PRIMARY GOAL: Stay alive, that is to say, your sphere is not eliminated from play
SECONDARY GOAL: Run the course in order, as shown


Order goes from left to right on the blue line, then right to left on the purple line, hitting the post at both ends.

The Field...

Above, the equipment is shown in exaggerated size...
We always play that the first wicket is a full mallet's length from the post, and the second wicket a mallet's length from the first.
Otherwise, the wickets, all parallel, are placed on the 4x2 grid as shown, depending on the size of the field.
(yes, that's a wicket in the middle, you just cannot tell because you're looking straight on)

NOTE: The is eXtreme croquet... many of the subtleties will become apparent in the rules below
The flat, well-trimmed field of the diagram is practically unknown to the eXtreme croquet enthusiast
and obviously the straight directional lines are thwarted by your fellow players, the landscape, and your own misaimed shots.
When choosing a spot for eXtreme croquet, it is almost part of the challenge to make a traditional game impossible...

...that said...

Play...

ORDER: Play proceeds in the descending order on the posts... this usually has red and blue near the top
and green and orange near the bottom, but otherwise it's up to them.
Go out of order, skipping someone's turn entirely, and you may find your sphere hit as far away as possible, as is that person's right
Skip two people, and you might as well get out your machete, or snorkel, depending on where you're playing

The player starts his sphere anywhere within one mallet's length of the starting post, and his first goal is the two wickets ahead of him.

THE MALLET:One may hit one's sphere with any part of the mallet one wishes, tho the usual choices are...

"American"/"Golf"	"British"	"Baby Doll"	"Billiard"
Best used for distance shots, like moving from one wicket to another, or getting back in the swing of things after having been roquetted away	Best used for accuracy shots, tho not as powerful as its American cousin	The surest way to make sure it goes basically where you want, and best when an obstacle, such as a post, other ball, or building is in the way	Usually just for show, altho can be advantageous at times...

How NOT to use one's mallet

This always happens, and why fight the inevitable? Especially when you can fight each other...

STROKES: (I sometimes refer to these as points, but don't worry, the game is not scored)

	A player starts each turn with one stroke, which he may use as he wishes. For every wicket thru which he goes, he gets an additional stroke...
	A shot is thru a wicket if the sphere is 50% or more thru the wicket (thus, the great circle of the sphere is beyond the plane of the wicket)
	Traditionally, as the first two wickets are fairly close together, one begins one's second shot with two strokes In practice, this happens as often as not...
	One's turn is complete if and only if one has taken all of one's shots, with a taken shot defined as sphere-mallet contact Thus all whiffs are forgyven while almost no badly aimed shot is a do-over
	The wickets must be played in order in the proper direction, thus going thru a wicket out-of-order or backwards will be punished: The sphere of any player committing such an offense is instantly transported to (one mallet-head's length within) the last post he hit
	Even before passing thru the third wicket, when one's sphere makes contact with another's, the striker may be placed anywhere within one mallet-head's length the resting place of the strikee

	...after the third wicket... (shown in red in the map above)
	After a player has passed thru the third wicket, he may also get additional strokes by hitting his sphere into someone else's. Every time he goes this, he gets two additional strokes.	A rare team-work roquet-croquet
	Once a player has gotten strokes off another player's sphere, he may not get strokes from that particular sphere until he has gone thru a wicket. He is said to be "dead" on that color until passing thru a wicket.
	One of the traditional backyard uses of these strokes is to use the first to "roquet-croquet" the ball to Kingdom Come and the second to get away before revenge is enacted.
	This is accomplysched by placing one's foot on top of one's own sphere, which is pressed against the enemy sphere. Once this is done, one smacks one's own sphere as powerfully as possible
	This is typically an "American" shot, and ideally maintains the positions of one's own sphere while at the same time sending the enemy's going way off course
	The more sphysticated, and much more difficult technique, is a simple "roquet" [pronounced "rocket"] which sends both one's own and the enemy sphere to desired locations... physicists only!

Speaking of "off-course"...
In this particular brand of eXtreme croquet, there is no "out of bounds"

A few excepçionnes to the "play it where it lies" rule

A sphere against an obstacle, as in mini-golf, may be placed one mallet-head's length away A sphere in gross water may be fished out and placed on the shore A sphere in moving water may never stop moving, so once it is judged to be no longer moving under the force of the mallet, the turn is over When a sphere strikes another in moving water, it counts as a hit for the player who's turn it is... if it neither, it is overlooked

more STROKES:(With all that one has to use the word "stroke", you can see why
I call them "points"... as well as why I call the balls "spheres" considering I have to teach this game to 8-14 boys at camp... well...)

	Sometimes, reluctantly, we play with a limit of three strokes, but I prefer the possibility of being about to accumulate as many as possible That means if one's sphere goes thru two wickets and hits three other spheres, the player comes out the other end with 8 strokes to his name The one great equalizer is The Post When a player hits the post at the top or the bottom of the game, he is always down to one stroke to turn around and go the other way (This also applies if a player has been transported back to the post because he went thru a wicket backwards!) So it goes on, passing thru wickets, gaining and losing strokes, roquet-croqueting others, until finally a ball has passed thru 15 wickets and hits the end post... at this point, the game will never be the same

Having completed the course, the sphere, and indeed the player, is transformed into POISON
Traditionally, tho not of necessity, a player now makes a speech of biblical proportions, such as...
"I am become poison, conqueror of spheres!"

Winning the Game

	The first priority of a poison is traditionally to wipe out the immediäte competiçionne: as poison has just hit a post, he has one extra stroke to destroy a sphere. Afterwards, poisons take their turns just like the other players
	Each time a poison destroys a sphere by hitting his own, poison sphere into it the strikee is eliminated from play For his hard work, the poison gets an extra stroke that turn
	A second player may become poison, as could conceivably all six players, especially since guarding the post is considered quite dishonorable Poison spheres are just as susceptable to death by poison as living spheres, so speed in completing the course does not always determine the winner.
	The last living sphere on the field is the winner of the game, and thus carries all the glory and responsibility that comes with that role. I will not lie to you, this sphere is usually a poison sphere... however...

There is Hope for living spheres!

	Firstly, and contrarily to the way I was taught, a poison is only actively poison on his turn Thus one may freely get strokes off of, and roquet-croquet, a poison sphere
	More importantly however, wickets represent poison's one major weakness, the garlic to his vampire It is not entirely uncommon for a poison to hit his own ball thru a wicket, thru greed or ignorance...
	Much more interesting is when a living sphere roquets a poison thru a wicket, ending his rain of terror These seeming heroes can easily go on to become poison themselves, or in one deft manoeuvre, win the game!

Nevertheless, whoëver maintains the last living sphere, regardless of status, is the winner of the game

Th'official rules: Boring but useful

Yet more variations

Home

..........credits..........
All artwork is by me, and you can pretty much assume I took a picture if I'm not in it, and maybe even if I am!
Still, croquet would be a damned boring game to play by oneself, so I should thank everyone who's ever taken up a mallet
In particular, those who appear on this page were not asked for their permissionne, and I thank them for their participacionne...

Andrew	Jared	Dara	Kelly	John	Candace	Ryles
"Bean"	"Hazard"	"Hummer"	"Jen"	"Kevin"	"Kinkaid"	"Riles"