A Brand-new Game.
Here are the directions for playing balle-et-poteau, a modification of croquet:
Drive a croquet stake into the ground in some level spot, and draw a circle around it having a radius of two mallet lengths. Arrange six balls around the stake, placing the remaining two, called "marteaux," five mallet lengths from the ring. Let the player who has first "heurt" drive his ball toward those in the ring and endeavor to displace them. If he touches one or more of the balls he is entitled to another turn, and now tries to drive one of the balls outside the ring, naming his choice by color. If he succeeds in knocking out a ball, he again tries, continuing to play until he fails to touch a ball. The second player then drives his ball toward the ring, having the further advantage of hitting his opponent's marteau. Doing this, he may, (1) if the other's marteau is within the circle, knock the same outside, thereby gaining all his opponent's balls; (this play is called a "gagnant"), or (2) he may make the usual croquet shots with the ball.
The game is played until all the balls have been knocked out, the player winning the game who has the greatest number of balls in his possession. The chief feature of the game is the gagnant play. To avoid being played upon in this manner, it is a wise plan to place the stake between the two marteaux.
Vincent V. M. Beede.