The official rules are set by The Croquet Association.
The game is played by two sides. One side has the black and blue balls and the other side has the red and yellow balls. The object of the game is to advance the balls around the lawn by hitting them with a mallet, scoring a point for each hoop made in the correct order and direction.
The winning side is the first to score the 6 hoop points and then finish by scoring one peg point for each of its balls. See diagram for the positioning, order and direction of scoring hoop points. The winning side will therefore score 14 points.
The sides are made up of either one player per side (singles) or two players per side (doubles). The rules are the same for singles and doubles.
The players take turns and only one plays at a time. At the beginning of a turn the player (called the "striker") has one shot. After that shot the turn ends, unless extra shots are earned. The turn ends when the striker has no more extra shots to play. Then it is the opponents turn to play.
