Croquet is a game played both as a recreational pastime and as a competitive sport which involves hitting wooden or plastic balls with a mallet through hoops embedded into the grass playing arena.

 I always tell ppl its the game that the Queen of Hearts played in Alice in Wonderland. If u dunno the fairy tale, then never mind. “OFF WITH HIS HEAD!!”

 

When I told my colleague I was gonna play this game, he said that it was “brutal”. huh? U mean we whack each other with the mallet? And yes, the game is mainly dominated by the elderly. 

 

After learning abit about it, now I understand. The strategy is something like pool/snooker. Max 4 players. Each picking a coloured ball. Partnering 2vs2, u strategizes the partnership on who hits between the hoops. U can whack ur opponent away / blocking ur opponent / whacking ur team mate closer to the hoop. Refer to diagram above, following the number sequence.

 Holding the mallet was really tough for me. I was so tempted to change to golf / hockey style. You know when we foolishly swing a bowling ball between our legs for fun? Well, this is how we swing our mallet. There’s also handicap like golf. The least number of strokes, the better u are.

 

I know that I was really bad at it coz I only scored twice after 2 games / 13hoops p/game. I had great fun & lots of laughter with the other ladies (older than me) :p This is a game that would make an innocent old lady be the most cunning player on the field with behind her hidden smile.