"It is no game for the soft of sinew and the gentle of spirit," wrote critic Alexander Humphreys Woollcott on croquet. "The higher and dirtier croquet-player can use the guile of a cobra and the inhumanity of a boa constrictor." Snakish conceits aside, you can certainly work up your croquet game with this table-top set for two to four players from House of Marbles. Not surprisingly, the balls are, in fact, marbles (8 of them, in four colors), accompanied by tiny mallets (less than 3 inches long) and a set of 6 free-standing plastic wickets (hoops, if playing in England). (Not recommended for children under 3.)