Hmm ... I didn't notice the croquet stuff on the ground in the last frame the first time I read todays strip.
Edit :
Oh, just had a lovely idea that involved using stargates as croquet gates, the slavemasters army at one end and Iri and a loooovely asteroid at the other end ... hammering along at silly speeds - And really, what would be the chance of it hitting squarely in the middle of the stargate that Iri is nearby ? :D
Heck, just imagine the prank call Iri could make for the slavemaster ?
"I'm sending an ambassador trough to negotiate your surrender."
Of all the human sports to catch on with the galaxy at large I never expected it be croquet or that Poison Monkeys enjoy playing it. How many other uniquely human things have caught on?
I'm sure all sorts of human stuff is reveered across the galaxies.
Lets make some up !
-one planet worships humans ability to pollute their own planet and not give a fuck about it.
-Another has gone nuts about our punk rock culture, offcourse they have natural mohawks, so maybe it's not so strange.
-A species of kittens plan to dominate humans weakness for fluffy things, this is their ambassador!
-Planet of Nascar, 'nuff said.
Maybe it's a half-lost cultural memory of some ancient war in which an omnicidal race of robots used weapons and bombs that look a lot like croquet equipment to try and wipe out much of the galaxy? :P