How to play croquet.

What is golf croquet?

Golf croquet is a lawn game where two sides race to get their balls through six hoops. Every ball aims at the same hoop, and the first one through wins a point for its side. Then everyone moves on to the next hoop.

You hit your ball once, and then the turn passes. Running a hoop or hitting another ball never earns you a bonus shot. The thinking comes from where you leave your ball and what you do to your opponents’ balls.

Why start with golf croquet?

Golf croquet suits newcomers: you can be in a real game the day you start. The Birmingham Croquet Club plays it on lawns around Birmingham, Alabama, and we’ll teach you, with a mallet ready for you. A turn is a single stroke and every hoop is a fresh start for both sides.

In the US, when people say just “croquet,” they often mean the six-wicket game, which is often timed, at about an hour and ten minutes to two hours. A golf croquet game often takes about 50 minutes. Our types of croquet guide compares them.

What do I need to play?

You need a lawn, six hoops, a center peg, four balls and a mallet. A standard court is 35 yards long and 28 yards wide, but a patch of grass about 50 by 40 feet works too. Our court setup guide shows where everything goes, and the equipment guide covers what to buy.

You don’t need to buy anything first. Flat-soled shoes are enough for casual play, and many clubs lend mallets. We have a mallet for you.

Which ball is mine?

Each side owns two of the four balls: one side plays blue and black, the other plays red and yellow. In singles, one player against one, you play both balls of your side. In doubles, two against two, each player plays one ball for the whole game.

To decide who goes first, toss a coin. The winner chooses to play first or second, and whoever plays first takes blue and black and hits blue first. A set of green, brown, pink and white works the same way, in the order green, pink, brown, white. If more than four of you turn up, rotate players in and out between games so everyone gets a game.

In what order are the hoops played?

In a usual 13-point game, play follows a fixed route: hoops 1 to 6, then the same six hoops again in a new order, each run the opposite way. In the drawing below, hoop 1 is bottom left, hoop 2 top left, hoop 3 top right and hoop 4 bottom right. Hoops 5 and 6 are in the middle, below and above the peg.

Hoops 1, 2, 5 and 6 are run heading up the drawing at first, and hoops 3 and 4 heading down. For points 7 to 12 you visit the hoops in the order 2, 1, 4, 3, 6, 5, each run the other way. That isn’t simply hoops 1 to 6 backward, so keep the drawing handy until it sticks.

How does a game start?

Each ball is first played in from the start area, which is within one yard of corner IV. In the drawing above, corner IV is the bottom-right corner, so the first shots are aimed toward hoop 1 at the bottom left. The first four turns bring in all four balls, one after another.

Friendly games are often looser. They may let you start anywhere within a yard of the right-hand edge, from corner IV up to a point level with hoop 4.

What happens on a turn?

A turn is one stroke: you hit your ball once, and then play passes to the next ball in the order blue, red, black, yellow. You never choose which ball to play, because the order decides. Hit the ball with the flat end of the mallet head, not the side. Our shots and tactics guide covers grip, stance and aim.

How do I score a hoop?

You score by sending a ball through the hoop that is next in order, in the right direction, and the point goes to the side that owns that ball. A ball has run the hoop once no part of it sticks out on the side it came from, and it scores if it comes to rest that way when the turn ends. A ball that enters from the wrong side can’t score in that stroke.

Here is the part that surprises beginners: the point goes to the owner of the ball that runs the hoop, even if someone else’s stroke drove it through. Knock an opponent’s ball through the hoop and you’ve just scored for them. If two balls run the hoop in one stroke, the one that was nearer the hoop beforehand takes the point.

How do you win?

The usual game is played for 13 points, and the first side to reach 7 wins. After 12 hoops, if each side has 6 points, hoop 3 is played once more as a deciding 13th point.

Shorter and longer games exist. In a 7-point game, 4 points wins. It uses hoops 1 to 6 and plays hoop 1 again at 3–3. A 19-point game goes to 10. The rules guide sets all three out in a table.

What do the first few turns look like?

The first four turns bring in the four balls, and then the race for hoop 1 begins. Imagine Maya and Leo playing singles. Maya wins the toss and chooses to go first, so she has blue and black, and Leo has red and yellow.

1. Maya plays blue from the start area, aiming toward hoop 1.
2. Leo plays red from the start area.
3. Maya plays black, then Leo plays yellow. All four balls are now in play.
4. Blue is next in the order, so Maya plays blue again and moves it up the lawn.
5. Leo plays red and leaves it right in front of hoop 1.
6. Maya plays black. She means to clear Leo’s red away, but she hits it straight on and drives it through hoop 1. Red ran the hoop, so Leo scores, even though Maya hit it.
7. Every ball now heads for hoop 2. Yellow is next, so Leo plays.

That’s why players clear an opponent’s ball away from a hoop instead of through it. The game then repeats until one side reaches 7.

What trips up beginners?

Three rules often trip up beginners: offside, the wrong ball and faults. Each has a fuller explanation in the rules guide.

• Offside. After a point is scored, a ball lying wholly past the halfway line, on the next hoop’s side, is offside, whichever side owns it. The other side can make you play that ball next from a penalty area, a small half-circle at the middle of a long edge of the court. You don’t lose a turn. A ball that got there by the stroke just played, or by an opponent’s stroke, is not offside. Offside in full.
• The wrong ball. Check whose turn it is and which color is up before every stroke. If the wrong ball is played, the fix depends on the mistake, and often the balls go back and the right ball is played. A player who sees a wrong ball about to be played must stop play. Wrong ball in full.
• Faults. A fault is an illegal way of hitting: using the side of the mallet, hitting the ball twice, pushing it along, or touching a ball with your body as you play. If someone stops play before the next stroke, the other side chooses whether the balls stay or go back. If nobody notices in time, the stroke stands. Faults in full.

How long does a game take?

A usual 13-point game often takes about 50 minutes, according to the World Croquet Federation, and Croquet England puts it at 30 to 60 minutes. Expect your first games to run a little longer while you learn the order.

Last updated November 2026.