Franklin Sports Croquet Set - Intermediate Croquet Set with Mallets, Balls + Wickets - Family Outdoor + Lawn Game with Stand - Adult + Kids Set - 6 Players

Surprisingly, this croquet set (mostly) survived my son's 8th birthday party. It's a budget set, nothing fancy. The mallets remained unbroken with a dozen kids who've never played croquet before whacking balls around. The balls are still in good shape. They did manage to break one of the stakes, which is a bit of a wonder because it was firmly in the ground and they snapped the top off. I wasn't watching, but I've got the feeling it didn't happen through normal croquet activity. I was looking for an inexpensive croquet set, specifically for this birthday party, and the Franklin brand was the decider when comparing to similar sets. Franklin makes some quality backyard games. I love my Franklin horseshoes.This set includes a bag for carrying everything, but you have to take the heads off of the mallets. With the wooden threads, screwing the heads on and off isn't something I would want to do often, as I'm afraid they'll strip pretty easily. I might carry around the assembled mallets separately from the bag of balls, wickets and stakes.

I rate this a horrible purchase, barely functional, and not that great to look at.First off, the look. It is made to look vintage but the finish on it is inconsistent/cheap, and pieces came already scratched and marred.Do not be fooled by this looking like the many other "Amish made" sets yo see for sale here on Amazon, this one is "Made in China" and clearly stickered as such.For functionality, the wheels are to small to roll well, and the washer set up on the axles is inadequate. When the set is rolled, even on smooth/short carpet, the small wheel diameter causes the set to rock, vibrate, and shimmy to where the balls and even the mallets fall out. When you actually try to roll this on grass, you know, where the game of croquet is generally played, the caddy is prone to fall over and the balls and mallets are all over the place. Every 5 feet of progress is halted by having to reassemble everything back onto the caddy. And then after a bit, due to poor axle design, the wheel on one side will over-tighten and seize up.I solved a majority of this by going to the hardware store and buying two larger rubber wheels and axle hardware and replacing everything myself.Another note on assembly: when installing ball holders, use a few drops of Elmers or epoxy to anchor them in, even though the instructions don't say to do so, as they will pop out when it is rolled.The brass/metal hardware on the mallet, to assemble to handle to the head is aesthetically pleasing, but horrendous functionally. First, the set screw on the handle hardware was not flush, and prohibited the handle from even being screwed into the head socket, until I filed them down. Once the brass adze on the handle could be screwed into the socket on the head of the mallet, even when screwed in completely, it was still loose and would jiggle, making the mallet vibrate horribly when striking the ball, and even spin loose/off.It is not fun to play with AT ALL.The only plus is, the wickets are very sturdy, well constructed from heavy gage metal with a nice finish.Even after all my efforts to improve/fix the set, I am sending it back for a refund, as I have no desire to continue trying to fix the issues with the mallets.

I love it! We had such fun playing it with kids and grandkids. We need to get a smaller set for the little ones but it was perfect for adults.

I bought two of these sets for a croquet tournament I was hosting. I honestly spent hours, days, and even months on research. I wanted to buy a set that was durable that would not break the bank. This is well worth the $50 I spent on each set. I put them through the stress test the moment I got them hitting the balls with great force and authority. None broke, nor did any during my tournament. Wickets a standard size but still short. The need to be at least another 3" to stand sturdy in the ground. Mallets seem a bit iffy on the connection with some wobble but overall held together great. I plan to glue mine together. Handles could be a few inches longer but most sets I saw were even shorter and I bough this set for the extra length it gave. Balls did get dinged up as others have said but I didn't think much of that. Bag SUCKS!!! If you want a set that is very portable look elsewhere. Most sets will have pockets for balls or sleeves for the mallets, this has non of that. Empty bag is all.Bottom line: I would buy this again. Some problems with wickets and bag. Wickets are standard so no big deal. Bag is of awful design but I don't intend to carry these sets around a lot. Durable mallets is why I bought this set. Job done.

After using this set at least 3 times a week so far this summer (about 48 games, maybe more), I declare without a doubt these are some of the most solid, well-made mallets you will find. And the length of the handle is perfect for adults and teenagers. My parents bought a cheaper set and their too short mallets starting breaking within 7 uses of the croquet set (the balls are well-made though). The mallets in this set I am reviewing are made of hardwood, not pine. ONE BIG CON: Last week, two of the balls starting developing cracks in them, and one of them was mine...I smacked it really hard and the whole ball exploded into a hundred clay pieces (inside balls are hard packed clay material). The other ball is distorted and looks like an egg...probably ready to crack any minute. 4 of the balls are still fine at this point, but lots of dents in them. Finding decently priced replacement croquet balls is not easy I discovered, so we are using the balls from my parents' set (since they can't use the mallets, it's a good arrangement).

This is the nicest croquet set I've ever owned. The wickets are solid steel and the mallets have steel connections. Got a great price on a used set, and I'm really happy about this purchase.