Croquet (UK: /ˈkroʊkeɪ, -ki/ or US: /kroʊˈkeɪ/) is a sport[1][2] which involves hitting wooden, plastic, or composite balls with a mallet through hoops (often called "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court.

[3] In all forms of croquet, individual players or teams take turns striking the balls, scoring points by knocking them through a hoop.

Advanced variants of association croquet give further penalties to dissuade skilled players from running every hoop with a ball on a single break, while handicap versions give weaker players chances to continue play after making an error.

Balls that are played more than halfway to the next hoop before a point is scored are considered offside, and are moved to penalty areas.

It was originally created to be used for croquet events[6] but has grown in popularity and is now played by many clubs when introducing new members.

Official rules were first published in 1894 by the Spalding Athletic Library, as adopted by the National American Croquet Association.

Like association croquet, the object of the game is to be the first to pass each of their balls through all six hoops in both directions and to strike the central peg, for a total of 26 points.

Unlike association croquet, balls are always played in the same sequence (blue, red, black, yellow).

A poison ball that hits a stake or passes through any wicket (possibly through the action of a non-poison player) is eliminated.

• Nosering Rule (an admittedly stupid name, the origin lost to history): Once per game, or sometimes once per half, at the end of one's turn, one may move one's ball exactly one mallet head, except not into or thru any wicket in either direction, and not to be touching either stake.

[11] As well as club-level games, county-level tournaments, and leagues, there are regular world championships and international matches between croquet-playing countries.

The sport has particularly strong followings in the UK, Spain, US, New Zealand, Australia, and Egypt; many other countries also play.

[20] The oldest document to bear the word croquet with a description of the modern game is the set of rules registered by Isaac Spratt in November 1856 with the Stationers' Company of London.

Regardless of when and by what route it reached the British Isles and the British colonies in its recognizable form, croquet is, like pall-mall and trucco, among the later forms of ground billiards, which as a class have been popular in Western Europe back to at least the Late Middle Ages, with roots in classical antiquity, including sometimes the use of arches and pegs along with balls and mallets or other striking sticks (some more akin to modern field hockey sticks).

[21][22][23] By the 12th century, a team ball game called la soule or choule, akin to a chaotic version of hockey or football (depending on whether sticks were used), was regularly played in France and southern Britain between villages or parishes; it was attested in Cornwall as early as 1283.

The first explanation is that the ancestral game was introduced to Britain from France during the 1660–1685 reign of Charles II of England, Scotland, and Ireland and was played under the name of paille-maille (among other spellings, today usually pall-mall), derived ultimately from Latin words for 'ball and mallet' (the latter also found in the name of the earlier French game, jeu de mail).

In his 1801 book The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, Joseph Strutt described the way pall-mall was played in England at the time:"Pale-maille is a game wherein a round box[wood] ball is struck with a mallet through a high arch of iron, which he that can do at the fewest blows, or at the number agreed upon, wins.

Some other early modern sources refer to pall-mall being played over a large distance (as in golf); however, an image in Strutt's 1801 book shows a croquet-like ground billiards game (balls on the ground, hoop, bats, and peg) being played over a short, garden-sized distance.

In Samuel Johnson's 1755 dictionary, his definition of "pall-mall" clearly describes a game with similarities to modern croquet: "A play in which the ball is struck with a mallet through an iron ring".

Records show a game called "crookey", similar to croquet, being played at Castlebellingham in County Louth, Ireland, in 1834, which was introduced to Galway in 1835 and played on the bishop's palace garden, and in the same year to the genteel Dublin suburb of Kingstown (today Dún Laoghaire) where it was first spelled as "croquet".

Prior, in his book of 1872, makes the categorical statement, "One thing only is certain: it is from Ireland that croquet came to England and it was on the lawn of the late Lord Lonsdale that it was first played in this country.

"[29] John Jaques apparently claimed in a letter to Arthur Lillie in 1873 that he had himself seen the game played in Ireland, writing, "I made the implements and published directions (such as they were) before Mr. Spratt [mentioned above] introduced the subject to me.

"[30] Whatever the truth of the matter, Jaques certainly played an important role in popularising the game, producing editions of the rules in 1857, 1860, and 1864.

It quickly spread to other Anglophone countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States.

There was a revival in the 1890s, but going forward croquet was always a minority sport, with national individual participation amounting to a few thousand players.

[40] That may derive from the fact that (unlike in golf) players will often attempt to move their opponents' balls to unfavourable positions.

However, purely negative play is rarely a winning strategy; successful players (in all versions other than golf croquet) will use all four balls to set up a break for themselves, rather than simply making the game as difficult as possible for their opponents.

The way croquet is depicted in paintings and books says much about popular perceptions of the game, though little about the reality of modern play.

Notably, St. John's College and the US Naval Academy engage in a yearly match in Annapolis, Maryland.

Both schools also compete at the collegiate level and the rivalry continues to be an Annapolis tradition, attracting thousands of spectators each April.