The World of Croquet - Rules and Regulations

The Rules and Regulations of Croquet

As used by Croquet Canada and the USCA

EQUIPMENT

The Wickets

The wickets shall be of round iron, 5/8 inch diameter and of uniform thickness. They shall be 12 inches in height above the ground, measured from the ground to the top of the crown of the wicket, vertical and firmly fixed.
The crown shall be straight and at right angles to the uprights. The distance between the inside of the uprights for normal play shall not be less than 3 11/16, nor more than 4 inches apart; for tournament play, not more than 3 3/4 inches; and for National Championship play a 1/16 inch greater than the diameter of a ball in use on that court, with a maximum upward tolerance of 1/32 inch. All wickets on any court should be of the same dimensions.
The wickets shall be painted white, the crown of the first wicket colored blue and that of the last wicket, which is known as the rover wicket, red.

The Stake

The stake has two parts, a base and a detachable extension on the top of the base. The base has a uniform diameter of 1 1/2 inches and a height of 18 inches above the ground and is usually made of wood. It must be vertical, firmly fixed in the ground. It shall be painted white with blue, red, black and yellow bands descending in that order from the top. The first 6 inches above the ground shall be white. The detachable extension shall be about 1/2 inches in diameter and 6 inches in length. It is designed to hold clips and must be detachable from the top of the base.

The Balls

Croquet balls shall be colored respectively blue, red, black and yellow. Balls to be used in Titled National, Regional, Sectional, District, Provincial or State events shall have been approved by the World Croquet Federation. The size of these balls shall be 3s/B inch in diameter with a milled surface and of even weight, not less than 15 3/4 ounces, nor more than 16 1/4 ounces. For these titled events, all balls shall, when dropped from a height of 60 inches onto a 2" steel plate imbedded in concrete, rebound to a height of not less than 30 inches nor more than 45 inches. All balls within a set must not vary in rebound by more than three inches. Faulty or damaged balls may be changed during play. For all USCA sanctioned events, the manufacturer and model of the balls to be used should be included in the entry forms distributed to players prior to the event.

The Mallet

The head of the mallet shall be of wood or any other material, provided that the player shall gain no advantage over wood. Metal may be used for weighting or strengthening. The two end faces shall be parallel, perpendicular to the bottom and must have identical playing characteristics and not have a playing advantage over a head made entirely of wood. There may be a bevelled edge which shall not be considered as part of the face. A player may not change his mallet during a turn except in the case of damage affecting use.

COURT ACCESSORIES

The following accessories should be supplied for guidance, convenience and decoration. The accessories do not form part of the setting of the court. Accordingly, any such accessories impeding a striker may be temporarily removed.

Clips

There is one clip for each ball; blue, red, black and yellow. The function of the clips is to indicate the state of the game on the court. The next wicket or the stake in order for every ball at the beginning of every turn shall be distinguished by the clip corresponding with that ball. When a ball scores a wicket, the striker shall remove the clip and, at the end of the turn, place it upon the appropriate wicket or stake. When the stake is scored, the clip shall be removed from the court. The first six wickets shall be distinguished by placing the clip on the crown of the wicket, the last six by placing it on one of the uprights.
Each player, referee or official scorer shall call attention to a misplaced clip as soon as the mistake is observed, and the clip shall then be properly placed. Clips may be removed temporarily when they impede the striker's shot.

Deadness Board

In order to aid the contestants (and spectators) in identifying balls which have deadness, a board approximately 2' high x 3' wide is used with the four ball colors permanently affixed in proper sequence vertically on the left side and 12 colored squares (three each of the four ball colors) painted or affixed to the background with white squares which can be moved to expose or reveal the background colored squares. These colored squares are arranged in horizontal rows next to the vertical column on the left side of the board. The horizontal rows are laid out in the same order as the four colors descending on the vertical column. The white squares can be moved so as to cover or uncover the colored squares to show a ball's deadness.

Clocks

A "Game Clock" is used to time the game. Game time limits vary from 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes in duration. When the game time expires the timekeeper calls "time" and the players are now in their last round of turns
A "Shot Clock" is used to limit the time a player takes to play a shot. A player is allowed a maximum of 45 seconds in which to play each shot. The shot clock keeper gives the striker a " 15 second" warning and calls "time" after the 15 seconds expires, if the striker has not struck the ball before "time" is called the turn is over.

Corner Flags

Flags, colored blue, red, black and yellow shall be placed in corners l, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. The flags shall be mounted on staffs about one foot high. The staffs shall be at least 4" from the boundary. These are used primarily as an aid in judging distances and are not essential to the game. Boundary string should not be attached to the staff of the corner flag; it should be attached in the corner separately.

Check fence