I was perusing croquet.com and found a clarifying rule on the rules page:
(Under PART 5. BONUS STROKES)
29. Bonus strokes may not be accumulated. Only the last earned bonus strokes may be played. The exception to this rule occurs if you score both wickets at the starting and turning stakes.
This suggests that you can't rack up with two shots. Say you roquet a ball (2 shots), but then use only one of those shots to go through a wicket (1 shot). Normally, we say that you still have 2 shots, yet this rule states that you would only have one (going through the wicket was your last bonus shot earned).
And a clarification on out-of-bounds:
(Under PART 7. BOUNDARIES AND OUT-OF-BOUNDS BALLS)
41. A ball sent out of bounds should be placed on the boundary margin ONE MALLET LENGTH (36 inches) inside the boundary line at the point of exit. If the player has a second bonus shot he/she then plays it. There is no penalty for going out of bounds. (capitals added)
42. All balls that come to rest within the boundary margin (closer than one mallet length to the boundary) are immediately replaced on the boundary margin, with the one exception of the players ball being still in play on a bonus stroke.
Wow. This definately puts to death the idea of smashing it up to the wicket. From what I read from these rules, if you get your ball closer than a mallet's length to the edge of the pitch, its brought in. At the same time, it seems to help the game. It requires a lot more skill on the side wickets than previously thought.
And for some fun, check out some of the pro stuff on croquet.com (i mean the cost)
http://www.croquet.com/croquet-equipment/hoops-wickets/shop.cfm?N=2720+2723+4294775863
http://www.croquet.com/croquet-equipment/flags/shop.cfm?N=2720+2723+4294775865
If you look at the 'other equipment' you'll see a 'hoop smasher' for $70, theres also a drill type thing to bore holes for the hoops. It looks like anything about pro croquet is at least $70-$5000 dollars. Yeah.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Rule Clarification, & the Cost of Pro Croquet
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2 comments:
Morris, there is a provision in the rules for small pitches: on a small pitch the ball can be placed a mallet's head length from the border. That is the adaptation we are using because our pitch is not sufficiently wide to accomodate 36-inch side boundaries.
And keep in mind, that we are not playing Association rules. We are playing USCA backyard rules, which according to the USCA website dictate a border 6" to the outside of the wicket.
Perhaps I am misunderstanding your rule interpretation. I would request a clarification post with your interpretation for procedures for a ball struck out of bounds. Do we place the ball in such a case a mallets head (or mallets length) from the border? Or are you suggesting that the border be a full 36" from the outside of the wicket? If it is the latter, then a ball struck out of bounds is place along the line of the outside of the wicket, which does not make a substantial change to our existing gameplay. If the former, then the ball would be placed approximate 30" in from the outside of the wicket. I'll explain that in more detail if it is unclear.
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