The Backyard Rules

Starched white clothes follow the unbendable rules of the six-wicket international game. But the nine-wicket, backyard-and-barbecue version can be adapted to fit most any lawn or group of players. Feel free to change the boundaries and the placement of the wickets, or to use lawn flamingoes instead of mallets. Although you can play on almost any terrain, freshly mowed grass is easiest. Here's a quick list of basic croquet rules for the backyard crowd.

The typical wicket arrangement
for a nine-hole game.

• Two or more people can play -- individually or in teams. The person with the blue ball goes first, then red, black, yellow, green, and orange. This corresponds to the order of the colors on the stakes. It pays to start last because you have more opponents' balls to hit: You earn two additional strokes when your ball strikes another player's ball. Flip a coin to pick who goes first.
• Place your ball a mallet's length from the first stake, behind wicket No. 1, and give the ball a whack. Players receive one stroke per turn. You earn an additional stroke by hitting your ball through a wicket or by striking the turning stake after wicket no. 7.

"To croquet" means to smash
your opponent's ball far away.

• If you strike someone else's ball, you can use the two strokes you gain to continue advancing through the wickets, or you can croquet -- this is where it gets fun.
• To croquet, place your ball against the opponent's ball you hit, and hold your ball in place with your foot. Take your mallet and whack your ball hard so you smash your opponent's ball into kingdom come. Then, use your second stroke to continue through the series of wickets.
• The first person to get his or her ball through all 14 wickets (you hit through five of the nine wickets twice) and strike the finishing stake is the winner. Do a victory dance. There are no stuffed -- or starched -- shirts in this crowd.