The game of croquet is traditionally enjoyed as a backyard game in warm weather, but it’s actually a real sport! You need to know how to play croquet!
Cucumber sandwiches, tea, and croquet, anyone? Quite the English sport today, croquet seems to have origins that date back to France in the thirteenth century. Peasants hit balls through willow-branch hoops with mallets.
Then circa 1852, the Irish taught the English how to play croquet, then called “crooky,” which they had been playing since the 1830s.
Now on lawns across England and backyards in the U.S., with a Pimm’s Cup or lemonade in hand, croquet players can be seen whacking wooden balls through metal hoops trying to hit a peg at the end.
Care to get in on the fun and the sport? Yes, it’s an actual sport!
To get you started, here are the rules of croquet from the World Croquet Federation (WCF). Keep reading and start playing!
How to Play Croquet
The goal of the sport is to guide your assigned wooden balls toward and then through the six metal hoops placed on the lawn. Once through, the balls must hit a croquet peg to “peg out.” If playing with multiple singles, you can also hit the balls back through each of the six hoops and peg out on the peg at the start of the field. The first to peg out their ball or balls and get a score of 14 wins.
A top croquet set will have you covered with everything you need for serious sport as well as backyard Pimm’s-and-lemonade fun.
Singles or Teams and Equipment
Croquet is a sport for singles, where it’s one on one, or doubles, where you play two on two. Think tennis. Some play croquet with multiple players as singles if it’s just for fun. The clubs and competitions stick to singles and doubles.
Wooden Balls
Each team or singles player gets a set of colored balls. For example, one team or player may have blue and/or black, and the other red and/or yellow. Some backyard croquet sets come with multiple colors of balls, and each player can have one ball with a unique color each.
The balls are about three inches across and weigh about a pound.
Mallets
Each player gets a wooden mallet to hit the ball. Each mallet is about two feet to a bit over three feet long. The head, which is used to strike the ball, is about nine to 12 inches in length. It has either a square or round face and either a cylinder or rectangular-block shape.
Hoops
The hoops are metal and stuck into the lawn so that they are 12 inches above the ground and three-and-a-quarter inches wide.
Pegs
There are two wooden pegs, or posts, used. One to be placed at the start and one to be placed at the other end of the hoops. The pegs are 18 inches tall and one-and-a-half inches in diameter. They must have white paint on them with six inches of white above the ground.
The “Field” or Lawn
The field, or lawn, usually has a length of about 60 feet and is 45 feet wide. Official croquet lawns at official croquet clubs tend to run bigger since they make sure the grass is cut short so the balls roll fast.
But you can go with the size of the lawn that’s available. Just get a bit creative and keep proportions even.
Set the hoops two-by-two on the left and right so they zigzag between the two pegs.
Keeping Score
Each player or team gets a point each time the ball goes through each hoop and a point each time it pegs out.
If you each have one ball, this means on the way up to the first peg, it’s six hoop points and one peg point. On the way back to the starting point peg, it’s another six hoop points and one peg point for a total of 14.
If you each have two balls and are playing by the WCF rules, it means taking both balls through the six hoops for 12 points and hitting the end peg once each for another two and a total of 14.
The Big Win
The first player or team to get 14 points wins. To get 14 points, you have to complete the course, of course.
The Rules of the Game of Croquet
Although you can play backyard croquet with one ball each for fun, let’s look at the serious sport rules where each team or player gets two balls.
The Start
Choose teams. Toss a coin to see which team or player starts. The coin-toss loser picks the balls/colors. Each team or player gets two colors.
Teams/players take turns. The first team hits the first ball and if an extra hit is earned, goes again.
You get an extra hit if you hit the ball through the right hoop. If you hit one of the other balls, you get two extra hits. Once all balls are in play, there are three other balls on the lawn besides yours.
The second player/team goes next. When it’s back to the first player or team, the third ball must go in and then the fourth. In other words, you have to get all four balls on the lawn before you can go back to playing the first ball.
A Roquet
When you hit another ball and get those two extra shots, it’s called making a “roquet,” and that second ball is a “roquet ball.” The first of the two shots has to involve the roquet ball, as in, you put your ball against the roquet ball when you hit your ball. The roquet ball must at least shake a little or actually move.
The shot after the first roquet-ball shot has to be from the spot where the first original ball is sitting.
Some tricksters like to whack the roquet ball out of the area, just for fun or as a great tactic! Sports betting anyone? If it goes off the lawn, however, it needs to be brought back a couple of feet within the lawn.
Hoop Score, Shots, and Pegs
The ball has to go all the way through the hoop to get a point. None of it can be under the hoop for it to count.
When you hit the ball, it has to be with the face of your mallet and you’re not allowed to come in contact with hoops, other balls, or the pegs. Think golf!
After your ball hits the last peg, it is done and out of the game.
The Sport of Croquet Is Calling Your Name
Now that you know how to play croquet, it’s time to get yourself a set, grab your friends and Pimm’s Cup or lemonade, and give it a go.
Who knows, it might become a serious sport for you.
Because yes, it is a serious sport with serious clubs and lawns if you’re interested. And keep reading here for more on other serious sports you follow on a leisurely weekend afternoon, like the one that’s similar to that Brit-loved cricket, but might require some hot dogs and sodas instead.