Shotgun Croquet Standard croquet rules apply with these additional changes/clarifications. I. SHOTGUNNING a. Any player wishing to play an additional shot may “shotgun” a beer. b. A shotgun will be judged by other participants and a protest may be made if an honest effort by the “Shot gunner” is not made to consume the entire beer. i. Exceptions will be made for 1. Struggling with ice cold beer. 2. Choking. c. A swig of hard liquor may be substituted by players with aversions to beer or if adequate quantities of beer are not available. i. All efforts to avoid the latter must be made by participants. ii. Suitable quantities of warm beer must be set aside for shot gunning. d. The shotgun must take place immediately following the active players current shot. i. The proper way to announce a shotgun is to say “shotgun” loud enough for all players to hear, in order to avoid the following player hitting his next shot. e. Following the shotgun the shot gunner may toss his empty can over his shoulder on to the course, creating a “land mine” (see section II; hazards). i. Players may not aim their land mine toss (see section III; penalties). f. The player in the lead is not allowed to shotgun voluntarily. i. A clear lead is defined as being 1 wicket or more ahead of all opponents – i.e.; if the 2 lead players are between the 2 same wickets no clear lead has been established. II. HAZZARDS a. Any player hitting their ball into a “land mine” is required to shotgun. b. Any player whose ball is hit into a land mine is required to shotgun. c. Any player stepping on, kicking, tripping on or moving a landmine is required to shotgun. d. Any player “disturbing” a wicket is required to shotgun. i. “disturbing” is defined as 1. Uprooting a wicket – one or more sides of the wicket coming out of the ground fully. 2. Causing a wicket to be unfairly playable by opponents. i.e.; knocking it over but with both tines still in the ground. 3. Any reconfiguration of a wicket intentionally or unintentionally that makes it necessary to replace the wicket. III. PENALTIES a. No Lollygagging i. The 30 second rule is in effect – opponents may call lollygagging on any player who loses track of time and does not play his shot in the time – limit. 1. exceptions should be considered for: a. beer runs b. bathroom breaks c. loss of consciousness i. loss of consciousness results in an automatic win ii. By loosing consciousness you forfeit your right to be angry when your opponents take your pants and write on your face with a Magic Marker™. 2. A 10 second countdown must be announced with sufficient volume to be heard by the lollygagger for the penalty to be assessed. b. Players must observe the order of the game. i. If a player makes a shot out of turn he looses his next turn. 1. No shotgun penalty will be assessed unless habitual out-of-turn shot making is established by a player (see section IV; consensus). 2. If a player asks if it is his turn an honest answer must be given by the one questioned. c. Land Mine Toss must not be aimed i. An aimed landmine toss will result in a re-toss in accordance with the rules 1. habitual landmine tossers may be assessed a consensus penalty (see section IV; consensus) d. Players hitting an opponents ball i. Anyone hitting or disturbing an opponents ball illegally will be made to shotgun. The ball wrongly hit will be placed back in it’s original position. IV. CONSENSUS a. New rules may be established during the course of the game. i. New rules will be reviewed and adopted by a majority vote. ii. New rules take effect at the top of the order on the following turn. iii. New rules may not adversely affect players during the turn the new rule is adopted. iv. These rules will be incorporated into the remainder of the tournament. b. Shotgun penalties may be assessed to any player at any time by a consensus of opponents. i. Reasonable judgment will be used in assessing consensus penalties. 1. Reasonable penalties could include: nudity, course desecration, complaining, farting, rule arguing (if clearly stated in the above rules), practical jokes played on people causing delay in the game (unless really funny), generally being an asshole. V. GENERAL CROQUET RULES (ones we have had problems with) a. There are two ways to earn bonus strokes; b. Scoring a wicket or hitting the “turning stake” gives you one bonus stroke. c. Roqueting (hitting) a ball with the strikers ball gives you two bonus strokes. d. All wicket or stake bonus strokes must be played from where the ball lies after the point is made. e. After roqueting (hitting) a ball a player has four options: i. Take the two bonus strokes from where the player’s ball has come to rest. ii. With “ball in hand” place the players ball one mallet head’s length away from the other ball in any direction and then take two bonus strokes. iii. With “ball in hand” place the players ball in contact with the struck ball (where it has come to rest) then strike the player’s ball so as to send both balls in the desired direction. This is called a croquet shot. The striker then has one bonus stroke remaining. iv. With “ball in hand” place the players ball in contact with the struck ball (where it has come to rest) and placing the player’s foot on his own ball so as to render it immobile, strike the player’s own ball so as to send the other ball off in the desired direction while the player’s ball remains where it is. The player then has one more bonus stroke remaining. If the players ball moves from under the foot there is no penalty and the bonus stroke is taken. v. Each ball may be roqueted (hit) for bonus strokes only once in a turn, unless the striker scores a wicket or strikes the turning stake, in which case the balls may be roqueted again for bonus strokes. vi. If a player roquets (hits) more than one ball in a stroke it will get bonus strokes from the first ball roqueted with the other balls remaining where they came to rest. VI. RULE CHANGES (ones we have established) a. A maximum of 3 bonus strokes may be accumulated. b. A player may not roquet the same ball twice in a row. c. A legal pass through the wicket is defined as more than half the ball passing through the wicket. d. Out of bounds will be determined by consensus of opponents. e. Balls hit out of bounds may be placed in bounds up to 1 mallet head distance from point of entry. Note from Author: this is just my version of the rules. Credit should be given to the Burns household for hosting the first shotgun croquet contests that I know of. Any rule clarification should be discussed before the game or at least a reasonable attempt should be made to establish rules so players are not unfairly advantaged/disadvantaged during play and fewer arguments result. If a rule is challenged it may be brought to a consensus vote. Rule changes are encouraged and can be adapted to the course conditions or sobriety of the players.