Outdoor & pub games
Croquet
- players
- 2–6
- minutes
- 45
- years
- 6+
In the box
Mallets · Coloured balls · Hoops · Stakes
Official rules (federation's site)
Box details
- Origin
- Traditional game, with no specific designer or publisher
- Mechanics
- DexterityRaceTake That
Where to buy it
Near you
In a shop
Within 50 km.
The basics
Get your ball through every hoop on the course, in order, before the others. On your turn, you hit your ball once; running a hoop in the right direction earns an extra stroke, and a roquet on another ball earns two. Each hoop and the final peg score one point, and the first to reach their thirteen points has finished the course.
The rules, step by step
Setup
6 hoops and 1 peg, 1 ball per player
- Six hoops set out in a rectangle, two columns of three, and a peg in the centre, on a closely mown lawn.
- The North American garden version is played with nine hoops (wickets) in a double diamond and two pegs: the course and the points total are different.
- One mallet and one ball per player, played in the order of the colours painted on the peg.
How to play
1 stroke per turn, Hoop run: +1 stroke, Roquet: +2 strokes
- On your turn, you hit your ball once.
- Running a hoop in the right direction earns an extra stroke.
- Hitting another ball, a roquet (croquer), earns two: you can then send it far away by placing it against your own ball.
Scoring
1 point per hoop, 1 point for the peg, 13 points per ball
- One point per hoop run in the right direction, one for hitting the peg at the end of the course.
- The there-and-back course totals thirteen points per ball: six hoops on the way out, six on the way back, then the peg.
End of the game
13 points with the peg
- The first to reach their thirteen points, final peg included, has finished the course.
- In a team game, play continues until both balls of one side have finished.
House rules and pitfalls
You can only roquet the same ball once between two hoops run: without this rule…
- You can only roquet the same ball once between two hoops run: without this rule, a good player would never hand over the turn.
- A hoop run in the wrong direction does not count and must be run again in the right direction.
Going further
Variants · Frequently asked questions · In the same family
Variants
Course
Six hoops (13 points)
Association croquet: six hoops out, six back, then the peg.
Nine wickets (14 points)
The North American garden version, in a double diamond with two stakes.
choose them when you start a game: the scorer adapts
Frequently asked questions
What does it mean to "roquet" a ball?
To hit an opponent's ball with your own. You then earn two strokes, the first of which can be used to send it far away, by placing the two balls in contact and hitting your own: this is the croquet stroke.