The above from http://www.mauicroquetclub.org/History.htm as is this: Croquet in America Routlege's Handbook of Croquet, published in England in 1861, inspired a wave of popularity that swept right across the Atlantic. Croquet equipment was advertised in the New York Clipper in 1862 and five years later another New York paper editorialized, "never in the history of outdoor sports in this country had any game achieved so sudden a popularity with both sexes, but especially with the ladies, as Croquet has." The National Croquet Association (NCA), founded in 1879, held its first national tournament in 1882. While English lawn croquet was played at scattered locations, an American form of croquet had also evolved into a very different game from the rather sedate English version. It was played on a court of hard-packed dirt, with hard rubber balls, very narrow wickets, and short mallets. The court was enclosed by a wooden barricade to keep the lively balls on the field of play. In 1899, a new set of rules was standardized for the American version, which was given a new name: Roque, formed by clipping the first and last letters from "croquet." Like billiards and unlike lawn croquet, roque requires skill in making carom shots off the boundary board and in the use of English to change the path of the shot. During the early part of the century, roque become the dominant form of the sport. A new governing body, the American Roque League, was founded in 1916, while the NCA became dormant for many years. Lawn croquet made something of a comeback during the 1920s, at least among wealthy people playing on large, well-leveled lawns at estates on Long Island and in Hollywood, the two major hot beds. Croquet was frequently mentioned in Broadway and movie gossip columns because of the names involved. Among its well-known players were Harpo Marx, George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart of Broadway fame, Hollywood producers Sam Goldwyn, Howard Hawks, and Darryl Zanuck, and composer Richard Rodgers--all of whom, not so incidentally, are now in the Croquet Hall of Fame. After World War II, croquet achieved a different kind of popularity as a middle-class, backyard game for all ages, often played under rules invented on the spur of the moment. This new popularity led to the reorganization of the NCA and a new standardization of rules--although that standardization didn't necessarily reach into most of those middle-class backyards.

Forms of the Sport American lawn croquet uses nine wickets, while British lawn croquet uses only six. Interest in six-wicket croquet was revived during the 1970s. Jack Osborn organized six Eastern clubs into the United States Croquet Association in 1977 and wrote a new rule book for an American version of the sport. In the meantime, the British six-wicket version, often known as "Association croquet," was evolving into an international sport, played primarily in the British Commonwealth countries: Australia, Great Britain, Ireland, New Zealand, and South Africa. Yet another governing body, the American Croquet Association (ACA), was founded in 1987 to promote the international form of the sport. Most ACA members also belong to the USCA, and the USCA sanctions many tournaments played under international rules, as well as those played under American rules. In order to promote the sport in general, the USCA promulgates rules for four different versions of croquet: Backyard nine-wicket, American six-wicket, international six-wicket, and golf croquet, which uses the nine-wicket layout. Roque reached its peak of popularity during the 1930s, when courts were built at many of the parks and playgrounds constructed by the National Recreation Association and the Works Progress Administration during the Depression. The American Roque League still operates, but its membership is concentrated in the Midwest. Croquet, like badminton and horseshoe pitching, has something of a split personality. Millions of people occasionally play golf croquet or the backyard game, under the standard rules or not-so-standard rules, but there are only about 10,000 American players seriously involved with the six-wicket games. It takes a good deal of experience to reach the top level of play, because croquet requires an unusual combination of physical skills with strategic and tactical planning. In this respect, it resembles billiards more than any other sport. The ability to make shots is only a fraction of the game.

For many more details on roque, see http://www.spring.net/roque I am definitely a roque player and not a croquet player. It is my dream to construct a roque court at my place in Cedar Creek, Texas. I was fortunate enough to grow up playing roque during summers when my family visited my Grandfather Ed Fraunethal's cottage. Chautauqua, Illinois, where we stayed, was one of the few towns to have two full fledged roque courts with formed concrete boundary walls and hard packed sand surfaces. I reminisce about this a lot more at the above url.