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 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 or garden play, croquet balls usually weigh less than 16 ounces, which is much lighter than the standard weight. Competition 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 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 balls must weigh within 5 grams of 1 pound.
Rebound - these heights are measured on the 6 points of each 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" balls are much lighter in weight than normal croquet balls. They weigh about 12 ounces, instead of the standard pound. These balls are great for younger croquet players and for backyard, or garden, croquet which tends to use lighter mallets.
