Croquet Balls

Everything in the game of croquet is deliberately marked, colored, weighed, and measured, all the way down to the balls. The standard colors for croquet balls are black, red, yellow, and blue in the four player game. Green and orange are added to the six player croquet game. In addition, two separate games may be played on the same court, using 8 different croquet balls. In this case, United States rules use striped versions of the original four colors, while International rules often use green, pink, brown, and white as additional colors. For backyard croquet or garden play, croquet balls usually weigh less than 16 ounces, which is much lighter than the standard weight. Competition croquet balls typically weigh one pound, give or take a quarter of an ounce, and are 3 5/8 inches in diameter.

Materials

Believe it or not, croquet balls used to be manufactured from actual wood. Today, most croquet balls are made from a highly durable plastic composite. These materials allow for good bounce and rebound characteristics.

Championship Approval

The Croquet Association gives its stamp of approval to croquet balls based on 4 specific testing areas:

• Roundness - a test of the difference between the balls' maximum and minimum diameters. The result should come below 1/32 of an inch.
• Weight - champion ship level croquet balls must weigh within 5 grams of 1 pound.
• Rebound - these heights are measured on the 6 points of each croquet ball: 4 nodes in the milling pattern and 2 poles which have a checkerboard pattern.
• Milling - basically, the upstands must be wider than the grooves.

Taking the Challenge

"Challenge" croquet balls are much lighter in weight than normal croquet balls. They weigh about 12 ounces, instead of the standard pound. These croquet balls are great for younger croquet players and for backyard, or garden croquet which tends to use lighter mallets.