Preamble

These are the rules of nine-wicket croquet as played by the Honors Croquet League. Any departures from rules found elsewhere are intentional. Players who are sticklers for the truth should get their own Leagues.

Setting Up

This is the equipment used in croquet:

The stakes and wickets are arranged as shown below. The distance between the stakes is 54 feet. The distance from each stake to the nearest wicket is one foot, and to the next is again one foot. All other distances should be proportioned so as to create 90- and 45-degree angles.

Starting

Each player chooses a mallet and a ball. Players take turns according to the colors of their balls, in the order blue, red, black, yellow, green, orange. A player begins by placing her ball within a mallet-head’s length of the starting stake. The following are useful starting positions:

The ball must be struck with the face of the mallet, not with the side, and under no circumstances in a manner resembling shuffle-board or billiards. A player hits her ball through the first two wickets and proceeds through the wickets in the order shown:

Scoring Wickets; Bonus Strokes

Normally, a player takes one stroke per turn. When a player scores a wicket by hitting his ball at least halfway through, in the correct direction, in the correct order, he takes a bonus stroke. There is no penalty for hitting one’s ball through a wicket backwards or out of order. Bonus strokes are not cumulative; in particular, a player takes only one bonus stroke after going through the first two wickets.

Stakes; Finishing

After passing through wicket 7, a player hits the turning stake. After hitting the stake, on the same turn, she repositions her ball with a mallet-head’s length of it and proceeds back through wicket 8. After passing through wicket 14, a player hits the finishing stake, which is the same as the starting stake, and removes her ball from the field. The first player to do this wins.

Sending

Throughout the history of croquet, the practice of sending has been a source of controversy and fascination. The social, political, and ethical complexities of the game ultimately find their roots in sending, as does all strategy. Many have speculated about the proper formulation of sending rules. While sending is simple in principle, in practice, situations inevitably arise that are too obscure to be addressed in a brief rubric. In such cases, the players should reflect on the spirit of the sending rules: prefer strategy and skill to hackery and slop, and panache to rule-mongering.

If the striker’s ball strikes (roquets) one or more other balls on which he is not dead, he may send (croquet) all, some, or none of them in sequence and then takes a bonus stroke. If his ball strikes a ball on which he is dead, there is no penalty, but he has not roqueted it: he may not croquet it, nor may he take a bonus stroke on account of having stuck it.

A player croquets another player’s ball by bringing it to his own, placing his foot on the latter, and striking it with the mallet, as shown. In the illustration, orange has roqueted black.

If the croqueted ball passes through a wicket, it has not scored the wicket. If it strikes a third ball, it has not roqueted it.

Once the striker takes his bonus stroke, he is dead on the roqueted balls, whether he croqueted them or not, until his next turn or until he passes through a wicket. If, in croqueting a roqueted ball, the center of his own ball moves more than a ball’s radius, as for example if he did not place his foot on his ball sufficiently firmly, this counts as his bonus stroke, and he must play it where it lies on the next turn.

Kamikazeism

From time to time there arises a practice known as “going kamikaze,” wherein a player who has little chance of winning abandons all hope thereof and attempts to send the leading players repeatedly, hindering their progress and making the game interminable. While no rule can enforce civility, players are encouraged to use discretion in the application of this tactic, and should bear in mind that the goal of the game is to have fun, not to be a pain in the ass.

Revised April 27, 2004.