Three-ball break: the backbone of your game
by Jeff Soo · 30 November 2008
Check out the two-ball break tutorial if you haven’t already. You'll want to watch the croquet shot videos first, particularly if you don’t know what a drive shot or half roll shot is.
The three-ball break is much easier to play than the two-ball break, because it doesn’t rely on those accurate rush shots needed in the two-ball break. The basic pattern is to always have a ball at your current wicket and the next wicket. Every time you score a wicket, you send that ball two wickets ahead to maintain the pattern. So the two extra balls leapfrog each other from wicket to wicket as you go around the course. Even a moderately skilled player will sometimes score all the wickets on one turn with a three-ball break. Always try to build a three ball break and always avoid ending your turn leaving a three ball break for your opponent.
Click through the Flash animation below to see the three-ball break in action. This time it’s the start of the third turn of the game. Blue has scored #1 and #2 and gone to the boundary, and red has scored #1 and #2 and set up at #3. Now it’s black to play:
Click anywhere in the frame to advance
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