Croquet Terms and Glossary — Birmingham Croquet Club

The short answer

This glossary covers about 55 croquet words. Some are golf croquet’s own, like offside and nestle, and others come from the other forms, like roquet, bisque and peel. Every entry ends with “Used in,” so you know which kind of croquet uses the word.

How do I use this glossary?

Entries run in alphabetical order, and each one ends with the forms of croquet that use the word: golf croquet, Association, six-wicket (the American game run by the United States Croquet Association, or USCA), nine-wicket (the backyard game), or all forms. Types of croquet explains how those forms differ.

We say hoop and peg, the words in the golf croquet rulebook from the World Croquet Federation (WCF). American six-wicket and nine-wicket players say wicket and stake for the same things, so you will find both here. New to the game in Birmingham, Alabama? Start here, and ask any member about a word you do not know.

Terms A to C

Advantage play: A way to handicap golf croquet by changing the starting scores instead of giving extra strokes. Players of different strength start on different scores, and both sides play to the same target of 4, 7 or 10 points. See handicap. Used in: golf croquet.
Association croquet: The form of croquet played under the World Croquet Federation’s Laws, often shortened to AC. Each ball runs the six hoops twice and then hits the peg, and a good player can score many hoops in one turn. Used in: Association.
Bisque: An extra turn given to the weaker player in a handicap game. A half-bisque is a restricted extra turn in which no point can be scored. See handicap. Used in: Association and six-wicket.
Blob: A shot at a hoop that ends with the ball stuck in the jaws by accident, so it does not score. A ball put there on purpose is said to be nestled. Used in: golf croquet.
Block: To leave your ball in the way of an opponent’s ball, for example between it and your partner or the hoop. A block is strongest close to, but not touching, the opponent’s ball. Used in: golf croquet.
Boundary: The edge of the court, taken at the inner edge of its marked line. See out of bounds. Used in: all forms.
Break: A run of several hoops scored in one turn, using the extra strokes you earn by hitting balls and running hoops. Golf croquet has no breaks, because a turn there is one stroke. Used in: Association, six-wicket and nine-wicket.
Clear (hit away): To hit an opponent’s ball away from a spot where it threatens to run a hoop, hard enough to send it well away. Used in: golf croquet.
Clip: A small colored marker that clips onto a hoop or the peg. In Association and six-wicket croquet, a clip in each ball’s color shows which hoop that ball must run next. Golf croquet may use scoring clips to keep the score. Used in: all forms.
Continuation stroke: The extra stroke you play after running a hoop, or after a croquet stroke, in the same turn. American rules call it a continuation shot. Used in: Association, six-wicket and nine-wicket.
Corner: One of the four corners of the court. The golf croquet rulebook labels them I to IV: on its diagram, I is the southwest corner, II northwest, III northeast and IV southeast. Compass names are just labels, so pick whichever way suits your lawn. Balls are first played in from within a yard of corner IV, and flags in blue, red, black and yellow may mark the corners. USCA six-wicket rules number them 1 to 4. Used in: all forms.
Croquet stroke: The stroke you play after your ball hits another ball. You place your ball touching the one you hit, then strike your own ball so that both move. See roquet. Used in: Association, six-wicket and nine-wicket.
Crown: The straight top bar of a hoop, joining its two uprights. The crown of the first hoop may be painted blue and the last one red. Used in: all forms.
Crush: A fault in which the ball is squeezed between the mallet and a hoop, the peg or another ball as you hit it. See fault. Used in: all forms.

Terms D to J

Deadness: A limit on hitting a ball you have already hit. Once your ball has hit another ball, it cannot hit that one again until it has run its next hoop. In Association croquet the limit ends with the turn, but in American six-wicket it carries over into later turns. Used in: Association, six-wicket and nine-wicket.
Double tap: A fault in which the mallet hits the ball twice in one stroke, including when the ball bounces back onto the mallet. Used in: all forms.
Extra stroke: A stroke played on top of a normal turn. In golf croquet, extra strokes belong to handicap games: the weaker player receives them, and each follows a normal turn, uses the ball just played and cannot score for the player’s own side. In Association and six-wicket croquet you earn extra strokes by running a hoop or hitting another ball. Used in: all forms.
Fault: An illegal action while you play a stroke, such as hitting the ball twice, using the side of the mallet, touching a ball with your body or damaging the lawn. In golf croquet, if the fault is caught in time, the other side chooses whether to leave the balls where they are or put them back. Used in: all forms.
Golf croquet: The form of croquet this club plays. Two sides race to run each hoop first, taking one stroke per turn, and the usual game is 13 points. Used in: golf croquet.
Halfway line: The line that decides which balls are offside. It runs from boundary to boundary, between the hoop just scored and the next hoop in order. See offside. Used in: golf croquet.
Hampered: Describes a stroke where a hoop, the peg or another ball gets in the way of your normal stance or swing, so you must take extra care. Used in: all forms.
Handicap: A number that rates a player’s strength, used to even up games between players of different ability. In golf croquet it can be as high as 20 or as low as minus 6, with lower meaning stronger, and the higher-handicap player receives extra strokes. In Association croquet the weaker player receives bisques. Used in: all forms.
Hoop: The metal arch you hit the ball through. A golf croquet hoop stands 12 inches high, with a gap between its uprights of 3 11/16 to 4 inches. Americans playing six-wicket or nine-wicket call it a wicket. Used in: all forms.
Hoop in order: The hoop a ball must run next to score. In golf croquet every ball is after the same hoop, because both sides contest one hoop at a time. Used in: all forms.
Jaws: The space between a hoop’s two uprights. A ball sitting there is “in the jaws,” and to jaws a ball means to put it there on purpose. Used in: all forms.
Jump shot: A stroke hit down into the ground so the ball bounces up. Players use it to hop over a blocking ball, run past a ball lodged in the jaws, or score at a sharp angle. In golf croquet it is legal as long as the mallet does not damage the lawn. Used in: golf croquet and Association.

Terms L to P

Lawn: The grass area where croquet is played. The rules call the marked playing area the court, and a full-size golf croquet court is 35 by 28 yards. Used in: all forms.
Mallet: The tool you hit the ball with: a rigid head with two identical flat end faces and a shaft set in the middle. Hit the ball with an end face, never the side or the shaft. The golf croquet rules set no length or weight, and mallets in common use weigh about 3 pounds. Used in: all forms.
Nestle: To leave your ball tucked in the jaws of a hoop, or close beside an opponent’s ball, so that it is awkward to play. A ball nestled in the jaws is hard to remove. Used in: golf croquet.
Nine-wicket: The backyard form of croquet. It uses nine wickets and two stakes laid out in a double diamond, four or six balls, and is usually played on long grass. Used in: nine-wicket.
Offside: In golf croquet, a ball that lies wholly past the halfway line, toward the next hoop, when a point is scored, whichever side owns it. The opponent may direct that the ball be played next from either penalty area. A ball is not offside if it got there by the stroke just played or by an opponent’s stroke. See halfway line and penalty area. Used in: golf croquet.
Out of bounds: A ball that has left the court. In golf croquet it is out as soon as any part of it would touch a vertical plane rising from the boundary, and it goes back touching the boundary where it left. In American six-wicket a ball is out when more than half of it is across the line, and it goes 9 inches in. Used in: all forms.
Partner ball: The other ball on your side. In singles you play both balls of your side, and in doubles your partner plays the other one. Used in: all forms.
Peel: To send a ball other than your own through its hoop with your stroke. In golf croquet the point goes to the owner of the ball that runs the hoop, even if someone else’s stroke drove it through. In Association and six-wicket croquet, skilled players use peels to take their partner ball through hoops. Used in: all forms.
Peg: The post in the center of the court. A golf croquet peg is 18 inches high and 1 1/2 inches wide, painted white at least 6 inches up from the ground. Americans call it the stake. Used in: all forms.
Peg out: To finish a ball by hitting the peg after it has run all twelve hoops, which takes the ball out of the game. American players call it staking out. See rover. Used in: Association.
Penalty area: In golf croquet, a half-circle with a one-yard radius at the middle of each of the east and west boundaries. When a ball is offside, the opponent may direct that it be played next from either penalty area. See offside. Used in: golf croquet.
Promote: To use your stroke to move your partner’s ball to a better spot for its next turn. Used in: golf croquet.

Terms R to W

Roque: The American hard-court variant of croquet. It was played at the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis. Used in: roque.
Roquet: Hitting another ball with your own ball. In Association, six-wicket and nine-wicket croquet a roquet earns you two extra strokes, a croquet stroke and then a continuation stroke. Hitting a ball earns nothing extra in golf croquet. Used in: Association, six-wicket and nine-wicket.
Rover: A ball that has run every hoop and has just the peg, or the stake in American play, left to hit. Used in: Association, six-wicket and nine-wicket.
Run a hoop: To send a ball through a hoop from the correct side. In golf croquet, a ball has run the hoop once no part of it still sticks out on the playing side of the jaws. Used in: all forms.
Rush: A roquet hit to drive the other ball a distance, to a spot you choose, so your next stroke starts from a more useful place. Golf croquet players also use the word for any stroke that sends another ball somewhere that helps them. Used in: Association, six-wicket and golf croquet.
Short croquet: A variant of Association croquet played to 14 points on a smaller lawn, either 24 by 16 yards or 28 by 17.5 yards. Used in: Short croquet.
Side: One of the two teams in a game, blue and black against red and yellow. A side is one player in singles or two in doubles. Used in: all forms.
Singles and doubles: In singles, one player is on each side and plays both of that side’s balls. In doubles, two players are on each side and each plays one ball for the whole game. Used in: all forms.
Six-wicket: Short for American six-wicket croquet, the USCA’s own form of the game, played under its Official Rules, revised in 2024. A game is 26 points, and balls are played in a fixed color order. Used in: six-wicket.
Stake: The American word for the peg, used in six-wicket and nine-wicket croquet. Nine-wicket uses two stakes, one at each end. Used in: six-wicket and nine-wicket.
Start area: In golf croquet, the area within one yard of corner IV where each ball is first played into the court. The first four turns bring in all four balls. Used in: golf croquet.
Striker: The player whose turn it is. The ball they are playing is the striker’s ball. Used in: all forms.
Tiebreak: In golf croquet, the extra point played when a game is tied one point short of a win. A 7-point game replays hoop 1 at 3-3, and a 13-point or 19-point game replays hoop 3, at 6-6 or 9-9. Used in: golf croquet.
Whites: The white or mostly white clothes traditional at croquet tournaments. The WCF asks for at least 75% white at its events, and the USCA says all white is customary at titled events. Used in: all forms.
Wicket: The American word for a hoop, used in six-wicket and nine-wicket croquet. The USCA’s summary of golf croquet says hoops, with wickets in brackets. Used in: six-wicket and nine-wicket.
Wiring (wired): A ball is wired when a hoop or the peg stands between it and the balls it wants to hit. In Association croquet, if you leave your opponent wired from every other ball, they may pick up the ball and start the turn from a baulk line, a line a yard inside the boundary. Used in: mainly Association.
Wrong ball: Playing a ball that is not the right one for that turn. In golf croquet the right ball is the next one in the order blue, red, black, yellow. If you play your partner’s ball, your opponents choose between putting everything back and replaying, or swapping the two balls and carrying on. Used in: all forms.

Sources

Last updated November 2026.

Croquet terms and glossary.