Outdoor Games
How to play Croquet
Guide both of your team’s balls through fourteen ordered wicket passages and the two stakes. Bonus shots let accurate play link several moves together.
What you need
Nine wickets, two stakes, four colored balls and mallets; clips help mark each ball’s next wicket
Set up the game
- Use a double-diamond court, conventionally 100×50 feet, scaled for your lawn. Put two wickets in line near each end stake, one in the center, and one at each of the four outer diamond corners.
- Viewed from the starting stake: go through both near wickets outward, near-right corner, center, far-right corner, both far wickets, and turning stake. Return through both far wickets, far-left corner, center, near-left corner, both near wickets, then finishing stake.
- Teams are Blue/Black and Red/Yellow. Each player keeps one color. Start halfway between the finishing stake and first wicket; turns cycle Blue, Red, Black, Yellow.
Playing Croquet
- Begin each turn with one stroke using the mallet’s end face on your own ball. A miss uses a stroke. Score a wicket only in correct order/direction with the ball resting fully clear.
- A wicket or turning stake earns one bonus shot; hitting another eligible ball, a roquet, earns two. You cannot repeatedly earn shots from that same ball until your next wicket or next turn.
- After a roquet, use the first extra shot from the resulting position, near the struck ball, or in contact with it, optionally holding your ball for a foot/hand shot. The second is an ordinary continuation.
- Bonus shots replace rather than accumulate; never hold more than two. Two wickets in one stroke earn two. Wicket then roquet in one stroke counts only the wicket; roquet then wicket counts only the roquet.
- Bring an out ball back perpendicular to the boundary by the agreed mallet length. A rover has completed all wickets; hitting the finishing stake removes it. First team to finish both balls wins.
A wicket does not bank a third shot
Blue has two shots after a roquet. On the first it scores its next wicket. Blue now gets the one wicket bonus instead of adding it to the unused shot. Before striking, announce both the next target and current strokes so partners do not accidentally take an extra turn.
Avoid mixing backyard rule sheets
Older USCA synopsis wording and optional carry-over deadness rules differ from the current basic rules followed here. State which sheet governs before starting. Side shots, poison and out-of-bounds turn penalties are additions, not assumptions.
Beginner decisions
- Aim for the position needed for the next wicket, not merely contact with the current one. A gentle straight approach can be better than a long shot that leaves a poor angle.
- Use clips or a written route. Several balls can occupy the same physical wicket while needing it in different directions.
Common rule mix-ups
- Using poison elimination without agreeing that separate variation.
- Adding every earned stroke to an unlimited stored total.
Questions about this game
Can an opponent push me through my next wicket?
Yes, a legally moved ball can score for its side; that does not give its owner a bonus turn.
Must a rover finish immediately?
No. It can remain to assist its partner, but any player causing it to touch the finishing stake removes it.
Sources and edition notes
USCA Basic Nine-Wicket Backyard Croquet, four-ball doubles. Uses the current basic bonus-shot rules, not older synopsis variations or poison.
Sources and stated format checked October 14, 2026. This records a document check, not a claim of hands-on testing.
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