These are questions I have been asked at least once, and in some cases many times, when croquet has come up in conversations with friends, colleagues and chance acquaintances. My answers refer mainly to Association Croquet, which is the version that I play most often. It's worth noting that there are several other forms of croquet - see answers to the first two questions below.
This web page is written mainly for readers who may have encountered croquet
occasionally but are not regular players. But those who are regular players
may find something in it to amuse them, or something to quibble with.
Additional questions are welcome, as are additional answers and corrections
to any inoccuracies in my answers
- by email to Fergus.McInnes@ed.ac.uk.
FAQ
How exactly do you play croquet?
That depends on which version of croquet you are talking about. Just as
football can refer to Association Football (soccer), American
Football, Australian Rules, etc (and historically also to Rugby Football, which of
course is subdivided into Rugby Union and Rugby League), so croquet includes
Association Croquet (also known as International Rules), American Rules Croquet,
Nine-Wicket Croquet, Golf Croquet and several other varieties.
OK, so what are the differences between these forms of croquet?
They all have in common that they involve hitting balls through hoops (or "wickets"
in the USA - the word is different, but the piece of metal is the same) with mallets,
on an area of ground (the court) with a well-defined boundary.
[Strictly that last bit is not quite true, because there is such a thing as
Extreme Croquet.
But that could take us too far afield...]
The big difference is between Golf Croquet and all the other versions. In
Golf Croquet, your turn is a single shot, and then your opponent gets a turn. In
the other forms of croquet, you can earn extra shots by getting through a hoop or
by hitting other balls with your own ball, and so play an extended turn in which
you may score several hoops (a break). There is also a very visible difference
between Nine-Wicket Croquet and most other varieties, in that the number of hoops
(wickets) and the layout of the court are different.
The differences between Association and American Rules Croquet are more subtle,
but important: they involve the order in which the balls are played, the rules
on "deadness" (i.e. when you can't use a particular ball to gain extra shots),
the penalties for sending balls out of court, and the distance from the boundary
at which a ball is replaced when it has gone out. (For more detail see the
point-by-point
comparison by Ian Plummer on the Oxford Croquet Site.)
Refining that first question, then - how do you play Association Croquet?
One player (or one pair in a doubles game) takes the blue and black balls, and
the other takes the red and yellow balls. The object is to get both your
balls through all the hoops in the right order and hit them against the peg in
the centre of the court. When you get through a hoop, you earn an extra
stroke (a continuation). When you hit (or roquet)
another ball with your ball, you get two extra strokes: a croquet stroke,
in which your ball is placed in contact with the roqueted ball and then struck
so that both balls move, and then a continuation. By making a series of
roquets, croquet strokes and hoop-running shots, you can remain in play and
score several points in a turn.
See my outline of the game for more details.
Where, when and how did croquet originate?
The origins of the game are not known in detail, but
something close to the modern game of croquet appears to have been played first
in Ireland in the 19th century. It came from Ireland to Great Britain
about 1850, and became very popular in the late 19th century before being
eclipsed by the newly-invented game of lawn tennis. The rules have been
altered and refined many times over the years.
Where is croquet played?
The main Association Croquet playing countries are the UK, Australia,
New Zealand, the USA, Ireland, Canada and South Africa. There are
smaller numbers of players in many other countries. Golf Croquet is
particularly strong in Egypt, but is also played in most places where
Association Croquet is played. American Rules croquet is played in the USA
and Canada. The related game of
gateball is played
by millions of people in Japan and China, and smaller numbers elsewhere.
How many people play croquet?
Many millions of people have played some form of croquet at some time in
their lives - at a croquet club, at a hotel, in a public park or in someone's
garden. Players of "serious" croquet are far fewer, but there
are still thousands of players, in hundreds of clubs, in the UK, Australia, New
Zealand and the USA.
How big is a croquet lawn?
The standard court for Association Croquet, American Rules Croquet or Golf Croquet
is 35 yards (32 metres) long and 28 yards (25.6 metres) wide. (People who
have played only garden croquet are sometimes surprised or even intimidated by
how big a full-size court is. However, the grass on a proper croquet
court is cut shorter than on most garden lawns (more like a bowling green),
and so it is possible to hit a ball from one end to the other without
superhuman strength!) Smaller courts are sometimes used, according to the
limitations of space, the condition of the ground and the level of ability of
the players.
What size are the hoops, and what are they made of?
Tournament-standard croquet hoops are made of rigid metal (cast iron or steel)
and are 12 inches (300 mm) high and 3 3/4 inches (95 mm) wide. (This is the
internal measurement between the uprights. As the diameter of a croquet
ball is 3 5/8 inches (92 mm), there is only a 1/8 inch (3 mm) clearance between
the ball and the hoop. For advanced tournaments this is often reduced to
1/16 inch (1.5 mm).) The narrowness and rigidity of the hoops make the
game much more demanding in terms of accuracy of shots than when played with
the wide, flexible wire hoops that are often found in garden croquet sets.
What about the balls?
A croquet ball is 3 5/8 inches (92 mm) in diameter, and weighs one pound
(454 g). Traditionally balls were made of wood, but modern croquet balls
are made of specially formulated plastic. There are several approved
models of balls, which differ in their playing characteristics (elasticity etc)
within the range allowed by the regulations.
What is a croquet mallet made of, how heavy is it, and how much does it cost?
Traditionally croquet mallets were made of wood - a light wood such as hickory
for the shaft, and a heavy wood such as lignum vitae for the head.
Modern mallets are made of a variety of materials, often including carbon fibre
or aluminium for the shaft (for rigidity and lightness), with weights set
into the head and composite end-faces. Typically a mallet weighs about
3 pounds (1.4 kg). Prices (in the UK) range from about £70 upwards.
Croquet is a vicious game, isn't it?
Not any more so than any other competitive game. The object is to win!
As in snooker, you do this by making things easy for yourself (putting balls in
useful places while you are playing a break) and difficult for your opponent
(leaving only a long or obstructed shot, with no easy prospect of scoring,
when you finish your turn). The idea that croquet is a vicious game
possibly comes from old or non-standard versions of the game in which a
favoured tactic is (or was) to send your opponent's ball off into the
shrubbery. In modern croquet this is pointless, even if there happens to
be some shrubbery nearby, since the ball just has to
be brought back onto the court (a yard in from the boundary), and if you sent it
off in a croquet stroke then your turn ends immediately. Much more to the
point is to send your opponent's ball where it will be useful to you later in
your turn - unless you are coming to the end of your turn, in which case you
do usually want to leave your opponent's balls far apart or "wired" (i.e. with
a hoop between them). Golf Croquet perhaps better fits the image of a vicious
game, since here it is a common tactic to clear your opponent's ball from its
position in front of a hoop by hitting it hard with your own ball, sending it away
to a distant boundary.
Is croquet still an upper-class game, played on the lawns of manor houses and vicarages?
Much less so now than at some times in the past. Most "serious" croquet
is played at clubs where membership is open to all, and compared with many other
sports (such as golf) it is not expensive: for example the annual membership
fees at the two clubs in Edinburgh are £50 and £125 respectively. There
are a few clergymen and retired military officers in the croquet community,
but far more academics and other professionals - especially from the numerate
disciplines such as mathematics, physics and computer science.
Do you put your foot on the ball when you play a croquet stroke?
This technique (known as "tight croquet") has not been allowed in Association
Croquet since the late 19th century. It is still permitted, or even
mandatory, in some variants of the game, but not in any of the most widely
played ones.
How many hoops can a good player score in a single turn?
It is routine for good players to score all 12 hoops (i.e. the six hoops in
both directions) with one ball in a single turn. The top players also
regularly perform a "triple peel" - in which the striker's ball is played
through all 12 hoops and its partner ball is propelled through the last
three hoops, and both balls are then pegged out, all within one turn.
A few of the world's best players can achieve a sextuple peel - like a triple
peel, but with the partner ball sent through the last six hoops,
scoring a total of 12 + 6 = 18 hoop points and 2 peg points, or 20 points in all.
Does the expression "peg out" (die) come from croquet?
Probably not, but it would make sense if it had done!
When a ball hits the peg after going through all the hoops, it is said to
be "pegged out" and
is removed from the game. Sometimes a player will peg out one of the
opponent's balls, leaving the opponent's remaining ball with no partner to
join up with. (The earliest
citation in the Oxford English Dictionary for "peg out" meaning "die" is
dated 1852; the earliest citation for the croquet meaning is dated 1869,
and the earliest for the similar meaning in cribbage is 1870.)
How long does a game of croquet last?
A full-length Association Croquet game can take from about one hour to three
hours or more, depending on the skill and speed of the players. (Better
players tend to finish more quickly.) A shortened game of 14 points
(a single circuit of six hoops plus the peg for each ball) on a half-size court
typically takes less than an hour - as does a game of Golf Croquet.
How can I find out more?
There is a lot of information about croquet online.
See my croquet links page. To find out
where croquet is played in your locality, try typing "croquet" plus the name of
your city or area (and your country if you want to exclude information for places
of the same name elsewhere in the world!) into a search engine such as
Google.
Books on the rules and tactics of croquet, as well as mallets, balls and other
equipment, can be ordered from the
Croquet Association online shop.
About croquet | Links | Main croquet page
Fergus McInnes
(Fergus.McInnes@ed.ac.uk)