Croquet - A Bit of History and a Little About the Game

When I first got involved with croquet 10 years ago I had no idea how old the game was and that there were so many versions of the game.

Where and when did it start

It turns out that Croquet is one of the oldest games around. Certainly popular in England it was known as pall mall (Latin for ball and mallet) as early as 1611. Then it was described as a game where a round box ball is struck with a mallet through high arch of iron and he who has the fewest blows or an agreed number of blows wins. Croquet at that time was only played with two hoops.

No one is quite sure where our modern version of the game actually came from. Some think it came from Brittany and others think from Ireland. John Jacques of the manufacturer Jacques of London saw the game played in Ireland in the 1850's and played an important role in making the game popular when he made the implements and published various editions of the rules of the game. Croquet was an event at the 1900 summer Olympics and the World Series croquet is held annually.

How many versions are there

There are several versions of the game in existence today but two main versions are played are association croquet and golf croquet.

The advanced game played at international level is known as association croquet. This is played with four balls, six hoops and one peg. Two teams of two are required to get both of their balls through each hoop to win. A player gets another turn if his or her ball is hit through a hoop or hits another player's ball (known as a roquet). If another ball is hit the player whose ball hit the other ball is allowed to pick up his or her ball and put it next to the one hit. He or she then takes a continuing shot (known as a croquet). The player gets one more shot after the croquet shot. The winners of the game are the team who strike the centre peg first after completing the set of six hoops there and back with both balls.

Golf croquet is a much simpler game in that each hoop is played separately. Each player tries to be the first to get his or her ball through the hoop being played. Once a hoop is won the players move to the next hoop and the game is won by the player or team who wins the most hoops. There are no additional turns for hitting another's balls as in association croquet.

There is another version which is widely played in the US and Canada known as American six wicket croquet. This differs from association and golf croquet in a number of ways but the main differences are that the balls are always played in the same sequence, the deadness on other balls is carried forward from turn to turn and that the boundaries are more restrictive. What ever version you play, the game provides hours of great competitive fun.

The author has a keen interest in all things croquet and runs an online croquet shop at http://croquet-set.co.uk This article may be freely distributed if this resource box remains attached.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/6326211

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