Overall Game Strategy in Short Croquet

Short Croquet is simply 14-point handicap AC played on a half-size lawn, with full bisques, a trivial adjustment of the wiring rule and its own handicapping system. You are likely to have bisques, but so is your opponent, and this significantly affects tactics.

The best Short Croquet game plan is therefore to use bisques to get in quickly and set up a break, and go to peg. Then, as soon as you can, use bisques again to set up another good break. If you don't do it first, your opponent will, and will win the game. Plan to use half your bisques for the first ball, and half for your second.

If you have, say, 8 bisques, a winning game strategy might look something like this:

• 2 bisques to set up your first four-ball break
• 1 bisque to correct an error as you play the break
• 1 bisque to improve the break as you go
• Repeat with partner ball

Don't wait to be gifted a perfect break opportunity; invest bisques without delay to get a four-ball break underway at once.

Before your first shot of the new turn, plan to invest bisques to play or nudge balls into well-placed pilot, pioneer and pivot positions to start an all-round break.

Short Croquet Opening Moves

The usual AC openings are all worth trying to see which work best for you and what might happen next. Remember, however, that the lawn is compact: some strong players can hit in from almost anywhere on the lawn, so hiding places are few.

Wiring Lifts in Short Croquet

Wiring lifts can occur more readily in Short Croquet than in full-lawn croquet. This is partly because, on the smaller lawn, the hoops conceal proportionately more of the lawn; and partly because of the special Short Croquet wiring rule: the striker's ball must have a clear shot at all parts of its partner ball, not just (as in full lawn games) at any other ball.

A key element of Short Croquet therefore, is to avoid giving a lift, and, as the out-player, being alert to whether you may have one. So, when playing croquet shots using an opposition ball, be actively aware of where the other opponent's ball lies. Each of the balls needs a clear shot right around the other.