Croquet Part 1

Croquet.

by Anonymous.

PREFACE.

The increasing popularity of Croquet, and the deficiencies of the existing manuals of the game, have encouraged me to give this little book to the public. The treatise of Captain Mayne Reid, to which the introduction of croquet in this country is mainly due, is deficient in system and arrangement, and affords no intelligible determination to many of the cases I have instanced in ill.u.s.tration of the rules of the game. The manuals published in this country are still more faulty. The rules afford no solution to half of the ambiguous cases that arise in ordinary play; and some are guilty of the strange error of allowing the "Roquet Croquet" to every ball--a liberty totally at variance with the fundamental principles of the game, and which in the hands of strong players would prolong the contest indefinitely, make victory depend upon a single chance hit, and reduce the opportunities for generalship and combination to a minimum. I have dwelt at some length upon the "right of declining," and the "theory of double points;" principles which, though hinted at by Captain Reid, are left rather obscure in his book. Players will find that this power of economizing privileges adds greatly to the interest of the game, and renders many a cunning plot and counter-plot necessary.

The origin of this game is unknown. No man invented whist or chess, and croquet like them seems to have been evolved by some process of nature, as a crystal forms or a flower grows--perfect, in accordance with eternal laws. There is in all these games a certain theory which furnishes interpretations for all cases that arise in actual play. The rules are grouped about a central principle. The mimic battles have a unity, and are h.o.m.ogeneous in all their parts. If the rules are indefinite or contradictory the game loses its distinctive character. If the rules are accurate and rigidly enforced, croquet is a game of the highest interest. I am informed by a scientific billiard player that though croquet is inferior to billiards in affording opportunities for delicate manipulation and manual dexterity, that it far excels that elegant game in the field it opens for the exercise of the higher qualities of combination and foresight. Whist exercises the memory and the power of calculating probabilities; chess the imagination and the faculty of abstract reasoning; but croquet, though it taxes these mental qualities less, combines them with the delights of out-door exercise and social enjoyment, fresh air and friendship--two things which are of all others most effective in promoting happiness. Those who have been in the habit of regarding croquet as a game for children may, perhaps, smile at my enthusiasm; but let them procure a perfect ground, b.a.l.l.s and mallets, play half a dozen four-ball games in strict accordance with the rules, and when they can claim to have mastered the game, they will acknowledge themselves converts.

I have adopted the plan of giving first definitions, then rules, then cases adjudged under the rules; as the common law consists of the definitions of legal terms, the statement of legal maxims or principles, and the reports of litigated causes. The laws are in substance those adopted by the "Newport Croquet Club," and many of the cases given actually occurred in play, and were settled in full bench after long and animated discussion. I think the laws will not conflict with those of Captain Reid, while I hope that they will be found more full and accurate, and of more exact application. I cannot flatter myself that I have provided for every possible ambiguous case; still, I hope that I have indicated the solution to most of the questions that are likely to arise in the course of a game.

I shall be very happy to receive suggestions from any lovers of the game who may discover errors or imperfections; for why should not croquet as well as chess have its literature.

"J."

NEWPORT, R.I., _July 7th, 1865_.

CHAPTER I.

DEFINITIONS.

ARENA.--The s.p.a.ce included by the boundaries of the croquet ground, within which a ball driven out of it is ent.i.tled to be placed.

BLOW.--The stroke of the mallet. A blow opposed to a push.

b.o.o.bY.--A ball that fails to run the first bridge.

BRIDGED BALL.--A ball that has run the first bridge.

CENTRAL BRIDGES.--Those in a line between the stakes.

CHIEFS.--The leaders of the sides, who strike for the first choice.

CONCUSSION.--The displacement of a ball by another ball.

CROQUET.--The t.i.tle of the game. A privilege gained by making "roquet."

It consists in placing the playing ball in contact with the roqueted ball, and on any side of it; holding it there with the foot, and striking it with the mallet, by which means the other is driven in any required direction.

CROQUETERIE.--The implements of the game--namely, b.a.l.l.s, mallets, stakes and bridges.

DEAD BALL.--A rover struck against the starting stake, and thereby struck out of the game.

DOUBLE POINT.--Two points made on the same blow.

ENEMY.--A player on the opposite side.

FLANK BRIDGES.--Those on the right and left of a line between the stakes.

FLINCH.--When in executing the "croquet" the playing ball escapes from under the foot, it is said to "flinch."

FRONT OF A BRIDGE.--That side from which a ball must proceed in running it; the side toward the starting stake for the first half round; the side towards the turning stake for the last half round.

FRIENDS.--Players on the same side.

GRAND ROUND.--The grand round consists in running all the bridges, (the central ones in both directions,) and tolling the turning stake, in proper order; after completing which the ball becomes a rover.

HALF ROUND.--The first half round includes running the central bridges and those on the left flank, and is to be made before tolling the stake; the second half round includes the central bridges and those on the left flank which are to be run in the reverse order between tolling and striking out.

MISPLAY.--Playing out of proper tour; playing the ball of another player, or continuing the tour after failing to make a point.

OBLIQUE BRIDGE.--A bridge accidentally out of perpendicular, either to the horizon or to the line joining the stakes.

OVERRUNNING A BRIDGE.--A ball overruns its proper bridge when, in attempting to run it, it pa.s.ses it on one side.

PLACING A BALL.--Bringing it within the arena when driven out of it, or removing a ball from a fixed obstacle.

POINT.--A blow by which a step on the round or a roquet is made, thereby ent.i.tling the player to continuance of tour--that is, to another blow.

POSITION.--A ball is in position when it is in front of its proper bridge, with a reasonable probability of running it on the next blow.

The position is good or bad according to the ease or difficulty of the run.

PROPER BRIDGE.--The next "step on the round," the making of which const.i.tutes a point.

PUSH.--Shoving the ball with the mallet, allowed on some croquet-grounds instead of a blow.

RE-ROQUET.--After roquetting a ball to roquet it again during the same tour, a right acquired only by making a step on the round.

RICOCHET.--Two or more roquets made on the same blow.

ROQUET.--The contact of the playing ball with another ball under such circ.u.mstances as to const.i.tute a point; that is, provided both b.a.l.l.s are bridged b.a.l.l.s at the time of contact, and roquet has not been made on the same ball before in the same tour since the right to re-roquet has been acquired.

ROQUET-CROQUET; CROQUET SANS PIED.--The privilege of the rover. It differs from croquet in that the playing ball is not held with the foot, so that when struck it follows the croquetted ball or diverges in another direction.

ROVER.--A ball that has made the grand round, but not struck out.

RUNNING A BRIDGE.--Pa.s.sing through the proper bridge from the front, or completing such pa.s.sage, one of the steps on the round, a "point," if made by a blow of the mallet.

SIDE.--One of the two parties of players, of which the members play alternately.

SPOT.--A point between the starting stake and the first bridge, one mallet's length from the former; from which the play commences.

STARTING STAKE.--That near which the play commences, and the striking of which by a rover puts it out.