Kentucky Clay Court - Croquet Rules

KY Nine Wicket Layout

Court and Equipment Characteristics:
Smooth Clay court - very fast speed.
Wickets set in Concrete and buried under the clay.
Steel wire is used to mark the court boundary.
Wickets only slightly taller than the ball - i.e. the hoop cannot be run by a jumphot over a blocking ball.
Balls are smooth in texture, solid and similar in weight to a Jacques Eclipse ball.
Notice the layout with hoop 3 level with hoop 2.  Start about 6' back from hoop 1.
The mallets are custom made.  The mallet face consists of two playing surfaces, one hard surface called fiber and one soft surface made of rubber.
The handles are generally short, though many new mallets are being made using longer handles to allow a more upright stance.  (This was changed with the influence from six-wicket players like Archie Burchfield.)
Clips and deadness boards (or a clipboard with a deadness sheet) are used only during tournaments.
Players are generally expected to remember deadness and hoop positions but this is sometimes problematic and a starting point of contentiousness.
Clocks are generally not used, unless players are waiting to play.  During tournaments, a 3-5 hour time limit is set for a best of three match, whereas during local weekend club play, clocks are used to set a 1 hour time limit and play is stopped when the clock expires, hoops are counted and the winner is determined by most hoops advanced.

1. The colors of the balls are Red, White, Blue and Black and the players follow this order of play.  Red is teamed up with Blue and White is teamed up with Black.  It is usual to play a game of doubles but if singles is played then all four balls are used.  (There is a game of three called poison but it is not commonly played.)
   
2. The order of the hoops follow the diagram of the court.  The hoops are numbers from 1 to 16 each hoop counting for 1 point.  The peg in the middle is number 8.  Players refer to the hoops by these numbers (there is no 1-back, 2-back designations).
3. The hoops must be run in the order shown,  note that you may go thru the basket (middle hoop) in either of two directions shown.  The hoop must be run in a straight direction, i.e. you may not start by running the hoop in the NE direction and then half way through decide to exit through the NW direction.
4. When you hit a ball, referred to as a bump or a roquet, you are entitled to two strokes;  the first is the croquet stroke and the 2nd is the continuation stroke.
5. During the croquet stroke, you place your striker ball in contact with the ball you hit where that ball came to rest at the end of the roquet shot.  You may a) hold your ball with your hand and drive the other ball away. (This is referred to as a tight.)  Or you may b) strike your ball into the other ball causing both balls to move.  During this shot called the croquet shot, the croqueted ball must at least 'shake'; you may not shoot away from the croqueted ball without causing it to move.
6. During either the roquet or the croquet shot, you may score the roqueted ball through its hoop or against the peg at position 8.  The striker does not earn any additional shots in scoring a point for either its partner or its opponents ball unless the striker's ball scores one of its hoops in proper order.
   
7. You become dead on the ball you've hit and taken croquet from and may not hit that ball again until you go through your next hoop.  In subsequent turns, you remain dead on the balls you've hit until you go through your next hoop (see rule 7 for rover ball). 
   
8. If you hit two balls in the same stroke, you take croquet and deadness from the first ball hit.  The second (and third ball if struck) goes back to its original resting spot prior to the stroke.
   
9. When your ball has gone through all the hoops (1-15), you become a rover ball.  A rover ball is alive on all balls at the beginning of each turn and the rover ball may hit any ball in any order once during its turn.
   
10. A ball crosses out of bounds when the center of the ball is beyond the boundary line.  The boundary line is either marked with a string or a metal wire.  In general this line should not impede or prevent a ball from crossing the boundary.
11. If a ball is not out of bounds, it remain where it lays, which might be right next to the string.  When placing your ball in contact after a bump for a croquet shot, you may not place your ball out of bounds.   Notice that this may limit your possible options.
12. If you knock your ball or your partners ball out of bounds, your ball(s) become placed on the nearest 'penalty spot' in the zone your ball went out of bounds.  If the spot is already occupied with another ball, your ball is placed on the opposite spot.   In zone I for example, if you go out of bounds on the south boundary, then place your ball on the spot south of stake 16.  If you go out of bounds on the east boundary, then place your ball on the east boundary spot, unless occupied, then place your ball on the west boundary zone I spot.  See rule 14 for explanation of zones I, II and III.
13. If you knock your opponents ball out of bounds, the opponent may place his ball on the boundary line where the ball went out of bounds or on the spot.
14. There are three zones. Zone I is south of hoops 3 and 13.  Zone II is south of hoops 5 and 11 and north of zone I.  Zone III is north of hoops 5 and 11. When you are on a 'penalty spot', you may not roquet a ball in that zone.
15. All other balls that are hit after a roquet, either by the striker ball or by the bumped ball, are replaced.  If a ball occupied a spot that the bumped ball now occupies, the bumped ball comes back in contact with the ball occupying that spot at the spot the ball contacted the moved ball.
16. Striker faults bring all the balls back to where they started prior to the stroke.  Faults include hitting a ball you are dead on; causing damage to the court by striking the court with your mallet during the follow through or prior to hitting the striker ball; hitting a ball other than the striker ball; letting go of your ball when holding it during a croquet shot. 
17. The strikers ball can go out of bounds after hitting a ball it is alive on.  The roqueted ball may not go out of bounds or the turn ends (and rule 11 applies).  Some local customs discourage sending an opponent's ball out of bounds if it gives an apparent advantage to the striker.  Some have suggested calling deadness on the striker; others have suggested allowing the opponent to bring the balls back to the positions prior to the stroke in question.  The official rules have not been modified and no penalty is prescribed in the official rule book.
18. There is no relief from deadness except to score the hoop.  Often times it is best to 'take shape', i.e. setup in front of your hoop.
19. There are no wiring rules.  You may move your opponent's balls in the most unfavorable position each turn preventing them from scoring their hoops or hitting a ball they may be alive on.
20. The basket, hoop 4 and 12, is the most difficult hoop to run.  Often players will avoid becoming dead on balls prior to attempting to score the basket.  Located in the middle,this hoop is central to the strategy of play in the game.
21. When scoring a hoop, the striker ball must pass clearly through the hoop and beyond the plane of the playing side of the hoop without hitting a ball it is dead upon.  If after clearing the hoop, the ball contacts a ball, then the striker is ball in hand and immediately takes croquet from that ball.
22. If a player scores a hoop and in the same turn goes out of bounds or causes another ball to go out of bounds, the hoop is scored, the turn ends and rules 10 or 11 apply.
    
23. A play must be made prior to or on the 3rd full rotation since the last play.  A play is made by hitting a ball the striker is alive on or by scoring a hoop.  If a team fails to make a play on the 3rd rotation, the opponent may call deadness on one of the balls the striking team is alive on.
    
24. The blocking rule is a difficult rule to understand but necessary to prevent players from completely preventing play from proceeding.  Your opponent must acknowledge when you claim a first block.  A block is when a ball you are dead on prevents you from scoring your wicket or from hitting a ball you are still alive on.  If a player blocks you a second time with either of his teams two balls, you may call a second block. Then the opponent has to replay his shot in a different direction so as not to block.  The second block does not have to occur on two consecutive turns.  I have been told that if you ask for the opponent to move, then you must take the shot at the hoop or the ball from which you have claimed a block.
    
25. The game ends when both partner balls have scored the 15th wicket and the striker drives both the partner and the striker ball into stake 16 in one shot or the partner ball into stake 16 in the croquet shot and then the striker ball into the stake on the continuation stroke.  If the striker fails to peg both balls out in this manner, the games continues and neither ball is removed from the game.
26. Games are usually not timed, but if players are waiting for court time, then a 1 hour timer is started.  When the clock expires, the game is over and the team with the most points scored at the buzzer is the winner.  No additional shots may be played after time is called.