Croquet Bowls

This is a fun game as a coaching aid for hitting to position, or something for large numbers of people to do on a croquet lawn with little to no practice.

• Split into two teams, up to four players per side.
• Play primary colours (blue, red, black, yellow) against secondary colours (green, pink, brown, white).
• Take an equal number of balls per side (one ball each with 3 or 4 players, two balls for 2 players, four balls for 1 player)
• Agree on a strip of the croquet lawn as the area of play (ideally play from West to East on a croquet lawn)
  • if the court has hoops in, feel free to use the hoops to mark out lanes.
• Position a jack (e.g. a golf or tennis ball) in the centre of the area, and agree on a total score to reach, either 10 or 21.
• Toss a coin, the winner chooses who will start.
• Each side chooses an end (boundary line).
• Alternate hitting balls from the boundary line to stop as close to the jack as possible;
• The side with all balls closer to the jack than the nearest opponent's ball scores one point for each ball.
• Repeat the process, with opposite sides/players starting successive rounds, and rotating ends if desired.
• The first to reach the agreed total is the winner.

Errors (e.g. playing before balls have stopped, tripping over balls) can be resolved by replacing balls where they should be, and the offender missing their next turn.

With thanks to Jason Carley (Watford CC) for the original suggestion, and Samir Patel (Surbiton CC) for amendments.