Category Archives: Tactics

Another Gateball Brainteaser

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Geoff Crook from South Australia has sent us another conundrum from a recent game at Woodville. Please put your answers and comments in the ‘Leave a Reply’ box below.

The last 3 minutes

After a gap of at least 12 months, Woodville hosted a Sunday afternoon of Gateball on 7 November 2021.  The last game of the day was pretty unusual, with Red storming to a 15-1 lead after 12 minutes, and White’s solitary ball in play was an out-ball [Ball 6].

However, White fought back and the result was the position below – 5 points behind with a couple of minutes left.

Ball 10 is to play, and assume Ball 6 plays last. 

Can White win?  Please explain the sequence of play leading to your answer.

What happened next? Solution

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The last post had the scenario below together with a short video of what I did on the day, and posed the question “What happened next”

Thanks to everyone who commented.

I’ve always said if you can’t be good be lucky and I really rode my luck with this one.

The video below shows what happened – Ball 5 touched Ball 8 and bombarded Ball 4 on the line near gate 3.  Ball 8 bounced off Ball 4 and knocked out Ball 2, with Ball 8 landing on the court near Ball 7 (which had been sparked to its position near gate 3 earlier in the turn!).

Geoff Crook

What happened next?

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Geoff Crook has devised this sneaky scenario for your consideration. Let us have your answers in the ‘Leave a Reply’ box below. We’ll publish the answer in about a week’s time.

When I was a lad there was a long-running quiz show on TV called “A Question of Sport”.  One of the rounds was the “What happened next” round where a video would be played and the contestants would guess, believe it or not, what happened next?

So, I thought I would expand on the scenario concept and ask not only what would you do as Red 5 in the scenario below, but also ask “What happened next” in the video which shows what I actually did………

Here’s what I did, and question 2 is “What happened next?”

Gateball Puzzle #7

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Thanks to Philip Brown from the Kew Croquet Club who submitted this puzzle based on a real situation in the 2018 Victorian Gateball Championship.

Readers should leave a reply in the comments.

Gateball Puzzle #6: The Better Part of Valour

The score is 8-6, Ball 1 is to play.  What should Ball 1 do in this scenario? Why?  Note that the Gate-touch of Ball 7 through Gate 3 onto Ball 9 is available.

Previous gateball puzzles are available at the links below:

Gateball puzzle #1
Gateball puzzle #2 – difficult
Gateball puzzle #3
Gateball puzzle #4
Gateball puzzle #5
Gateball puzzle #6

Gateball puzzle #1 also included information on the format of the puzzle and outlined how you can submit your own puzzle.

Gateball Puzzle #6

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Thanks again to Philip Brown from the Kew Croquet Club who created the puzzle which was also used in the tactics session at the 2017 Australian Gateball Championship.

Readers should leave a reply in the comments.

Gateball Puzzle #6: Holdbacks in Action

Red is playing very aggressively, shooting at gate 2 with most balls.  White has deliberately held back Balls 6, 8 and 10 in Round 1.  The score is 7-2.

Ball 2 to play. Outline the turns for white over the next 5 balls (ball 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10) without resorting to high risk tactics or long shots.

Puzzle6

Previous gateball puzzles are available at the links below:

Gateball puzzle #1
Gateball puzzle #2 – difficult
Gateball puzzle #3
Gateball puzzle #4
Gateball puzzle #5

Gateball puzzle #1 also included information on the format of the puzzle and outlined how you can submit your own puzzle.