The first four turns must be taken to play the four balls onto the lawn from one of two "baulk lines" defined as one yard into the lawn on the western half of the south boundary and the eastern half of the north boundary. The current Women's Association Croquet World Champion (2023) is Debbie Lines of England. In 1868, the first croquet all-comers meet was held at Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, and in the same year, the All England Croquet Club was formed at Wimbledon, London. By the late 1870s, however, croquet had been eclipsed by another fashionable game, lawn tennis, and many of the newly created croquet clubs, including the All England Club at Wimbledon, converted some or all of their lawns into tennis courts. The world's top 10 association croquet players as of October 2023 were Robert Fletcher (Australia), Robert Fulford (England), Paddy Chapman (New Zealand), Jamie Burch (England), Reg Bamford (South Africa), Matthew Essick (USA), Mark Avery (England), Simon Hockey (Australia), Harry Fisher (England), and Jose Riva (Spain). It quickly spread to other Anglophone countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States. The sport has particularly strong followings in the UK, US, New Zealand, Australia, and Egypt; many other countries also play.

It is popular in amateur and professional competition in the UK, Ireland, what is billiards Australia and some other countries. 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". The object of the game is to reach a certain number of points, typically seven, earned by being the first to run a hoop. The game uses unnumbered, solid-colored object balls, typically red and yellow, with one black 8 ball. American six-wicket uses the same six-wicket layout as both association croquet and golf croquet, and is also played by two individuals or teams, each owning two balls. The game also uses the standard pool table although there are just two object balls a cue ball, and a 6¾ inch (171 mm) tall, narrow-necked bottle called a shake bottle or tally bottle. 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.

The object of the game is to be the first to strike each of their balls through all six hoops in both directions, in a fixed order, and to strike the central peg. A player wins the game if that player legally pockets the 8 ball into a designated pocket after all of their object balls have been pocketed. After all balls from the suit have been pocketed, the player's target becomes the 8 for the remainder of the game. The next shot must move both the player's ball and the roqueted ball, and it is the "croquet" stroke that gives the game its name. Once all of a player's (or team's) group of object balls are pocketed, the player attempts to sink the 8 ball. The same goes for an object ball that fails to touch either a cushion or a pocket. In the American game, roqueting a ball out of bounds or running a hoop so that the ball goes out of bounds causes the turn to end, and balls that go out of bounds are replaced only nine inches (23 cm) from the boundary rather than one yard (91 cm) as in association croquet.

Because of this, it is possible for a game to end with only one of the players having shot, which is known as "running the table" or a "denial"; conversely, it's also possible to win a game without taking a shot; such a scenario may occur if the opposing player illegally pockets the 8 ball on any shot other than the break (such as sinking the 8 ball in an uncalled pocket, knocking the 8 ball off the table, sinking the 8 ball when a player is not yet on the black ball, or sinking both the 8 ball and the cue ball off a single shot). 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. Solid balls are entirely colored, while striped balls have a single colorful strip across them.