Rules

You can play croquet anywhere with a reasonably flat surface (unless playing EXTREME croquet). The court should ideally be a 100 feet by 50 feet rectangle with the boundaries marked with string.

The wickets should be in a figure eight or double diamond shape whereby wickets are placed at each point of the diamond. A stake is placed at the top of each of the diamonds.

For two or four players use 4 balls and for 6 players use 6 balls. But you can also play many more than 6 players by making up teams for each ball.

Painted on the stakes and mallets you will find six colored stripes. The order of the play follows the colours of stripes from top to bottom (with the striking end on the ground).

To start play, line the balls up at one of the two stakes and take turns striking a ball using the stripes on the stakes and mallets to dictate the order of play.

Navigate through the wickets in the correct order starting at the stake at the bottom of the figure eight. Players take turns striking his/her ball once per turn. A player receives a bonus shot if s/he scores a wicket or stake or by hitting another players ball. A turn is completed when the player has completed the course or no more bonus shots have been achieved.

The game continues until a player has been through the entire course, both diamonds, and finishes at the stake where the game began.

To score a wicket a ball must go all the way through a wicket and must not roll back.

For official rules click here.

‘EXTREME croquet’ is where the course is deliberately setup in to include slopes and obstacles such as rocks, cement paths or storm drains. See the gallery page for some pictures our site visitors have sent in.