Croquet Pro

Croquet Pro brings the classic outdoor sport of croquet to life as a digital sports game, featuring hand-designed courts that range from traditional layouts like Monk’s Meadow to imaginative environments such as Creepy Castle and Erstwhile Emptiness. Players compete to pass through wickets, utilizing strategic strokes and special croquet mechanics to strike opponent balls while racing to the final peg. The game supports both offline play against AI opponents and online multiplayer with public/private lobbies, offering accessible yet challenging gameplay for all skill levels.

Croquet Pro: Review

Introduction

In the verdant annals of sporting history, few activities embody the curious intersection of high society and absurdist whimsy quite like croquet. Its trajectory—from 14th-century French peasants knocking balls through willow hoops to its adoption by Charles II’s court, and through literary immortalizations by Lewis Carroll and Edward Gorey—is a testament to its enduring, if niche, appeal. It is against this rich tapestry that Croquet Pro emerges, a 2018 digital adaptation by developer Falling Ninja Productions and publisher Top Secret Studios LLC. This game seeks to distill over a century of the sport’s evolution into a playable, accessible format. Yet, its true significance lies not merely in its recreation of rules, but in its attempt to capture the sport’s dual essence: a genteel pastime steeped in strategy and a playground for imaginative experimentation. This review will argue that Croquet Pro stands as a faithful, if understated, digital tribute—a niche gem that honors croquet’s legacy through meticulous mechanics, thematic creativity, and a commitment to its foundational spirit, even if its technical execution and obscurity prevent it from achieving mainstream relevance.

Development History & Context

Croquet Pro emerged from the indie development scene in 2018, a period marked by a surge in accessible, low-cost digital recreations of analog hobbies. Developer Falling Ninja Productions, a studio with no prior major titles, partnered with publisher Top Secret Studios LLC to target audiences seeking uncomplicated, skill-based experiences. Their vision, explicitly stated in the Steam store description, was to offer a “refreshing take on the classic outdoor sport,” emphasizing both adherence to established rules and creative innovation. Technologically, the game was built for minimal hardware demands, with a modest 4GB RAM requirement, reflecting its focus on broad accessibility over graphical spectacle. Released exclusively on Windows (with later Mac/Linux support implied but unconfirmed), it was priced at a mere $0.99—a deliberate choice to position it as an impulse buy rather than a premium product. This release context is critical: in 2018, the Steam storefront was saturated with indie sports titles, from Pro Tennis to Pro Backgammon. Croquet Pro distinguished itself by eschewing the hyper-competitive focus of many contemporaries in favor of a more leisurely, strategic experience, aligning with croquet’s real-world identity as a game of patience and cunning rather than raw athleticism.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

While devoid of a traditional plot, Croquet Pro weaves a subtle narrative through its thematic foundations, drawing directly from the sport’s cultural history. The game explicitly invokes the “whimsical and nonsense tradition” celebrated by literary figures like Carroll and Gorey. This manifests in the design of its courts, which are not mere arenas but character-driven spaces. The initial court, Monk’s Meadow, offers a traditional, bucolic setting that evokes the sport’s Victorian-era heyday. In stark contrast, Creepy Castle introduces an eerie, asymmetrical layout, transforming the sport into a gothic odyssey. Erstwhile Emptiness leans further into surrealism, its bizarre geometry demanding players rethink conventional strategies. These are not merely aesthetic choices; they embody the duality of croquet as both a structured sport and a canvas for absurdity. The absence of overt characters or dialogue reinforces the game’s focus on player-driven narrative—each match becomes a story of triumph, frustration, and tactical ingenuity. The underlying theme is one of playful rebellion: by distorting the sport’s sacred layouts, Croquet Pro suggests that croquet’s true spirit lies not in rigid adherence to tradition, but in the creative freedom to reinterpret it. This mirrors the sport’s own history, which has oscillated between codified rules and improvisational play since its origins in 19th-century Ireland.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

Croquet Pro’s gameplay is a masterclass in translating analog nuance into digital mechanics, centered on the 9-wicket variant of the sport. At its core, the system revolves around two primary rules: passing through a wicket grants an extra stroke, and the first player to navigate all wickets and strike the final peg wins. However, the game’s strategic depth emerges from its emulation of the “croquet stroke” and “foot roquet.” When a player’s ball strikes an opponent’s, they can choose between two options: place their foot on their ball to strike the other (a “foot roquet”), allowing for precise positioning, or continue with an extra stroke in a billiards-like fashion. This mechanic introduces layers of tactical complexity, as players must weigh offensive aggression (knocking opponents off course) against defensive positioning. The penalty for illegally striking the same ball twice—returning to the turn’s starting point—adds tension, discouraging reckless play. Progression is tied to a star-unlock system, where earning stars through successful play grants access to new courts, incentivizing mastery of mechanics. The game supports 2-4 players, with offline play against AI opponents and online multiplayer via a lobby system. The AI, while not described in granular detail, is lauded for its competitiveness, offering scalable challenges for novices and veterans alike. The interface uses a direct control scheme with a behind-view perspective, ensuring clarity amid the chaos of multi-player collisions. Together, these systems create a loop that is both intuitive for newcomers and deeply strategic for experts, mirroring croquet’s real-world appeal as a game that is easy to learn but difficult to master.

World-Building, Art & Sound

The game’s world-building is defined by its hand-designed courts, each a unique microcosm of thematic experimentation. Monk’s Meadow serves as the quintessential English garden court, its symmetrical layout and lush textures evoking the sport’s aristocratic roots. Creepy Castle, by contrast, employs Gothic architecture and eerie lighting, transforming the croquet lawn into a haunted tableau where shadows and tight angles amplify psychological tension. Erstwhile Emptiness pushes abstraction further, with its fragmented, asymmetrical layout creating a dreamscape where traditional strategy is rendered obsolete. These environments are not merely backdrops but active participants in gameplay, their layouts dictating pace and possibility. Visually, the game adopts a functional 3D aesthetic. The behind-view perspective ensures optimal visibility of balls and wickets, though textures and models are rudimentary by 2018 standards. The art direction prioritizes thematic clarity over realism, using color and geometry to distinguish each court’s mood. Sound design, sparsely detailed in the sources, appears focused on immersion through subtle audio cues: the crisp thwack of the mallet, the gentle clink of wickets, and the satisfying thud of ball collisions. Together, these elements forge an atmosphere that is both meditative and dynamic, reflecting croquet’s ability to be simultaneously serene and intensely competitive. The world-building succeeds not through graphical fidelity but through conceptual creativity, using each court as a thematic vignette that enriches the player’s understanding of the sport’s versatility.

Reception & Legacy

Upon release, Croquet Pro received little critical fanfare, with no professional reviews cited in major databases like MobyGames or Metacritic. Its reception was instead shaped by a small but polarized player base on Steam. As of late 2025, the game holds a “Mostly Positive” rating on Steam based on 3 reviews, but aggregates like Steambase report a more mixed 50/100 Player Score from 4 reviews, split evenly between positive and negative feedback. Positive remarks likely praised its faithful mechanics and strategic depth, while negative critiques may have targeted its dated visuals or niche appeal. Commercially, its $0.99 price point ensured modest sales, but it never achieved mainstream visibility. Its legacy, however, is more nuanced. As part of the short-lived Croquet Pro series (followed by Croquet Pro 2 in 2018), it occupies a unique space in video game history as one of the few dedicated digital adaptations of croquet. Its influence is seen in its commitment to representing the sport’s strategic nuances—particularly the croquet stroke—which subsequent niche sports titles could emulate. While it did not revolutionize the genre, it preserved the essence of croquet for a new generation, demonstrating that even the most traditional games could thrive in digital form. Its enduring presence on Steam, alongside its sequel, attests to a small but dedicated community drawn to its blend of authenticity and imagination.

Conclusion

Croquet Pro is a game of quiet significance, a digital love letter to a sport whose history is as rich and varied as its gameplay. It succeeds in capturing croquet’s dual nature: a game of cerebral strategy and boundless whimsy. Through meticulously crafted mechanics, from the croquet stroke to the star-unlock system, it translates the sport’s real-world complexity into an accessible digital format. Its thematic courts, from the traditional Monk’s Meadow to the surreal Erstwhile Emptiness, offer a narrative depth that transcends its simple premise. While its modest visuals and niche appeal limited its commercial and critical impact, it remains a vital artifact for sports historians and indie enthusiasts alike. In a gaming landscape dominated by blockbuster titles, Croquet Pro stands as a testament to the value of specialization—a game that, much like the sport it represents, finds its greatness in its quiet dedication to craft. Its place in video game history is assured, not as a trendsetter, but as a faithful and innovative custodian of a unique sporting legacy.