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Mountain Croquet

by: Peter Jay

Are you looking for a cheap and easy way to impress your date and to have a good time? Then get a croquet set and teach them to play. I recently taught a girl to play croquet. At first I thought that she thought I was nerd and that I was ridiculous for playing such games. I am also a cheapskate for taking her to play this cheap game or free activity rather than spending money on her, which I did not have anyway. The whole time we were playing, I thought that she thought I was dumb.
I easily won our first game, the one where I taught her to play. The second game was a little different, however, after she knew what she was doing and understood the game a little more. I still could have easily beaten her, but being the gentleman that I am, I played bad on purpose and intentionally hit my ball poorly or in the wrong direction to give her a chance. I played poorly to the very end and purposely missed the last two wickets, overshooting them so that I would have to hit my ball in the reverse direction and get another shot at them. This gave her the opportunity to catch up with me and hit her ball through for the win. I just thought it would be a little more fun for her if she was not trailing me by so much and even had a chance to win it. I think in the end she did not think I was so dumb after that, and actually had a good attitude about the game. She still went out with me again, so it must have been good. We did go out to eat and watch a movie afterward, and she specifically thanked me for that, but not for playing croquet.

I still think that she thought I was a nerd at the time, but later she said that she liked it just to be nice. I think that she is too nice to tell me what she really thinks. I kept prying her later, trying to get her to be honest with me and tell me that she did not like it, but she always reassured me that it was fun. The second time we played she actually wanted to play and suggested it when a family member and friend were with us and we were thinking of something to do. I had to teach her family member and friend how to play also.

Now that I look back, I have decided that I was very cultured and proper to take her to play croquet and teach her how. After all, croquet is a game that cultured people play. It was played by the upper classes in the British Empire, which is how it spread throughout the world to be the popular sport that it is today. I probably came across as intelligent and gentlemanly also, the way taught her how to play and let her win. In the end we were able to play a fun game outdoors for a while, which made me look good, and it was cheap.

So, if you are looking for something cheap, yet entertaining and impressive to do, then get a croquet set and learn to play. You can then impress anyone, anytime with your intelligence, poise, depth of culture, and being a gentleman or ladylike. It may seem silly now, and you may feel a little dumb or awkward at first, like I did, but I guarantee that in the end it will be OK. You can think of croquet as an End or a Means to an end.

Peter Jay is a Vice President with Yard Game Central and a manager and web administrator with PlayCroquet.com. For more information about croquet sets, visit PlayCroquet.com.