Croquet ( or ) is a sport which involves hitting wooden, plastic, or composite balls with a mallet through hoops (often called "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court.
The sport was codified in England in the 1860s and then spread overseas. However, similar games have been recorded back to the late Middle Ages. Today, there are several variations of the game.
At its highest level, the game is played internationally with top players coming from Australia, Egypt, England, South Africa, Spain, and the United States among other countries.
The sport can be played equally well by men and women. In 2018, two international championships open to both sexes were won by women.
Variations In all forms of croquet, individual players or teams take turns striking the balls, scoring points by knocking them through a hoop. The game ends when a player or team reaches a predetermined number of points. Several variations exist that differ in when and how a stroke may be legally played, when points are scored, the layout of the lawn, and the target score. Commonly, social games adopt further non-standard variations to adapt play to the conditions. In all versions, players of all ages and genders compete on equal terms and are ranked together.
Two versions of the game are directly governed by the World Croquet Federation, which organises individual and team World Championships. Other regional variants which developed in parallel remain common in parts of the world.
Association croquet
Association croquet is played between two individuals or teams, each playing with two balls. The object of the game is to be the first to strike each of one's balls through all six hoops in both directions, in a fixed order, and to strike the central peg. Each of these actions scores a point, with the maximum score being 26 points.
The first four turns must be taken to play the four balls onto the lawn from one of two "baulk lines" defined as one yard into the lawn on the western half of the south boundary and the eastern half of the north boundary. After this, a player elects at the start of each turn which of their two balls to play for the duration of that turn.
During a turn, a player may earn extra shots in two ways. A player earns a single extra shot by scoring a hoop point (hitting the striker's ball through a hoop), or two extra shots by causing their ball to contact another ball-an action called a "roquet". When a roquet is made, the player may pick up their ball and place it in contact with the roqueted ball. The next shot must move both the player's ball and the roqueted ball, and it is the "croquet" stroke that gives the game its name. After a successful croquet stroke, the player has a single further shot, known as the "continuation". During a turn, each of the other three balls may only be croqueted once between hoop points, but by stringing together a series of roquets, croquets, and scored hoops, several points may be scored in a single turn.
Advanced variants of association croquet give further penalties to dissuade skilled players from running every hoop with a ball on a single , while handicap versions give weaker players chances to continue play after making an error. The extra turns, called "bisques" are effective in levelling the odds of winning.
Golf croquet Golf croquet is played between two individuals or teams, each playing with two balls. The object of the game is to reach a certain number of points, typically seven, earned by being the first to run a hoop.
The game opens by playing each ball into the lawn from the fourth (south-eastern) corner of the lawn. Balls must be played in order (for the primary ball colours, this is blue, red, black, and yellow), and this order of play is maintained throughout the game. Hoops are contested in a fixed order, with a point awarded to the owner of the first ball to pass through the hoop in the correct direction. After a point is awarded, all players move on to contest the next hoop. Balls that are played more than halfway to the next hoop before a point is scored are considered offside, and are moved to penalty areas.
Golf croquet is the fastest-growing version of the game, owing largely to its simplicity and competitiveness. There is an especially large interest in competitive success among players in Egypt. By comparison with association croquet, golf croquet requires a smaller variety of shots and emphasises strategic skills and accurate shot-making. Games are shorter, balls are more likely to be hit harder, and 'jump' shots are more likely to be witnessed, where a ball is played to deliberately jump off the ground and over another ball.
American six-wicket The American-rules version of croquet is the dominant version of the game in the United States and is also widely played in Canada. It is governed by the United States Croquet Association. Its genesis is mostly in association croquet, but it differs in a number of important ways that reflect the home-grown traditions of American "backyard" croquet. Official rules were first published in 1894 by the Spalding Athletic Library, as adopted by the National American Croquet Association.Buffalo Sunday Morning News, NY, July 1, 1894. Retrieved Dec 16, 2020
American six-wicket uses the same six-wicket layout as both association croquet and golf croquet, and is also played by two individuals or teams, each owning two balls.
Like association croquet, the object of the game is to be the first to pass each of their balls through all six hoops in both directions and to strike the central peg, for a total of 26 points. Unlike association croquet, balls are always played in the same sequence (blue, red, black, yellow). The limitation of roqueting each ball once between hoop points is, unlike in association croquet, carried over from turn to turn until the ball scores the next hoop. In American six-wicket, this is termed "deadness", and a separate board is required to keep track of the deadness for all four balls. A further difference is the more restrictive boundary-line rules of American croquet. In the American game, roqueting a ball out of bounds or running a hoop so that the ball goes out of bounds causes the turn to end, and balls that go out of bounds are replaced only from the boundary rather than as in association croquet. "Attacking" balls on the boundary line to bring them into play is thus far more challenging.
Nine-wicket Nine-wicket croquet is played mainly in the United States and Canada. In this version of croquet, there are nine wickets, two stakes, and up to six players with one ball each. The course is arranged in a double-diamond pattern, with one stake at each end of the course. Players start at one stake, navigate one side of the double diamond, hit the turning stake, then navigate the opposite side of the double diamond and hit the starting stake to end. If playing individually (Cutthroat), the first player to stake out is the winner. In partnership play, all members of a team must stake out, and a player might choose to avoid staking out (becoming a Rover) in order to help a lagging teammate.
Each time a ball is roqueted, the striker gets two bonus shots. For the first bonus shot, the player has four options: From a mallet-head distance or less away from the ball that was hit ("taking a mallet-head") From a position in contact with the ball that was hit, with the striker's ball held steady by the striker's foot or hand (a "foot shot" or "hand shot") From a position in contact with the ball that was hit, with the striker's ball not held by foot or hand (a "croquet shot") From where the striker ball stopped after the roquet The second bonus shot ("continuation shot") is an ordinary shot played from where the striker ball came to rest.
An alternative endgame is "poison": in this variant, a player who has scored the last wicket but not hit the starting stake becomes a "poison ball", which may eliminate other balls from the game by roqueting them. A non-poison ball that roquets a poison ball has the normal options. A poison ball that hits a stake or passes through any wicket (possibly through the action of a non-poison player) is eliminated. The last person remaining is the winner.
International croquet
International croquet competition is governed by the World Croquet Federation, often referred to as the WCF. Croquet Europe is a subsidiary of the WCF set up to manage European croquet tournaments and provide a closer link to European clubs in the management of international croquet.
As well as club-level games, county-level tournaments, and leagues, there are regular world championships and international matches between croquet-playing countries. The sport has particularly strong followings in the United Kingdom, Spain, United States, New Zealand, Australia, and Egypt; many other countries also play. Both association croquet (AC) and golf croquet (GC) are competed in international championships. Every four years, the top countries play in the World Team Championships in AC (the MacRobertson Shield) and GC (the Openshaw Shield). The current world rankings show England in top place for AC, followed by Australia in second place, and New Zealand in third place, with the United States in fourth position. The same four countries appear in the top six of the GC country rankings, below Egypt in top position, and with Spain at number six.
Individual World Championships usually take place every two or three years. The 2025 AC World Championships took place in West Palm Beach, Florida; the winner was Reg Bamford. The current Women's Association Croquet World Champion (2023) is Debbie Lines of England.
The most prestigious international team competition in association croquet is the MacRobertson International Croquet Shield. It is contested every three to four years among Australia, England, New Zealand, and the United States. Other nations compete in Tier 2 and Tier 3 World Team Championships. Teams are promoted and relegated between the lower tiers, but there is no relegation to or promotion from the MacRobertson Shield. The current holders of the MacRobertson Shield are England, who won the title in 2023. At the Golf Croquet World Team Championships, eight nations contest the Openshaw Shield. There is promotion and relegation between Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3. The current holders of the Openshaw Shield are the USA, who won in 2025. The world's top 10 association croquet players as of October 2025 were Robert Fletcher (Australia), Jamie Burch (England), Reg Bamford (South Africa), Zack Watson (USA), Mark Avery (England), Paddy Chapman (New Zealand), Matthew Essick (USA), Logan McCorkindale (New Zealand), Robert Fulford (England) and Simon Hockey (Australia).
In April 2013, Reg Bamford of South Africa beat Ahmed Nasr of Egypt in the final of the Golf Croquet World Championship in Cairo, becoming the first person to simultaneously hold the title in both association croquet and golf croquet. As of 2025, the Golf Croquet World Champion was Blake Fields (USA), and the Women's Golf Croquet World Champion was Jamie Gumbrell (Australia). In 2018, two international championships open to both sexes were won by women: in May, Rachel Gee of England beat Pierre Beaudry of Belgium to win the European Golf Croquet championship, and in October, Hanan Rashad of Egypt beat Yasser Fathy (also from Egypt) to win the World over-50s Golf Croquet championship.