Croquet is a sport that involves hitting wooden or plastic balls with a mallet through hoops (often called "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court. While there are many variations of croquet, your croquet set most likely came with either 6 or 9 hoops, and can be used for one of the following set ups. Once the hoops are in place, croquet can last from twenty minutes to several hours, depending on how much conversation takes place in between mallet swings