The 8 Best Croquet Sets
Updated by · How we research
Handle length, ball heft and wicket strength decide how croquet plays. Of eight sets compared, budget to Amish maple, the GoSports Six Player Deluxe leads. When users buy our independently chosen editorial choices, we may earn commissions to help fund the Wiki.
A backyard croquet ball is about three inches across and weighs a few ounces less than a regulation ball, which is why cheap sets roll fast and bounce off wickets. That's fine for a summer party. Families who want a set that lasts for years, and tall adults tired of stooping, should judge the wood and the handles first.
Editor's Notes
October 27, 2026, by Ezvid Wiki Admin:
The GoSports Six Player Deluxe moves to the top. It gives adults full-length handles at a budget price, and it's still easy to find. Four of the 2020 picks are gone from the store we link to: the North Meadow Oakley Woods Extreme, Franklin Sports Vintage, Uber Games 9 Wicket and Crown Sporting Goods Premium. The Franklin Sports Complete is out of stock as well. We dropped the DealKits Outdoor Lawn after repeated reports of mallet caps snapping on first use, and the Hathaway Deluxe for a thin owner record.
The AmishToyBox Deluxe stays as the splurge, and the Juegoal Six Player stays for kids. New picks add a second Amish-made set for eight, the Framco Deluxe with its maple caddy, and the GoSports Premium on its wooden stand. The Oakley Woods set is still sold by its maker, so it moves to the special honors, which is where readers searching for North Meadow will find it.
Croquet sets get no lab testing anywhere we could find, so the useful evidence was Croquet England's specifications for balls and hoops, the makers' wood and warranty details, and a clear pattern of cracked heads and split balls in cheaper sets. We also checked a 2024 recall of lead-painted sets from another brand.
December 14, 2020:
Still maintaining their place near the top, though coming in at a much higher price point than most other models, are the North Meadow Oakley Woods Extreme with its "indestructible" polyethylene heads and ash shafts, and the AmishToyBox 8-Player - a handcrafted option made from maple hardwood with brass ring supports on the heads. These options also include regulation-sized and weighted balls, a feature that's often overlooked in lower-priced items.
We kept the Crown Sporting Goods Premium for its beautiful faux-antique finish and the fact that it's one of the only options available offering solid wooden balls, if you're nostalgic about that sort of thing. Also for fans of all things old-timey is the Franklin Sports Vintage, a new addition that we added in place of the Scottsdale by North Meadow, which simply had too many reports of balls and mallets breaking for a model priced that high.
For those shopping within a mid-range budget for six players, we kept the Franklin Sports Complete, a natural wood finish option with metal supports where the shafts meet the heads, and with regulation-sized balls. We also added the Hathaway Deluxe, which is similarly priced to the Franklin, although the former sports a sleek, glossy black finish with a funky ombre fade on the shafts to show each player what color they are.
In the budget range we kept the GoSports Deluxe and added the Juegoal Six Player. Although not the the most durable models in terms of quality construction, they should survive infrequent play from families that know how to respect their equipment and keep it safe from the elements. If you require a little more piece of mind when it comes to longevity however, it's worth shelling out a bit extra for a model like the DealKits Outdoor Lawn, which has definitely been designed to be more hardwearing than its budget-friendly counterparts.
February 19, 2019:
We chose options at a variety of price points, from basic sets that just include the necessities to more comprehensive sets that come with additional accessories. The GoSports Deluxe and Harvil 6-Player are inexpensive and great for casual games, but they aren't as durable as higher-end options and are best suited for infrequent use. For more serious players, the AmishToyBox 8-Player, Uber Games 9 Wicket, and Framco Hardwood are very high-quality sets that are built to last for years, so they're worth paying for if you plan to use them on a regular basis. Finally, the North Meadow Oakley Woods Extreme is, as the name suggests, designed for extreme croquet and is built with materials that can handle a lot of force.
Special Honors
Oakley Woods Extreme Croquet Set The set many readers know as the North Meadow Extreme is now sold directly by Oakley Woods. Its six mallets pair ash shafts with polyethylene heads that shrug off end-grain cracks, the balls are close to regulation size, and the steel wickets are powder-coated. It costs far more than a backyard set, and the maker backs it for a year. oakleywoods.com
Wood Mallets George Wood has made croquet and polo mallets in New Zealand since 1982 and sells club-grade mallets plus complete sets built to regulation size and weight. It's the step up for players who outgrow a backyard set and want equipment a croquet club would recognize. woodmallets.com
Handle Length Comes First
Every set here includes that full layout, so the real choice is how the mallets fit the people swinging them.
Most American backyard sets are built for nine-wicket croquet: nine wickets laid out in a double diamond, a stake at each end, and up to six players with one ball each (Wikipedia). Every set here includes that full layout, so the real choice is how the mallets fit the people swinging them.
Budget sets often use 28-inch handles, which suit children and teens but make a tall adult bend over every shot. Adult sets run from about 31 to 35 inches: the GoSports Six Player Deluxe and GoSports Premium use 35-inch handles, the Amazon Basics set is about 33 inches, and the AmishToyBox Deluxe offers a 32-inch option. If kids and grown-ups share one set, the longer handle is the safer bet, because a child can choke down on a long mallet but an adult can't stretch a short one. Croquet England, which sells sets to clubs and families, lists mallet length as one of the first things to decide (Croquet England).
Balls, Wickets And What Breaks
A regulation ball is 3-5/8 inches across and weighs 16 ounces (Croquet England). Backyard balls are smaller and lighter: about 3 inches and 10 ounces in the GoSports sets, 2.8 inches in the Juegoal. Light balls carry farther on a slope and deflect off wickets, which makes for a looser, more forgiving game. The Amish-made sets use balls a little over 3-1/4 inches. Croquet England notes that solid plastic balls far outlast painted wooden ones, whose paint chips from the first game.
Wickets are the other weak point. Thin wire wickets bend in hard ground and lean after a few games; thicker uprights hold firmer, which is why club hoops are heavy steel (Croquet England). Water the lawn the day before setting up, and press wickets in by hand.
Mallet heads crack at the end grain, where the wood fibers face the ball. Rubber caps (Framco, Juegoal) or brass rings (AmishToyBox Deluxe) protect that face. Maple is denser than the rubberwood and generic hardwood of budget sets, which is most of what the extra money buys, along with longer warranties: five years on both AmishToyBox sets against six months on the GoSports sets.
Bags, Stands And Lead Paint
Storage decides whether the set gets used. Croquet England sums up the options: a nylon bag is cheap and light enough to carry in one hand, a wooden box stores everything well but often takes two people to move, and a stand or trolley shows the set off and rolls to the lawn (Croquet England). The GoSports Premium, Framco Deluxe and AmishToyBox Deluxe stand upright; the rest go in bags. Keep any wooden set dry between games, since wet wood swells and the paint lifts.
Painted toys sold in the U.S. must meet federal lead-paint limits, and croquet sets have failed them. In 2024 the CPSC recalled Sandford Family six-player sets, sold online by DOM Sports, for lead paint and banned phthalates (CPSC). None of the sets here is affected, and we found no recalls for any of their brands. Mallets are swung hard, so keep small children well back from a player taking a shot.
How we researched this
We compared 16 croquet sets, read the makers' specifications for the 8 finalists, used Croquet England's published standards for balls, hoops and sets, analyzed owner feedback for patterns of cracked mallets, split balls and bent wickets, and checked every brand against the CPSC recall database.
Frequently asked questions
What are the parts of a croquet set called?
A backyard set has mallets, balls, wickets (called hoops in Britain) and two stakes, also called pegs. Club sets add clips that mark which wicket each ball plays next, and corner flags for the court.
How many people can play croquet?
Nine-wicket croquet takes two to six players, one ball each, and most sets have six mallets. Teams of two or three can share colors. The AmishToyBox sets come with eight mallets and balls for bigger groups.
How big a lawn do I need?
Any flat patch of mown grass works, and you can shrink the layout to fit. Croquet England suggests an area of about 57 by 46 feet for a semi-serious game. Bumps and hollows matter more than size, especially with light backyard balls.
What makes a croquet set durable?
Dense wood such as maple, caps or brass rings on the mallet heads, solid plastic balls rather than painted wood, and thick steel wickets. Store the set dry. Cheap sets most often fail at the mallet heads and the balls.
Can I still buy a North Meadow croquet set?
The North Meadow Extreme is sold today by Oakley Woods, directly from its website; we list it in the special honors. It isn't currently stocked by the big online retailers.
