Challenge Croquet

A game that I like to set up in the yard when we are having a gathering is Challenge Croquet. You remember croquet, right? You hit a ball around with large wooden mallets, shooting them through metal hoops (called wickets) and hitting other people's balls out of the way (called a roquet). Well, Challenge Croquet is my personal variation on the game.

You may be familiar with one of the most popular variations, known as "Poison." In this version, once you have traversed the entire set of wickets, and hit the wooden post back at the beginning, your ball becomes poison. This means that any ball you touch is out of the game. So while the other players are trying to get through all the wickets, you are chasing them around, trying to kill them. Fun huh? Except, if you ball touches a wicket, you are dead and out of the game.

But on to Challenge Croquet. This is sort of like a cross between croquet and miniature golf. So you set up the croquet set the normal way, and play the same, except that there are obstacles in the way. For example, put a large rock in front of one of the wickets. (Not too close, give people room to actually get through - about 8-12 inches is pretty good). I have a large, de-pressurized fire extinguisher I use in this way. You can even name the wickets if you want, "Where's the Fire? for example.

Use your imagination. Some of the wicket obstacles I use:

I hang a tennis racquet on a loop of pipe hammered into the ground so that the racquet is not quite touching the ground and is free to swing. When someone is going to try for that wicket, you set the racquet to swinging. In this case, the racquet is so close that you can't get past if it is in front of the wicket - timing is everything

The fire extinguisher mentioned above.

Large rocks and logs.

A four-inch drainage pipe "Y" staked down so it won't move. In this case, I put about 10 inches of pipe in the single outlet and place it in the wicket. You can only go through by going through the pipe, and only from two very specific angles.

A milk crate.

Use the local landscape: I usually try to place one of the wickets very close to a tree.

You could build purely decorative adornments if you like, perhaps give your set a theme: circus, space, super hero, whatever. Remember to keep it age-appropriate - don't make a wicket too difficult if you are playing with younger children.

Use your imagination - send me pictures.

So there you have it - Challenge Croquet, another great idea from the mind of Dave. Have fun, we enjoy it every time we play.