Roque
A first cousin of croquet is roque, a North American game incorporating elements of both croquet and billiards. The American Roque League has clubs from coast to coast and has quietly and uninterruptedly been holding tournaments and crowning champions since the 1880’s. Once known as the National Croquet Association, the “C” and the “t” were dropped in 1899 to differentiate between the two sports, and thus, we now have “roque.”
Roque is billed immodestly as the “game of the century” and, while it may have gone virtually unnoticed by the general public, it did surface long enough to be included as an Olympic sport in 1904. Not surprisingly, an American named Charles Jacobus took the gold medal, and since roque was dropped as soon as the Olympics left St. Louis, it is one of those rare Olympic events that has never been won by a non-American.
The official roque court.
While there are many differences between roque and croquet, the most noticeable one is that a roque court is bounded on all sides by a twelve inch high cement wall. This wall, slightly cut in at the base, is used for bank shots much like the cushions of a billiard table, and allows for variations which are impossible on a croquet court. The roque court is sixty by thirty feet, as compared to croquet’s course of one hundred and five by eighty-four feet, and is sanded rather than grassy. The wickets are steel and the area between the wickets is 3-3/8 inches wide, about the same as in croquet. The balls are hard rubber and are an eighth of an inch smaller than the wicket clearance, making roque as demanding as croquet when it comes to accuracy.
The mallets used in the two sports are also different. The roque mallet has a short shaft and is usually played with one hand. One end of the mallet head is hard—usually metal—and even ivory has been used. The other end is soft rubber. Although some players use one or the other end exclusively, the rubber end is usually better for short shots and the hard end for longer hits.
The emblem of the American Roque League, showing roque mallets and roque wicket.
Two, three or four people can play a roque game, but if three play, two players get one ball each and the third uses two balls. As with billiards, the starting sequence is determined by lagging balls toward the playing line. The order of red, yellow, blue and black is followed, but unlike croquet, the game is started by placing each of the halls at the four boundary-line corners of the court. When the game begins all balls are live on each other—unlike most American croquet variations—and, as it is virtually impossible to make a hoop on the opening shot, there are many bank shots used at the beginning of a roque game to jockey for position.
The object of roque is to score thirty-two points—sixteen on each ball—or the most points in the allotted time. If all sixteen points are scored on a single turn it is called a “homerun” and, since roque scores are kept by innings, the game would be over in the first inning. There are usually ten innings in a game, although tournaments often take fifteen.
Roque wickets are run differently from those in croquet. The side hoops can only be made by using the “hot ball” (the ball to be played next by your opponent) or as a solo shot, without assistance. This rule greatly reduces the chances of a homerun. The center arches are played as if they are a single arch, or they can be made in successive turns, as long as the ball stays between the hoops and does not hit a live ball. As you can see, the use of a break is especially necessary around the center.
After a ball makes all its points except the stake, it becomes a rover, as in croquet. When both partners have become rovers, the striker must complete the game by roqueting his partner’s ball against the stake, and then hitting the stake with his own ball on the next shot. Incidentally, the jump shot is not legal in roque.
These are the simple outlines of a very complicated game, and it is not our intent to cover all the rules and differences between roque and croquet in one chapter. The American Roque League, now in Dallas, will provide a list of clubs, rules, a book of strategy, and even diagrams on how to construct a roque court. The best advice is to contact them before you start cementing in your back yard.
It is not long before every honorable feeling, every dictate of morality has been obliterated. The hoop is the gaping jaw of hades…It shall be well if the enthusiasm of the clergy and laity were enlisted for supressing the immoral practice of croquet.
—Living Age, 1898
