How to Play Croquet in Your Own Backyard

By Dataw Island on April 1, 2009 2:31 PM | No Comments

Croquet first became widely popular in Britain in the 1860s, and while it was eclipsed in popularity by tennis in the late 1870s, it remains a well-known pastime for people of varied ages and skill levels. It has many variations, including several related sets of internationally agreed-upon rules, as well as more extreme versions, such as bicycle crochet.
For the six-wicket variation as played in the United States, croquet is played in two teams, a "hot" team for the red and yellow balls, and a "cool" team for the blue and black balls. The teams play in the order of the colors on the stake. To begin your turn, place the ball about three feet from the first "wicket," which is the name for the small goals. Try to hit your ball through the wicket with your mallet. If you manage to hit it through, you may take a bonus stroke; else, your turn is over. You earn a "roquet", which is two bonus strokes, if your ball comes to rest in contact with another player's ball. This allows you to hit your ball once to cause both yours and your opponent's to move to a less desirable position, and then to hit your ball again to put it back on the path to the next wicket.
There are limits on bonus shots. After a roquet, bonus shots may only be earned on the final (second) shot, so scoring a wicket on the first shot does not earn the normal extra shot. In addition, there is a limit of two bonus shots earned at a time, so scoring a wicket and a roquet on the same shot only counts for two bonus shots rather than three. The wickets must be passed in the correct order, and the first team to hit the final stake with both balls wins the game. For the purposes of this article, the balls are numbered as follows: southwest = 1, northwest = 2, northeast = 3, southeast = 4, south central = 5, north central = 6. The wickets should be passed in the following order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 2, 1, 4, 3, 6, 5. Once your ball has passed through the wickets in the correct order but has not struck the final stake, your ball is dubbed a "rover" and may be used to roquet other balls. After a roquet, the rover ball must pass through a wicket (any wicket will do) before roqueting another ball, and it must not roquet the same ball twice in a row. You must strike the final stake with your rover before you and your partner may win the game, and once it has struck the stake, the rover is removed from play. Be careful, however, because if your opponents manage to strike the final stake while your ball is still a rover, you will lose the game!
There are several other variations on the rules, including an equally common nine-wicket variation as well as other sets of international rules, but the six-wicket variety described here is very common.