Mr Monkey at the Fforde Ffestival

Proper Nextian croquet, as it appears in the books, is a mixture of lawn croquet, American Football and Rollerball, with armour, cheerleaders, steel hoops, mallets and natural hazards in the playing field such as rhododendron bushes and gazebos. As there was only one full-sized mallet available, no cheerleaders, and only one set of armour, the Ffestival game was a lot more like lawn croquet. In fact, it was lawn croquet with a time limit to each game, and a lot of advice from the referee. Either the games went on for quite a long time, or night falls early in Swindon. Mr Monkey scampered back down the hill to his hotel.

You can read some simplified rules of croquet at the Oxford Croquet website.

Copyright Rik Shepherd and Mr Monkey. This page last modified 30 October 2005