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Phooka
THE JOURNAL OF THE
OVERLAND MALLET CLUB

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In 1998, Wonderella Printed published issues 425–428 of the venerable Phooka, the Journal of the Overland Mallet Club. Founded in 1891, the OMC sought out members who shared three very distinct interests: overland croquet, hard liquor, and the natural history of the Fairy Kingdom. Overland croquet is an odd combination of the traditional game and other sporting endeavors like polo, rugby, and small game hunting.

Aside from printing Phooka, Wonderella Printed formed a Berkeley chapter of the OMC and hosted games of 6-wicket and overland croquet every Sunday morning from January 1998 to April 1999. Near the end of this stint, Phooka and the Berkeley Overland Mallet Club received some nice press in one of the local papers.

Back Issues
Jeff Potter at Out Your Backdoor has reissued Phooka No.428—the “Winter Wickets” issue—in a marvellous, fully authorized, book arts edtion. To learn more about this special edition, please visit the Out Your Backdoor website.


Current Issues
The Overland Mallet Club assumed publication duties of Phooka in 1999. Current subscriptions to the magazine are available to British OMC members only, although Phooka’s editor Reginald Bakeley has expressed an interest in publishing some other works with Wonderella in the future. Fans of Mr Bakeley will enjoy his contributions to the Little Wonder Series.

Phooka was printed half-digest size, or 4.25 x 5.5 inches.

Click any of the cover images below for a closer look.

Please note that this series has been discontinued and that issues of Phooka are unavailable for purchase.

Phooka 425 - Click to view larger image.

Phooka No.425, for March 23, 1998: This issue features introductions to the magazine and the club from publisher Clint Marsh and Phooka's longstanding editor Reginald Bakeley. Phooka reprints a croquet variant by OMC charter member Lewis Carroll, and Reginald expounds on the virtues of chickenry and the foul doings of the unseelie court in his article “Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop,” provided as a sample here. Reginald’s views on the proper equipment and dress for serious croquet players can be read here.
** This issue is sold out **

Phooka 426 - Click to view larger image.

Phooka No.426, for June 23, 1998: As the OMC welcomes the summer season, more advice is ladled on the reader concerning relations with the fairy kingdom. Correspondent Percival Dwight pens one treatise on the use of iron against pixies and another on the most effective ways of keeping dwarfs off the overland course. Reginald's poetic account of the predawn hours before summer's grandest game, the Glastonbury Trounce, is presented here for your enjoyment.
** This issue is sold out **

Phooka 427 - Click to view larger image.

Phooka No.427, for September 23, 1998: Reginald travels to the annual Pan Games, held every fall on the Highlands estate of the mysterious Lord A—, for a debauched harvest festival that one wouldn't want to miss, if only Reg would tell us where it is! Percival Dwight and Chauncey W. Cunningham, Esq., use tarot cards to divine Team Oxford's highs and lows for the fall season, the text of which can be found here.
** This issue is sold out **

Phooka 428 - Click to view larger image.

Phooka No.428, for December 23, 1998: In the final Wonderella edition of Phooka, Reginald holes up at the winter quarters of Team Wales, in Abergavenny, and reprints a fascinating story from a 1935 issue of Phooka. Clint pulls on his warmest trousers for a trip to the northern tip of Ireland, where he mixes drinks at The Fomorian, perhaps the world's coldest pub. Meanwhile, Percival has found the only known sample of fairy phlegm, and reports on it here in his story “Murphy's Smear.”
** This issue is sold out, but a re-issue is available through Out Your Backdoor**


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