The opposing sides each have two balls: Blue and Black against Red and Yellow. Each side may be one or two people (i.e. singles or doubles). Each side plays alternately in rotation: blue, red, black, yellow, as shown by the sequence of colours from the top of the centre peg.

 

        Each turn consists of one stroke: no extra stoke is gained by running a hoop or hitting another ball (unlike Association Croquet). The winner of a coin toss chooses whether to play first or second. The side that plays first plays blue and black, and blue always starts. The opening strokes are played from within one yard of Corner IV (nearest hoop 4), and the players aim to run the hoops in order from 1 to 12.

 

       The winner of a single game is the first to reach 7 points. A deciding hoop (hoop 3 again) is run if the scores are equal after 12 hoops, making 13 in all. The winner in top competition typically has to win two out of three consecutive 13-point games.

 

      To score a point, a ball must run completely through the hoop in the correct direction. In marginal situations, a ball has run a hoop if none of the ball is visibly protruding from the playing side of the hoop. It may run the hoop in more than one turn, or be knocked through by another ball. If a ball should go through two hoops in order in the same stroke, both points are scored. A hoop may be won with a jump shot through the hoop over an opponent ball in the jaws of the hoop, provided the jawsed ball is not also pushed through the hoop in the course of the jump shot.

 

      The side that first gets a ball through Hoop 1 scores that point and then all balls go for the next hoop in order (i.e. Hoop 2). All players contest the same hoop. A player may play towards the next hoop before the previous hoop is run. However, subject to certain exceptions set out in the detailed rules, the opponents may ask that any ball more than halfway towards the next hoop when the current hoop is actually run, is brought back to a penalty area halfway down the east or west boundaries.