RULES OF CROQUET
Of course we think croquet rules, but what are the rules of the game?
THE BASICS
Croquet can be played as singles or doubles by people of any age. It can be played socially or highly competitively and everything in between! The two most popular games are Association Croquet and Golf Croquet. Both games use exactly the same equipment (six hoops, one peg, four balls and mallets). Black and Blue balls play against Red and Yellow and follow the same order of playing the hoops.
Read the basics for each game below and the full rules can be viewed above.
Association Croquet
The aim is to take both your teams balls through 12 hoops and hit the centre peg ‘pegging out’
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It's very tactical with longer turns and is likened to snooker on grass
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By learning the different types of shot you are able to build longer breaks employing both attacking the defensive strategies.
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Can be played as either singles or doubles
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Played as short version over 6 hoops and smaller lawn, so it's a good way to get a grasp of the basics and makes for a faster game.
Handicapping system
A Handicap system gives a player extra shot when playing someone better. It allows a novice to take on the world campion with a 50% chance of winning.
Golf Croquet
Aim of the game is to run more hoops than your opponent.
Games are usually played as 13 point games – the first player/team to run 7 hoops is the winner.
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It is very easy to learn and with one shot per turn, it is a popular social game played at a fast pace.
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The first ball through a hoop scores that hoop for that side and then all players move on to the next hoop from the position where the balls are.
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First to 7 wins
CHAMPIONSHIPS
Club Championship Doubles
To be run in a similar format to previous years, with a few changes. It is a doubles competition although seeded players will be unable to team up with other seeded players to form a team. All competitors will be able to enter as one of the following:
A doubles team (a pair), as long as at least one player is unseeded
OR as an individual seeded player
OR as an individual unseeded player
All individual unseeded players will be randomly drawn with a seeded player to form a team.
The idea for this is to mix up the abilities and level the playing field but also to shake up the partnerships for a bit of fun.
One other slight change is that it will be played as “alternate stroke croquet” – this means, as the name suggests, each player in a team will play alternate strokes. For example, player one will play a croquet and their partner will play the croquet followed by player one playing the continuation shot.
The teams will be allocated to a league – depending upon numbers, likely to be 4 or 5 teams in each league.
All teams will play each of the others within their league and submit the scores to the Competitions Secretary.
Once all leagues have completed all of their games, the highest scoring two teams from each league will go through to a knockout rounds. The top teams from each league will be drawn against the 2nd teams from the other leagues. Teams that aren’t within the top to teams in each league will be entered into a runners up competition, the “Plate Cup”, which will also be a knockout competition.
Singles Championship
This will be a league run broadly the same as the doubles, except this will be a handicap competition played by individual competitors. Handicaps will be allocated during the season by the committee/ handicapping secretary and essentially allows those with the largest number of bisques (free turns) or highest handicaps to have extra turns.
The leagues will be seeded, based on handicap. Competitors will be drawn into leagues – players within each league will play each other and once completed, the highest two scoring competitors from each league will go through to a knockout stage.
All players are welcome to enter. For those who don’t yet have a handicap, please attend one of the Thursday night coaching sessions and express interest in getting a handicap/entering the competition and you will be assessed and granted a handicap.
League games will be played through six hoops and, once into the knockout stages, games will become 12 hoop games. Handicaps will be halved for the 6 hoop games.
Need more information?
This isn’t as complicated as it may first appear and can easily be explained. If you would like anything explained or would like a coached game at anytime, please get in touch your questions will be answered or a game arranged.
Should you be interested in organising friendly games for fun and to improve your skill, please let us know – we are collating a list of people who’s details will be made available for you to organise games with directly.