EXtreme croquet
Encyclopedia
Extreme Croquet is a variation on croquet
mainly distinguished by its lack of any requirement pertaining to out-of-bounds or field specifications. A close relative of the croquet played in most backyards and gardens, but expanded by more adventurous enthusiasts and played throughout the world in conditions unfamiliar to official tournament players.
A certain amount of experimentation and development has occurred with the equipment used to play. Traditional croquet sets typically do not stand up well to the rigors of "extreme croquet", and various methods have been used to strengthen the mallets, balls, and even the wickets. This has led to the origin of mallets with beveled faces to add "loft" to the ball, and two-story wickets.
Some say the variation had its origins in 1920s America, while others claim the extreme version is simply retroactive, appealing to croquet's supposed origin as a 15th century French shepherd past-time. Today, many clubs or societies keep track of one another by their websites. Notable among these is the Connecticut Extreme Croquet Society, for its storied history as well as its lucrative domain name http://www.extremecroquet.org. Due to these singularities, the Connecticut group is often singled out for media attention as various outlets hear of this purportedly new phenomenon.
The first documented extreme croquet matches in USA took place in Oregon City, OR, from 2000-2002. A group of high school kids looking for a bit more excitement than the traditional game could offer began to test the boundaries of the sport. Crushed balls, split mallets, scratches, bumps, bruises and irreparable divots became the norm, and a new sport was born.
The campus of Texas A&M University in College Station, TX has been an active Extreme Croquet area since their charter club was formed in 2002.
Boston University is the home of BU International Extreme Croquet Society. The organization was founded in 2008. On April 5, 2010 BU Today featured a film on the club.
Dumbarton Oaks, a research center in Washington, D.C. with a specialty in Garden and Landscape Studies, has become a site for pick-up games of extreme croquet.
The New Paltz Extreme Croquet Society was founded in the Spring of 2007 at the State University of New York at New Paltz.
The Richmond Extreme Croquet Group has been meeting on the campus of the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia for the past 7–8 years.
In the Benelux region, the sport was first promoted by the Dane Soren Hansen and the Briton Adam Franke in the Ardennes area, where recreational activities like camping and rock climbing are prevalent. Events have been set up in the Hague and the sport is quickly attracting people of various nationalities.
Hell Michigan is the home of the National Extreme Croquet Association! Originally founded in Lincoln Park Michigan by three enthusiasts in 2001. The three major tournaments or Holy Trinity are held in spring, fall and winter.
The Northwest Arkansas Nonprofessional-professional Extreme Croquet Association, or NANECA utilizes both urban and natural settings for its free flowing extreme croquet.
The Falmouth Extreme Croquet League was founded in August 2010 by a group of enthusiasts in the region.
The Garbage Croquet League (GCL) has been active since 2008 primarily in Santa Cruz and Los Angeles. This league has become particularly renowned for its emphatic use of the "flip shot."
Coon Lake Mallet Company located in Howell Michigan has been producing handcrafted extreme mallets since 2006. These mallets can withstand the rigors of the most extreme of players. They have been thrown in anger up too 200 feet without breaking!
Should your ball not cross the entire pool, you must personally remove it regardless of anything within 2 minutes.
Croquet
Croquet is a lawn game, played both as a recreational pastime and as a competitive sport. It involves hitting plastic or wooden balls with a mallet through hoops embedded into the grass playing court.-History:...
mainly distinguished by its lack of any requirement pertaining to out-of-bounds or field specifications. A close relative of the croquet played in most backyards and gardens, but expanded by more adventurous enthusiasts and played throughout the world in conditions unfamiliar to official tournament players.
Game setup
A typical extreme croquet game starts with location scouting, searching for terrain that might present interesting and novel challenges such as trees, roots, hills, sand, mud, or moving or still water. The wickets are normally set up according to the "British" figure-eight standard well known to Americans, but often deviate somewhat to take best advantage of the location. Play proceeds following the usual croquet rules, with alterations generally designed to handle circumstances not found in the garden game. An unquantifiable resilience and spirit characterizes the play of the game, replacing the calm and sophistication commonly associated with tournament play.A certain amount of experimentation and development has occurred with the equipment used to play. Traditional croquet sets typically do not stand up well to the rigors of "extreme croquet", and various methods have been used to strengthen the mallets, balls, and even the wickets. This has led to the origin of mallets with beveled faces to add "loft" to the ball, and two-story wickets.
Some say the variation had its origins in 1920s America, while others claim the extreme version is simply retroactive, appealing to croquet's supposed origin as a 15th century French shepherd past-time. Today, many clubs or societies keep track of one another by their websites. Notable among these is the Connecticut Extreme Croquet Society, for its storied history as well as its lucrative domain name http://www.extremecroquet.org. Due to these singularities, the Connecticut group is often singled out for media attention as various outlets hear of this purportedly new phenomenon.
Rules
Due to its inherently anarchistic nature, extreme Croquet will forever be without a governing body (though legitimizing the sport on a national level has its benefits), meaning different societies play by necessarily disparate rules. Many organizations opt to list these on their websites, offering other groups a look at their own unique interpretation. Variations include the following:- When one ball strikes another, the striker may choose to continue play as the strikee's ball.
- A player receives an extra stroke for passing through a second story of a wicket.
- A player may strike the ball with any part of the mallet, including a billiards-reminiscent style.
- The first player through the second wicket determines the direction of play.
- As each player reaches the starting post after clearing all wickets, he is "poison" and must declare his status to all players.
- A non-poison player can eliminate a poison player by sending the latter through a wicket.
- Passing through a wicket out of order is punished by sending the ball back to the previous post.
- Small children and dogs are legal obstacles, and if they interfere with the ball's placement, the player must still "play it where it lies."
Extreme croquet locations
The worlds oldest extreme croquet club was founded 1975 in Sweden.The first documented extreme croquet matches in USA took place in Oregon City, OR, from 2000-2002. A group of high school kids looking for a bit more excitement than the traditional game could offer began to test the boundaries of the sport. Crushed balls, split mallets, scratches, bumps, bruises and irreparable divots became the norm, and a new sport was born.
The campus of Texas A&M University in College Station, TX has been an active Extreme Croquet area since their charter club was formed in 2002.
Boston University is the home of BU International Extreme Croquet Society. The organization was founded in 2008. On April 5, 2010 BU Today featured a film on the club.
Dumbarton Oaks, a research center in Washington, D.C. with a specialty in Garden and Landscape Studies, has become a site for pick-up games of extreme croquet.
The New Paltz Extreme Croquet Society was founded in the Spring of 2007 at the State University of New York at New Paltz.
The Richmond Extreme Croquet Group has been meeting on the campus of the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia for the past 7–8 years.
In the Benelux region, the sport was first promoted by the Dane Soren Hansen and the Briton Adam Franke in the Ardennes area, where recreational activities like camping and rock climbing are prevalent. Events have been set up in the Hague and the sport is quickly attracting people of various nationalities.
Hell Michigan is the home of the National Extreme Croquet Association! Originally founded in Lincoln Park Michigan by three enthusiasts in 2001. The three major tournaments or Holy Trinity are held in spring, fall and winter.
The Northwest Arkansas Nonprofessional-professional Extreme Croquet Association, or NANECA utilizes both urban and natural settings for its free flowing extreme croquet.
The Falmouth Extreme Croquet League was founded in August 2010 by a group of enthusiasts in the region.
The Garbage Croquet League (GCL) has been active since 2008 primarily in Santa Cruz and Los Angeles. This league has become particularly renowned for its emphatic use of the "flip shot."
Coon Lake Mallet Company located in Howell Michigan has been producing handcrafted extreme mallets since 2006. These mallets can withstand the rigors of the most extreme of players. They have been thrown in anger up too 200 feet without breaking!
Should your ball not cross the entire pool, you must personally remove it regardless of anything within 2 minutes.
Articles
- "A Short History of Croquet" introduction to croquet
- "Extreme Croquet" article on the origins of the game
- "Extreme Satisfaction" feature article in Washington D.C. CityPaper about extreme croquet
- "Pardon, But My Last Shot Seems to Have Spilled Your Beer" from the San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco Chroniclethumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
- "With Mallets Aforethought" from Smithsonian Magazine
External links
- Connecticut Extreme Croquet society homepage
- DC-MD-VA Extreme Croquet Club Yahoo Group
- Erie County Cross Country Croquet League homepage
- Golden Mallet Croquet Society homepage
- Ironman Croquet homepage
- Lakewood Croquet homepage
- North Side Croquet Club homepage
- Oakley Woods Croquet More about rules
- R.Å.S.O.P. the worlds oldest extreme croquet club homepage
- San Francisco Extreme Croquet Club homepage