The original croquet game called Association Croquet began in Europe well before 1900 and was played mainly on the private lawns of country homes for recreation. Association Croquet was the sole or primary game played at clubs in Australia up until about the1980s. Golf Croquet was played occasionally as a social game at some clubs until then but has become increasingly popular since. It's now played regularly at most clubs and there are many golf croquet  tournaments strongly contested at all levels throughout the year. Other more recent forms of croquet are Ricochet, Gateball and Aussie Croquet.


Association Croquet remains popular and is considered by many to be the more challenging game, sometimes likened to billiards but on grass, due to techniques of calculating angle, strength, spin and other skills in hitting the ‘striker’ ball to place balls in favourable position to make a ‘break’, i.e. scoring a series of hoops in order, and to make the task of an opponent to do so more difficult.

JumpShotThe jumpshot is an advanced technique used in Golf Croquet.

Golf Croquet is a faster and shorter game where the aim is also to score hoops but the players remain on court, taking turns to hit their designated ball to be the first to get to and take a hoop and thus prevent the opposition from doing so, including by hitting opposition ball/s to unfavourable positions. Many players find their skills are applicable to both Association and Golf Croquet but enjoy the differing challenges and character of the two games, while other players favour one or the other game.

GateBallBallsGateball is a relatively new game that has become enormously popular in Asian countries such as Japan and Korea and increasingly China. Partly due to the closeness and strong links these countries have with Australia, the game is dynamic and growing in popularity in Australia. It is a very fast, busy game played in teams. Gateball is played on a smaller court, while both mallets and balls are smaller and lighter than those used in the more traditional croquet games. Eastwood Croquet Club shares a very competitive Gateball team with other clubs in the region and welcomes visitors and new players to sessions on alternate Sunday mornings at either Eastwood or Epping Croquet Clubs.

For more information on Gateball, contact our Gateball Coordinator or visit Gateball Australia.


Ricochet is similar to Association Croquet but with a narrower range of strokes. It’s played at Eastwood on an irregular basis.

Aussie Croquet is also similar to Association Croquet but not generally played at Eastwood.