All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club are invited to become members. The patron of the club is Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and the President is The Duke of Kent. The Club was founded by six gentlemen at the offices of "The Field" on 23 July 1868 at the height of a croquet craze as the "All England Croquet Club," and held its first croquet competition in 1870. Its original ground was situated off Worple Road, Wimbledon. Croquet was very popular there until the then-infant sport of lawn tennis (a game introduced by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield a year or so prior, and originally called "Sphairistikè") was
Lawn game involves hitting wooden or plastic with a mallet through a series of hoops. Croquet became popular in England in the 1860s. In the United States, the game is governed by the National Croquet Association, which coordinates annual tournaments. Several variations of the game exist. Pétanque is a form of bowls and boules where the goal is to throw hollow metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a "cochonnet" (literally "piglet") or jack, while standing inside a circle with both feet on the ground. Pétanque has been described as "the world's most played form of bowls."