Every Boy's Book: A Complete Encyclopaedia of Sports and Amusements Part 28

8. If a player by a stroke of his mallet drives his ball through the next hoop in the order of his course, he is allowed to continue his stroke.

9. A player may in one stroke drive his ball through more than one hoop.

10. If a ball, in going through a hoop, strike another ball, the player can either continue his stroke at the next hoop, or else croquet the ball that is struck; but he is not allowed two turns for pa.s.sing through a hoop, and then hitting a ball.

11. If a ball strike another ball, and then pa.s.s through a hoop, the player can either croquet or continue his stroke, and has not to pa.s.s through the same hoop again.

[From this rule the reader may infer, that if a ball go through its hoop either by striking another ball or by hitting the sides of the hoop, it is considered to have pa.s.sed the hoop.

It has been suggested that a ball is dead directly it croquets another, and that therefore any stroke it makes after that is of no avail; but as this not only does away with Rule 11, but prevents any player croquing two b.a.l.l.s in one stroke, we cannot adopt it.]

12. If a ball, instead of playing at its hoop, play at a ball on the other side of the hoop, and consequently have to be moved by the hand through its own hoop in order to croquet, it is not considered to have gone through the hoop, but must return to the proper side of the hoop in the ordinary manner.

13. A ball is not through a hoop if the handle of the mallet when laid across the two sides of the hoop from whence the ball came touches the ball without moving the hoop.

14. If a player strike a ball which he cannot croquet, and by that stroke go through a hoop, the last stroke holds good, and he has another turn.

15. If a ball, when croqued through its hoop in a wrong direction, roll back through the hoop, it has not to pa.s.s through the same hoop in the same direction again.

THE CROQUET.

[When the game of Croquet first came into fashion, there was only one mode of the croquet, which was that usually known as the tight croquet.

Since then other forms, known as the loose and slipping croquet, have come into fashion, and have met with so much favour that it is impossible to deny their claims to our attention. In the tight croquet the player must keep his foot upon his own ball, and is not allowed to move it while he makes the stroke; but in the loose croquet he need not even put his foot on his own ball at all, and is able consequently to drive not only his adversary's ball, but also his own, in any direction he pleases. The adoption of this plan, even although it lengthens and complicates the game, affords so much pleasure to the players themselves, that it is becoming universally adopted. Some writers, however, insist that to rovers only should the privilege of the loose croquet be accorded; whilst others, on the other hand, would allow the privilege only to those who are not rovers. In fact, so much is to be said on each side, that the better plan is to allow the players to choose which of these courses they think fit to adopt. In some places, in addition to the loose croquet, a practice prevails which is usually known by the term "taking two off." Thus if a player croquet a ball, he is allowed to drive his own ball in any direction he pleases, without touching the croqued ball. After this he has another stroke, so that he is enabled to get close to any ball on the ground. This plan seems to us so highly objectionable, and so thoroughly subversive of all good play, that we must decline to recommend it. It should also be known that many of our correspondents object to loose croquet altogether, on the ground that it tends greatly to prolong the turns, and thus spoils the game, as people, grown tired of waiting, lose all interest in it, and forget when their turn comes to play. What expressions more common on the ground than "Whose turn is it now?"]

16. A player is allowed the privilege of croquing whenever his ball strikes another, except when by doing so he makes the ball that is struck hit the winning-post, if it have pa.s.sed through the hoops.

17. In the tight croquet the player must keep his foot firmly upon his own ball, and if the stroke move it the ball must afterwards be brought back to the position it occupied before it was struck.

[Some writers insist that if the croqueur's ball slip, he loses his turn. This arrangement is too absurd to be tolerated for an instant.]

18. No ball can croquet, or be croqued, until it has pa.s.sed through the first hoop.

[It has been the custom to allow a player to take up his ball, and play, when his turn comes, from the starting-post again, if he misses the first hoop. This plan, however, has nothing to recommend it. It would enable a player who wished to play last to do so at ease by intentionally missing the hoop, and is obviously so unfair that we have no wish to adopt it.]

19. No ball (except a rover) can croquet the same ball twice, until it (the croqueur) has pa.s.sed through a hoop or touched the post since its first croquet.

[If, however, the croqueur be a rover, he cannot croquet the same ball twice in one turn. In either case, however, he is at liberty to strike the same ball twice, but this act does not allow him the privilege of a fresh stroke.]

20. A croquet need not necessarily be a distinct stroke. If the striking ball in its pa.s.sage hit either a post or a hoop, and then cannon upon a ball, the privilege holds good; and if, also, one ball strike two or more others, each of these is croqued in the order in which they were struck; but the striker has only one additional stroke when he has croqued the lot, and not one for each ball he has struck.

21. As the moving of the croquing ball in the tight croquet is of itself illegal, it stands to reason that if this ball during the stroke slip and touch another ball, the player has not the right to claim the privilege of the croquet.

[In the loose croquet a player may by his croquing stroke drive his own ball through a hoop.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE TIGHT CROQUET.]

22. A player, after striking a ball, is not necessarily compelled to croquet it, but is allowed to play in any direction he pleases.

[It must, however, be understood that he must play from the place where his ball is, and not, since he abnegates the privilege of it, as after a croquet, from a position touching the ball he has struck.]

23. If a player hit a rover, and by the blow force the other ball against the winning-post, he cannot croquet the ball, as it is plainly dead; he however retains the privilege of another turn. As the ball is dead, it must be moved at once.

24. If a player in the act of croquing do not move the croqued ball at least 6 inches, he is at liberty to take the stroke over again.

[Of course the croqued ball must be placed in the position it occupied before it was struck.]

25. If a ball go through a hoop and then croquet a ball, both strokes count.

26. If a player croquet a ball illegally, both b.a.l.l.s must be restored to their former positions.

27. If a ball hit two or more b.a.l.l.s by one stroke, and croquet one, it is forced to croquet all it has struck, and is not allowed to croquet one and leave the others alone.

THE POSTS.

Some writers give certain privileges for pa.s.sing two hoops at a time, and for striking the posts--such as placing the ball a mallet's length in any direction from its original position. This plan, however, is very irregular, and affords too great an advantage to one player to be adopted.

28. Striking the posts enables the player to have a fresh turn, and is in all respects equivalent to pa.s.sing a hoop.

29. A player who, having gone through all the hoops, strikes the winning-post, is dead; and being out of the game, is not allowed to have a fresh turn.

30. If either of the posts be struck by a ball that is driven thither by a croquing or croqued ball, or in pa.s.sing through the next hoop to it in the right direction, the stroke holds good.

31. If a ball be moved by a player when it should not have been touched, it must be restored to its former position, even if the stroke have sent it against a post or through a hoop.

32. If any ball (or b.a.l.l.s) be struck by the ball moved, as in the last rule, it must be at once replaced in its former position.

33. If a ball, in the tight croquet, slip from under the feet and strike the turning-post, the stroke does not count.

[By the same rule, if a player in croquing strike the winning-post, the stroke does not count.]

34. If a ball be hit off the ground on a gravel-walk or a flower-bed, it is to be placed at once 12 inches at right-angles from the limit of the boundary.

THE ROVER.

35. As a rover has pa.s.sed through all the hoops, he is not allowed to croquet the same ball twice in one turn.

36. A rover has only the right to play a second time when he croquets another ball.

37. A ball is dead as soon as it has pa.s.sed through all the hoops and struck the two posts.

38. A rover who hits another ball, and then the post, is dead, and cannot take another turn.

[A rover who croquets another ball against the post is according to Rule 23 allowed another turn; but if a rover, in croquing a ball, lets his ball slip against the post, he is dead according to the principles of loose croquet.]

39. The game is finished when all the players on one side have gone through all the hoops and struck the two posts.