Roque

The Olympic roque competition in 1904.
Highest governing body	American Roque League (1916-1970s?) National Two Ball Roque Association (?-1970s?) National Roque Association (1899-?) National Croquet Association (1882-99)
First played	1880s
Characteristics
Team members	1-on-1
Categorization	Outdoor, croquet
Equipment	Mallets, balls
Venue	Curbed clay court, with arches
Olympic	Summer 1904
Obsolete	Yes

Roque ( /ˈroʊk/) is an American variant of croquet played on a hard, smooth surface. Popular in the first quarter of the 20th century and billed "the Game of the Century" by its enthusiasts, it was an Olympic sport in the 1904 Summer Games, replacing croquet from the previous games.

Roque court and equipment[link]

Roque is played on a hard sand or clay 30 by 60 foot (approximately 9 by 19 m) court bordered by a boundary wall, a curb bevelled at the ends to form an octagon. Players use this wall to bank balls similarly to how billiard balls are played off the cushions of a billiard table.^[1]

The wickets, called arches, are permanently anchored in the court. The arches are narrow as in professional six-wicket croquet. The court has ten arches in seven points configured in a double diamond (or figure-8). The two farthest end points and the central point of the figure-8 are double arches (one after the other) while the four side (or corner) points have single arches. Each arch of the double arches at either end of the court each count as a separate arch, but the double arches in the center (which are closer together) are scored as a single arch. While in nine-wicket croquet the single central wicket opens up to the length of the court facing the stakes, in roque the double center arches face the sides of the court. Roque uses two stakes: at the head of the court is the "head stake," the other stake at the far end of the court is the "turning stake."^[1]

The mallets with which the balls are struck have a shorter handle (approx. 24 inches) than croquet mallets. One end of the mallet is surfaced with rubber, the other with wood, plastic, or aluminum.^[1]

Notes on game play[link]

The rules of roque are largely similar to those of croquet,^[1] with some notable exceptions:

• In roque, a wall marks the boundary of the court off of which the ball may be caromed. There is also a "playing line" 28 inches in from the wall marked in chalk. A player's ball which comes to rest between the playing line and the wall is out of bounds and the fouled ball is placed at the point where the ball crossed the line (rather than a point nearest the line as in croquet).

• The hard court surface is "faster" than the grass croquet court, which affects swerve and deflection much as the speed of billiard table cloth affects billiard play.

• Using the rubber side of the mallet, roque players apply spin to a ball to affect its movement, as in billiards.

• In croquet, the two teams are the balls colored red and yellow versus blue and black. In roque, the two teams are red and blue versus black and white. The order of play is red, white, blue, black.

• In roque, the starting player is determined similarly to billiards: each player "lags" the ball, i.e. shoots it from one end of the court to the other, and the player whose ball is closest to the playing line at the opposite end of the court without touching the opposing wall, arches, or other balls, wins the lag and goes first.

• After the opening lag, the balls are placed on the court at the four boundary line corners nearest the center of the court, with partner balls (red and blue, white and black) diagonally opposite from each other. The playing ball and ball next in sequence occupy the corners at the head of the court, with the choice of corners going to the player who won the lag. The player then attempts to make the first arch through roqueting another ball, caroming into the arch, or by any other lawful means. The player may also forfeit his opening shot.

• While croquet is played with six wickets or nine wickets, roque is played with ten arches configured similarly to nine-wicket lawn croquet. However, the two center arches count as a single arch. Roque has two stakes, as in lawn croquet, the "home stake" and the "turning stake."

• The double center arches score as a single arch. While the center arches can be made in several successive turns of play, the ball must remain "within limits of center," has committed no foul, and contacted no live ball.

• After scoring the center arches, the player scores the side (or corner) arches by passing the ball from the corner of the court through the arch heading towards the center of the court, opposite from lawn croquet.

• "A ball is within the limits of the center when any part of it is within the lines of a rectangle circumscribed by laying a straight edge successively against the inside of both stems of each arch, the inside of the stem of each arch nearest the home stake, and the inside of the stem of each arch nearest the turning stake." Rule 95, Official Rules and Regulations of the American Roque League (1958).

• The double arches at the head and turn of the court count as separate arches and are wider apart than the center arches.

• The most points that can be scored by one side in a game is 32: 16 points per ball (14 points for the arches and 2 points for the stakes).

• Like baseball, roque is played in "innings," with ten innings per game. The game is over once one side either "stakes out" (thus scoring 32 points) or after ten innings expire. If both teams have the same score after 10 innings, the game ends in a tie (although some tournaments may permit extra innings). Scoring all of the arches in a single inning, thus winning the game outright, is called a "home run." Some games could, by agreement or tournament rule, be timed.

• In roque, the side (or corner) arches (identified as points 3, 5, 11, and 13) can only be scored by a roquet or continuation shot.

• Unlike croquet, both balls must be staked out in the same turn in order to outright win the game. By necessity, this requires the first ball to be staked out on a roquet shot and the second ball to be staked out on the ensuing continuation shot. Thus, unlike croquet, one side cannot defensively "stake-out" an opponent's rover in roque.

• Like croquet, roque makes use of deadness. However, unlike American croquet which employs the carryover deadness rule, roque follows the Association rule wherein deadness is cleared after the player's turn ends.

• Like croquet, roque players mark their progress on the court by placing colored markers on the arches. However, while croquet traditionally places the marker on the top of the wicket for the first pass-through and on the side of the wicket for the second pass, roque markers were usually placed at the top of the arch and were labeled on one side. The labeled side would be facing the position side.

Roque developed sub-variants, including two-ball roque and royal roque.^[1]

History[link]

Historical roque[link]

The name "roque" was suggested by Mr. Samuel Crosby of New York in 1899, who came to it by removing the initial "c" and final "t" from "croquet."^[1] The National Croquet Association, formed in 1882, thereafter changed its name to the National Roque Association in 1899.^[1] "Roque" is not to be confused with "roquet" /roʊˈkeɪ/, the term used in both roque and croquet for the bonus shot a player earns after striking another ball (on which he is not "dead") with his own.

The American Roque League was founded in 1916 and, after mergers with various other roque entities, became the centralized roque league on August 20, 1920.^[1] It last published its rules in the 1950s; the National Two Ball Roque Association last published its revised rules in 1961.^[2]

Contemporary roque[link]

In 2004, the American Roque and Croquet Association suspended tournaments because the number of participants at the Nationals had shrunk to single figures.^[3]

Roque is still played by a small number of people in the United States. A roque tournament is held annually in Angelica, New York, USA.^[4] While there are reports that the American Roque League still operates, and that roque is played in Chautauqua, Illinois, USA,^[5] there is no independent evidence of this. Considering that roque was hailed as the "Game of the Century" by its enthusiasts, and was an event at the 1904 Summer Olympics held in St. Louis, Missouri, the demise of the sport was meteoric. This is despite the survival of croquet, the creation of new variants of croquet, the smaller court, the relative ease of maintaining the court, and the indoor playing possibilities of roque.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Roque

• Description of roque with diagrams
• Roque rules with brief history
• Diagrams for various courts including roque
• Roque at the 1904 Summer Olympics
• The February 1937-March 1945 installments of "Roque Chatter", a column in the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times by Walton B. Wilson, are available for free.

Christine Roque is a French singer (born on June 7, 1965, in Toulouse, France), a one-hit wonder for her 1987 hit single "Premiers frissons d'amour".

Biography[link]

After being a classical dance teacher, she decided to go to Paris to begin a music career.^[1] Her first single, "Premiers frissons d'amour", was written by Corinne Sinclair, and achieved Silver status in France and hit #10 on the SNEP chart.^[2] Roque gained a price for her performance during the festival in Bordeaux.^[3] The years after, she released "Jérémy", "Rêves impudiques" et "Sale menteur", which were unsuccessful.^[4] She has two sisters.^[5]

Discography[link]

Singles[link]

• 1987 : "Premiers frissons d'amour - #10 in France, Silver disc
• 1988 : "Jérémy"
• 1988 : "Rêves impudiques"
• 1989 : "Sale menteur"

References[link]

External links[link]

• "Christine Roque de A à Z", in Ok! Âge tendre magazine n° 676 (December 26, 1988)

Jorge Reyes (born 1972) is a Cuban-born, American author known for authoring books in several genres. He is an honor graduate (1993) of Barry University, from which he received a B.A. in history, a B.S in political science, and a minor in literature.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Born in Santiago de Cuba, Reyes left Cuba with his parents via Costa Rica, before settling permanently in Miami in 1982.

Writing[link]

Reyes has written books in several genres of literature: biography, fiction, non-fiction, children's books and poetry. Most of what is known about Reyes's childhood was penned down by Reyes himself in his book, ''Rediscovering Cuba: A Personal Memoir'', published in 2001. In it, he talks about his childhood days in a small town called Boniato on the outskirts of Santiago de Cuba. The book itself, based on a family emergency, became also an analysis of Cuba's present condition as viewed by Reyes himself. Reyes's method of choosing to write his Cuban memoirs displayed some writing skills for which he has been noted, mainly: 1) The ability to utilize a wide array of genres in unexpected but highly effective visual ways; 2) The ability to write biographical themes, such as his Cuban memoirs, which many writers reserve for fictional accounts, such as: stream of consciousness, poetry, and even short-stories in order to explain non-fictional accounts of events.

In 2003, Reyes surprised his readership by publishing, among other things, a book of poems titled, My Words Mean Something, which did not seem to please his fans, nor Reyes himself, but it was a genre which he would return to with, "Day's Night." No publication date has been set for this collection of poetry.

The next few years Reyes slowed down a seemingly prolific writing career, shelving most of the books slated for publication after 2006, and which included both "Caramelo's Dream" and "Day's Night." No explanation has been given to publicly account for Reyes's sudden halt in his writings, though it was rumored that he was simply maturing into his craft by seeking other literary interests, concentrating mostly on the essay format, and to expound on a variety of subject-matters of particular interests to him, mainly on art and politics.

Day's Night is a collection of poems about "a self-examined look at a love affair gone sour," with illustrations by the reclusive artist Neith Nevelson. The Reyes/Nevelson duo, described by Entertainment News Weekly as one of the strangest cooperations in literary history, is one which, nonetheless, seems to have pleased some critics if pre-publication reviews are any indication of a book's worth. Aside from Reyes's terse comments about the book's topic, theme and origins, Reyes has refused to discuss much about the personal affair that prompted him to write about the book. For someone who has always been extremely guarded about his private matters, the choice to write a book while refusing to discuss much of its personal origins seems to be what attracts many to Reyes's readership.

Reyes lives in South Florida.

Bibliography[link]

• Guia Para Descubrir Tu Cuerpo (Your Body) (2000) ISBN 0-939193-55-8
• Rediscovering Cuba: A Personal Memoir (2001) ISBN 0-595-19457-5
• My Words Mean Something (2003) ISBN 0-595-22311-7

Forthcoming books

• Day's Night, with Neith Nevelson (Illustrator)
• Caramelo's Dream ISBN 0-595-26859-5

See also[link]

Literature portal

• List of Cuban American writers
• List of Cuban Americans

External links[link]

• The 2002 Miami International Book Fair
• "Let Cuba be rediscovered by this generation" (article by Jorge Reyes, The Miami Herald, 2001)
• The Reyes Report: A biweekly column at Blogspot

Silvio Santos
Silvio Santos
Born	Senor Abravanel (1930-12-12)December 12, 1930 Rio de Janeiro,  Brazil
Nationality	Brazilian
Occupation	TV host, businessman
Known for	Brazilian media personality
Net worth	US$ 2.3 Billion (2011)[citation needed]

Silvio Santos (real name Senor Abravanel, born on December 12, 1930) is a Brazilian TV show host and entrepreneur.^[1] He is the owner of SBT, the third largest television network in the country.

Biography[link]

Santos was born in Rio de Janeiro, in the Lapa region. He is of Sephardi Jewish descent and was born to a Turkish mother and a Greek father.^[2] Despite his humble beginnings, working as a street vendor, he had a strong affinity for artistic endeavors and took up jobs on the radio, circus and television.

He became the major TV host in Brazil. His greatest achievement was founding SBT in 1981, where he still hosts various programs. His business, Grupo Sílvio Santos (GSS), also owns agribusiness ventures and hotels. He is the single biggest taxpayer natural person in Brazil.^[3] Additionally, Santos is known as a benefactor of the Jewish community.

He has influenced Brazilian television in many ways, particularly by producing local versions of popular international formats such as Celebrity Big Brother, Candid Camera, The Biggest Loser, Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud, Deal or No Deal, the RTL Idols franchise, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. He also was the host of Show do Milhão, a game show also broadcast by ITV in England. The show received was later ported to some videogames, as SEGA Mega Drive 3, with the game built-in, manufactured by Brazilian SEGA's distributor Tectoy, and for Microsoft Windows (with his original dubbing).

See also[link]

• Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão

Notes[link]

1. ^ In reais.
2. ^ http://www.colegiosaofrancisco.com.br/alfa/silvio-santos/silvio-santos-5.php
3. ^ Página do Silvio Santos (Portuguese)

References[link]

• Grinberg, Keila (2005). Os judeus no Brasil. Editora Record. ISBN 85-200-0699-X. 

Further reading[link]

• Silva, Arlindo (2002). A fantástica história de Sílvio Santos. Editora do Brasil. ISBN 85-10-03063-4. 

External links[link]

• Sílvio Santos at the Internet Movie Database
• Official SBT site