Croquet

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We must be honest, we never thought that such a sport existed in the first place but oh boy are we impressed. Personally, we did not think that this game would be so much fun.

The fact that this is a great game and played by many people speaks for itself. We even tried the sport after writing this article and we can assure that we will definitely be playing it again.

We do not know why you are reading about Croquet. Maybe you are interested in the sport (which is absolutely great news, you will love it!).

Or if you are just reading about it because it is something you want to know more about or curious in General.

Whatever it may be the reason, we are glad that you landed up on this site. We will tell you all you will ever need to know about Croquet (at least on a basic level). So without any further ado let’s get right into this article.

What is Croquet?

It is a sport that is played by hitting the ball. The ball is made up of wood or plastic and the balls had to be hit with a mallet in such a way that the balls goes under the hoops.

The hoops are also Known as wickets in the United States Of America. They are usually embedded in the ground.

The grassy field is used to play Croquet. Its not that much different than golf to be honest.

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Variations

There are different variations of Croquet that you will find all over the world. The variations differ in playing style or the scoring system.

Association croquet and golf croquet are two of the variations that is played all over the world. There is also this sport called gateball that was developed in Japan under the influence of Croquet.

So we can consider this as a variation of Croquet too. There are rules about the former variations of Croquets that are internationally accepted and the game is played according to the rules.

However there can also be a state of domestic rules.There are championship of this game played on an international level.

The countries that are most interested in this game is United Kingdom, United States, Australia and New Zealand. Every 4 years these countries along with other countries play the MacRoberson Shield Tournament.

The current ranking is that of Australia at top, followed by England and then New Zealand.The game is extremely competitive in spirit. There are several important variations that are present.

We are going to discuss about their variations below so if you want to know more about these variations keep on reading this article.

1. Association

Association is the first variation of croquet that we are going to discuss. It is hard to play and we must say that this game is played on all levels from local to international.

This is an advanced level of croquet. They have a signature four plays that is played in pairs. The balls has to pass through the hoops that are embedded in the ground.

It has a distinguishing feature called the Croquet shot which allows you to hit or Target other balls.One side will take the black and blue balls while the other takes the red and yellow balls.

This game is played all over the world. It is an advanced level of play that not many people can play. This game is played all over the world and many people participate.

However it must be noted that unlike other games this game does not have separate ranking for the different genders.

2. Golf

The next one is golf croquet. This is different from the association Croquet. The person does not get additional turns.

The ball has to go through all the hoops in one hit and then only the player can be a winner.

There are four balls that are used. The blue, red, black, yellow balls. The player who gets the most hoops is considered as the winner.

This golf croquet has been gaining a lot of popularity because it is easy to play than the association croquet. It is much simpler and faster too.

The players can keep in mind the small set of rules while playing the golf croquet. It is however still a competitive sport but that’s the fun in it.

If you are starting playing Croquet then maybe this is the best style for you to choose for a beginner.

3. Garden

The garden croquet is very famous in the United kingdom. This is as the name suggests played on a garden or a lawn. It is very simple to play and can be definitely played by beginners too.

The set of rules is small and not complicated at all. It is easy to remember and keep in mind.

These have same rules as association croquet but there are three major differences that help in making this game easy.

It has been tested and confirmed that this is a easy version of the game that is specifically meant for the beginners.

It is so popular in the United kingdom that they have even created clubs for the garden Croquet.

The most famous and the main Garden Croquet Club is the Bygrave Croquet Club. If you are from UK you might have heard about it. It is kind of a big deal.

4. Nine-wicket

Nine wicket croquet is also known as backyard croquet. This is a game mostly played in Canada and the United States.

It is a very simple game that is said to have 9 wickets as you might have already gathered from the name.

The wickets are the hoops that are embedded in the ground. The course is set up in a double diamond pattern.

This is played individually as well as in teams. When played in teams then the persons in a partnership has to stake out to win.

They can be a long game as not all can be professional level players. In case one is lagging behind the other can rover to help them.

But when there is only one player playing individual game then the first person to stake out is the winner of the game. It is simple enough to understand.

5. Ricochet

John Riches of Adeline was the first person to discover this variation of the game. He was not alone though. He got the help from Tom Armstrong in this endeavour.

This version came into existence in 1980. If you are wondering where this Adeline is, then it is in Australia. The version of Croquet developed in Australia.

This is to be expected from a country that is so much invested in the sport. It is played by up to six people and it is very simple to learn and play.

They have some what similar rules as the garden and the association croquet. However these have a little bit of variations of course.

It is pretty simple to play. This means that the novice players or the beginners can also try their hands at this Croquet game.

6. One-Ball

The last but not the least variation that we are going to discuss is the one ball. They bring the association and the golf players together.

The one ball variation of the game has been gaining popularity in the recent years.They have the same rules as that of the association croquet.

However there is a bit of a difference that this variation only uses one ball instead of two. This means that there are no breaks in the play. This makes the game even more interactive and intense.

History

The first document to have the name of Croquet on it was a set of rules of the game registered by Isaac Sprat in 1856 in London.

They have now moved this to the Public Record Office. The first All England Croquet Club was formed in Wimbledon, London in the year 1868.

We do not know how this game reached the British isles but oh boy was it popular. It was a great game which fascinated the public.

There are two origin theories about this game that has been put forward by Nicky Smith. The first one is that the game came from France to Britain during the reign of Charles II.

The second theory states that this very popular game that we now know the Croquet came into England from Ireland in 1850.

In the 1869s this game became highly popular in England as a great way to pass time.

In 1870 the game of Croquet was put into the background however it has its revival in 1890.

Clubs

There are about 200 Croquet clubs all over the United States. They are all members of the United States Croquet Association.

There are several universities that have a Croquet club. Some of the names of these universities are –

The University of Virginia, The University of Chicago, Harvard University, Dartmouth College and so on. You can clearly see that they are a big deal there.

In England, there are about 170 clubs who are associated with the Croquet Association.

There are also universities in England just like the United States that have dedicated Croquet clubs. Oxford University and Cambridge University are on that list.

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Conclusion

We hope that this article here has been useful to you. We tried our best language to make it nice and simple. This should be eligible for everyone who knows basic English to read.

We used simple terms to describe the terms of Croquet itself. Some people mistake this Croquet for Croquettes. They are different. That’s food and this is a sport.

We sincerely hope that you are not one of those people because that would be a real shame. You won’t be getting any recipe of food here but the history of the sport.

Anyway we would like to thank you for giving this article a read. We hope that you could tell us about your experience playing Croquet in the comment section below.

Thank you once again and make sure that you share this article with your fellows. Have a great day!

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