Adventure Croquet

Idea in development Rules in flux. Suggestions always welcome

Nemo - 2020Jun13

Origin and concept

Game accidentally invented by Nemo at Nerissa's birthday. It's casual fun only and not to be taken too seriously (this does not preclude it being a potential sport for future Olympics)

Adventure Croquet simplifies croquet down to "A race through hoops", but complicates it by allowing for an obstacle ridden course (hoops next to trees, paths through picnic furniture, etc), and provides two different styles of winning - fastest, and most points.

Setup

Take your croquet hoops and arrange them in any fashion in the play area, be it a park, hiking trail, front-and-back lawn of your house, neighbours lawns, etc. There is no limit to total size, but practical limit is that all parts of the area are within earshot of each other. Also, one peg to indicate the finish.

The hoops have a specific order to play, and a specific direction per hoop.

The course may either be laid out as a loop, or as a (convoluted) line. Either way, it is traversed twice (forward again if it's a loop, or in reverse if it's a line. Nemo prefers the line.

One hoop (ideally the middle one of the course) may be deemed a wildcard hoop. This is placed in an impossible position (eg: sideways on a tree, or flat on grass) and the first player to get to it (within 1m) can then place it at their choosing. If there is a spare end post, then that may be used to indicate visually the location of the wildcard. A mallet length may be used instead of "1m" distance measure.

Actually playing

Players take turns hitting their ball to the next hoop. If it goes through, they get an extra hit. "Through" is defined as fully through at any time in the motion of the ball. If it achieves part-way-through at best, then it is not through. If it achieves all-way-through whilst in motion and then rolls back through (in part or in whole) due to being on a slope, it IS counted as through.

Other croquet rules are optional.

Each hoop is played twice - same order and direction if the course is a loop, or reverse order and reverse directions if it's a line.

The second time through (return path, or second lap) adds the following:

• Whenever a player's ball passes through a hoop, they now have two options:

1. Take the extra hit
2. Claim the hoop

If the hoop is claimed, then they forfeit a second hit, and any players following no longer have to achieve that hoop. Note that hoops may be claimed by a player on a return journey that slower players are yet to achieve on their forward journey.

This now gives two winning modes:

1. Win on speed (same as regular adventure croquet) - this winner is known as the Lord of the Hoops (because "there and back again")
2. Win on points (most hoops) - this winner is known as the Hoop Master (no particular reason, just needed another title)

Misc:

• The course is self-cleaning in the following ways
  • Hitting the end peg (turnaround or start of second lap) does not grant a second hit. However the last player to reach that peg claims it as a point. This peg is not available to any earlier player.
  • The player in last position through any hoop (ie, nobody else remaining to traverse it) on the return/second lap, MUST claim the hoop, but also retain their second hit bonus.
• If a players ball is knocked through their target hoop by another players ball, they gain the position advancement, but can claim neither a second hit, nor on the second half are they eligible to claim the hoop.

Pros and Cons

• Pro: Simple to learn
• Pro: every course is dynamically different
• Pro: the further behind you are, the more likely hoops are claimed and thus allow you to catch up. This helps to keeps the group of players together. The "...and back again" version is also preferred since turning around assists the process of re-grouping players.
• Pro: tactics
• Con: Some courses simply suck

Course design advice

A good course will have a balance of multiple elements

• localised obstacles. For instance a tree immediately in front or behind the hoop, or placed partly under a bush
• terrain issues. For instance, on a smooth slope creating a rolling hazard
• layout complications. For instance, multiple hoops near each other in a complex pattern (zigzag, spiral, etc)
• distance. Simply having hoops be far apart.

The entity of a course should be within earshot of itself, as players will spread out during the game - especially the first half. They're likely to clump back up in the second half.

Any given hoop should be part of two elements above at most. eg, distant from all other hoops, and have a localised obstacle is fine. Having a localised obstacle AND a terrain issues AND be distant from all others is just a bit too much.

Not all hoops need adventure. Some may be nice and neat, giving players a reprieve.

House rules

If there is too much adventure (ie, some hoops are in fact too hard), the game may find itself progressing too slowly - to the frustration of players. In that case merely touching the hoop can be treated as sufficient to advance.

Misc

• Adventure Croquet since 2006
• Advanced Adventure Croquet since 2020
  • https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10158557173683216&set=a.10150704990443216&type=3&theater&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic&notif_id=1592027944308250
  • Novemberfest 2020 to great success (6 players, 11 hoops)
  • Novemberfest 2023 - the first to be an abandoned game due to having too much adventure (a combination of slightly thicker grass, slightly more uneven ground under the grass, slightly smoother bark mulch that didn't stop the balls running down hill - all contributed to this game adding up to being significantly harder than past games.
• Advanced rules merged into regular in 2023.

• Golf Croquet: https://www.croquet.org.uk/?p=games/golf - This shares similarities to "advanced" adventure croquet, but was unknown to Nemo at the time these rules were developed.
• Extreme Croquet (developed independently and earlier to Adventure Croquet)L https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_croquet