Flamingo bat and hedgehog ball – royal match in wonderland

It could almost be considered a drug trip: Alice, heroine from Lewis Carroll’s book „Alice in Wonderland“, consumes strange drinks, mushrooms and biscuits and experiences the most absurd things. Cheshire cat, turtle supper, live playing cards, … without a dating app, the young lady meets the best guys. When she finally lands after a messed-up tea party with the King of Hearts and the Queen of Hearts, the latter is in the mood for a little murder. But before the heads roll, Alice is asked to play a game of croquet with the rest of the court. However, the equipment proves to be extremely rudimentary and incompatible with the applicable animal welfare laws: A flamingo acts as a club and a hedgehog must keep it as a ball.

croquet: Leisure fun of the „better“ people in the late 19th century

croquet is a game in which it is important that marked wooden balls are transported in a certain predetermined order and direction with thugs by gates. The word has its origin in the French word „croc“ or its diminutive „crochette“ (= hook). The name was due to the shape of the racket. Unlike his predecessor, the Paille-Maille, also called Pall Mall in English-speaking ball game, will croquet not played on a hard court but on a grassy area. A related variant is the bicycle croquet. The course is played while cycling through. Swingolf and the Japanese Gateball have evolved from the croquet game. However, the croquet has nothing to do with the well-known and similar cricket.
Édouard Manet’s oil painting „The Croquet“ was created in 1873, when the croquet game enjoyed great popularity not only in Victorian England but also among the French middle and upper classes. Croquet could also be played by corseted women without fainting and shortness of breath. croquet also allowed a casual interaction between men and women, as he was at that time with hardly any leisure time was possible. Even in the wild west, croquet clubs were created. An old black and white picture from 1878, which appeared in a box of photographs in California, allegedly shows Billy the kid playing a game of croquet in Fort Summer, New Mexico.
There are two disciplines, the so-called Association Croquet and the Golf Croquet. Since 1900, croquet is also an Olympic discipline. In Germany, the German Croquet Federation was founded in 1998.

Animal welfare compliant and environmentally friendly – the modern sets

Croquet games are available in the set for 6 (standard set) or 4 players. The wooden sticks are 100 cm long in adult size, junior sticks have a length of 75-83 cm. Six or four heavy wooden balls as well as goals and start and finish posts complete the sets.
Depending on the supplier, the goals are made of wood or metal. Metal gates have the advantage of being less susceptible to moisture. The wooden balls have a diameter of 70 to 80 millimeters.
Very handy is a bag for storageand to transport the parts.

The company GICO offers a well-rated, stable quality croquet game for six adult players with a club length of 100 cm in a jute sack. The massive woods used come from Europe, the production takes place under environmentally friendly conditions. The sturdy gates are made of metal, the balls are painted impact resistant. The manual is written in German and the supply of spare parts is guaranteed for five years.