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CROQUET.
AS PLAYED BY
THE NEWPORT CROQUET CLUB.
BY
ONE OF THE MEMBERS.
Sic Indus animo debet aliquando dari
Ad cogitandum melior ut redeat tibi.
PHOED., Lib. iii, Fab. 4.
NEW YORK:
SHELDON & COMPANY,
498 & 500 BROADWAY.
1865.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by
SHELDON & CO.,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District
of New York.
Stereotyped by
SMITH & MCDOUGAL,
84 Beekman-st.
Printed by
C.S. WESTCOTT & CO.,
79 John-st.
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 illustration 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 homogeneous 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, balls 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_.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
DEFINITIONS OF TECHNICAL TERMS 9
CHAPTER II.
DESCRIPTION OF THE GROUND AND IMPLEMENTS 15
CHAPTER III.
DIRECTIONS FOR PLAYING THE GAME 22
CHAPTER IV.
THE RULES OF THE GAME 29
CHAPTER V.
HINTS TO BEGINNERS 51
CHAPTER I.
DEFINITIONS.
ARENA.--The space included by the boundaries of the croquet ground,
within which a ball driven out of it is entitled to be placed.
BLOW.--The stroke of the mallet. A blow opposed to a push.
BOOBY.--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 title 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, balls, 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 passes 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
entitling 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
constitutes 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
circumstances as to constitute a point; that is, provided both balls are
bridged balls 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.--Passing through the proper bridge from the front, or
completing such passage, 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.
STEP ON THE ROUND.--Running the proper bridge, or tolling the stake at
the proper time, which advances a ball on the grand round, and gives the
right to re-roquet.
STRIKING FOR FIRST CHOICE.--The usual method of deciding the first
choice, in making up the sides and the first play. Each chief places a
ball under the arch of the first bridge and plays at the stake. The ball
lying nearest the stake entitles the chief playing it to the first
choice of friends and the option of the first or second play.
STRIKING OUT.--Hitting the starting stake when a rover, putting a ball
out, and if the last of the side constituting the victory.
TOLLING THE STAKE.--Hitting the turning stake at the proper time; one of
the steps on the grand round.
TOUR OF PLAY.--The tour of a player or right to play, following the
order of the colors on the stake, and continuing as long as he makes a
point.
TURNING STAKE.--The stake to be tolled, opposite to the starting stake.