CROQUET has been for several years one of the most popular pastimes in England, and is now very justly receiving a large and rapidly increasing share of attention in this country. It is unmistakably a game of science, in which the brain, as well as the muscles and nerves, has an essential part to perform,—thus very closely resembling billiards, to which game it is in some respects superior, in that it is a more social game, and gives an opportunity for healthful open air exercise.
Unlike most of out-of-door sports, it does not require the possession of great strength or powers of endurance, or severe muscular exertion on the part of the player. Excellence in it is almost equally attainable to the weakly and delicate as to the healthy and robust. Old and young meet on its arena on more nearly equal terms than in any other known game of skill. A “correct eye,” steady hands and nerves, and good judgment, are the essential qualifications for a good player, and the possession of these advantages of course is not dependent upon the age, sex, or condition of the person.
And it may perhaps be considered as the chief excellence of this game that it gives this opportunity, which very few other games, combining scientific play and physical exercise, afford, for persons of the opposite sexes and disparity of age to join in one common amusement. It should be a matter of congratulation to all to see the rapidly increasing popularity of any healthful open air sport in this country.
We predict for Croquet a success wider in this than it has reached in any other country. When we work or fight, we work and fight harder than any other people, and we should be as enthusiastic in our play.
In preparing this chapter on Croquet we have endeavored to explain the general principles of the game, and to present a code of rules, simple, concise, and shorn as far as possible of technicalities of expression, but comprehensive enough to include all points necessary to a thorough understanding of the game.
In Rules of the Game, explanatory remarks are enclosed in brackets.
MATERIALS OF THE GAME.
A complete set of Croquet consists of eight balls, eight mallets, ten iron bridges, and two posts.