on Bainbridge Island in Washington, which had an old badminton court. Their families were board, so Pritchard and Bell looked for some badminton equipment but could not find a full set of raquets. They improvised and started playing with ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball. At first they placed the net at badminton height of 60 inches and volleyed the ball over the net. As the weekend progressed, they found that the ball bounced well on the asphalt surface and soon the net was lowered to 36 inches. The following weekend, McCallum was introduced to the game at Pritchard's home. Soon, the three men created rules, relying heavily on badminton. They kept in mind the original purpose, which was to provide a game that the whole family could play together. Accounts of how the name originated differ. Our favourite version in that it was named after the creator's dog, Pickles! Apparently Pickles would chase the ball and run off with it!