Croquet Is Chess on Grass

People call croquet "chess on grass." The name fits.

Both games reward thinking ahead and punish reactive play. You read your opponent. You adapt when plans fall apart. The difference is croquet gets you outside, moving, and talking to people between shots.

If you miss the strategic thinking your career demanded, croquet might fill that gap.

In Golf Croquet, you're trying to get your ball through the hoop before your opponent does. You block their path. You set up your next three shots. Every turn is a decision: go for the hoop or disrupt your opponent? Play safe or take the risky shot?

The rules take ten minutes to learn. The strategy takes years.

A 2025 meta-analysis looked at 58 studies on exercise and brain health. Activities combining movement with cognitive demand, what researchers call "mind-body" exercise, produced the largest improvements in memory and executive function. Larger effects than aerobic exercise alone. Larger than brain games alone.

Croquet fits the description. You're walking one to two kilometres per game. You're calculating angles and shot sequences. You're reading your opponent's habits and adjusting your plan. And you're doing it twice a week with people who know your name.

The social part matters. A study on group-based cognitive training found that doing the activity with others amplified the brain benefits. Playing together, week after week, made the difference.

Balance-based activities reduce fall risk by around 40%. For context: a fall requiring medical attention costs the healthcare system about $3,800 on average. For people over 80, the numbers get worse. One in three seniors falls each year, and 10% fall multiple times.

Croquet won't turn you into an athlete, but you'll spend a couple of hours on your feet, bending, walking uneven ground, and making controlled swings. That adds up.

Chess players talk about "chunking," seeing clusters of pieces as a single pattern rather than individual units. Croquet players develop the same skill. You stop seeing four separate balls and start seeing the geometry between them.

This is the mental workout. Four balls on the lawn, angles shifting with every shot, risk weighed against reward. You plan three moves ahead, then someone disrupts your sequence and you recalculate.

Croquet puts your opponent across the lawn from you. You learn their habits over weeks of play. You test their weaknesses. The competition is richer because it's human.

And between games, there's morning tea.

You can play a real game on your first day. Most people are competitive within a few weeks. Mastery takes years, which is part of the appeal.

Croquet keeps your mind sharp because it demands real cognitive work. You plan ahead. You adapt. You do it outside, with people you'll get to know.

The research says this combination, movement plus strategy plus social connection, is what ageing brains respond to. Croquet happens to deliver all three.