Recently a friend created a new game during our regular Tungsten Thursday get together. It is definitely fun and challenging, yet we've been realizing it is also a great warm up game to play before getting into a few legs for an evening.The game is a combination of Loops and Cricket. We had originally named it Croops but that soon became Crooks after the aiming fluid had its normal effects on our speech.
For readers who have never played Loops, here are the basics:
Loops is very similar to the basketball game Horse It can be played by any number of players. Its actually more fun with a lot of people, especially if everyone kicks in a dollar and the winner takes all.
Why do they call this Loops? A loop in the game is considered anything enclosed by a wire. So naturally every target on the board is considered a loop. Each wedge is actually four loops, the skinny, fat, double and triple. BUT, consider this; the CLOSED loops of the numbers around the outside of the board count as valid targets! For example the loop that makes up the lower half of the number 6 is a target, however the upper hook of the 6 is not. The 8 and 18 each have two valid loops. Clearly these make for challenging targets! The bullseye is limited of course to a single or double for the target loop.
Everyone Diddles - a throw of one dart each at bullseye - to determine the throwing order for the game. Players names are written in throwing order down the left side of the scoreboard with the closet player to the bull throwing first and the furthest throwing last.
The first player has up to 3 darts to determine the loop they'd like to leave the next player as a challenge to hit. Should they hit a loop they're happy with in less than 3 darts they have the option to leave that loop and hold their remaining dart(s). In other words, the player may not make a choice of the darts thrown, only the last dart counts. The next player now must try to land a dart in the exact same wedge or loop of the board. If that player misses with all three darts, one strike mark is chalked next to their name and the following player has an "open" board to select their target from. If the player is successful in matching the wedge or loop, the player pulls the darts and has all three to establish a new target.
Once a player has three strikes marked they are eliminated from the game. The last player left declares victory.
Now enter Cricket into the mix. The game is played in the same manner with these differences:
- Only Cricket wedges and loops are valid
- Rather than scoring 3 strikes or marks against your opponent, regular cricket marks are used
- The object is to close your opponent out before you are closed out
- Valid loops outside of the scoring area (ie: the zero in the number 20) count as triples
This makes for a fun and challenging game, as your regular Cricket strategy will change slightly. Other advantages are the loops outside of the scoring area which can get you ahead or get you caught up in a hurry. Unless playing with points take note that once you have your opponent closed on a number, it is a waste of time to leave them that number again.
Have fun with it and feel free to leave a comment about your experiences or to share other challenging games you may know of!
