Crokinole
Designed by: Unknown
Crokinole is a dexterity game where players flick their pucks into their opponents’ – trying to knock them off the board, and finish with their own pucks in the highest scoring positions.
There’s no one defining board as lots of companies produce them and many crokinole boards are home-made. They come in various shapes and finishes, with the one constant being the polished finish, and the scoring zones.
In the centre of the board is the ‘Toad’ – a slightly recessed hole that if you sink your puck into with a legal shot, will score you 20 points. The circular area around the Toad is worth 15 points, and there are several small posts around this inner ring that pucks will bump into and ricochet off. Outside of the post area is a 10 point ring, then finally a 5 point ring closest to the edges of the board.
Players begin with 12 pucks and take turns playing a shot. A legal shot is one that must hit – directly or otherwise – one of your opponents’ pucks. Only if your opponent has no pucks on the board can you simply play to score points – usually by aiming for the Toad! If your shot is illegal, the puck you just played (and any of your own pucks it made contact with) are removed from the board. After both (or all, in a team game) players have played their pucks the points are totaled and the difference between the winner and loser of that round is the recorded score.
There are some finer points, but that is the essence of play. The game continues until an agreed score has been reached – usually 100 points. Crokinole can be played as a straight up head-to-head, three-player or in two teams of two.
Sam says
A well-made Crokinole board is going to set you back a pretty penny, so unless you foresee a lot of use it might be wise to settle on the more bijou Push It, which is not too far removed – and available at a fraction of the price. But having said that, there’s something enormously satisfying about the highly-polished finish of a Crokinole board and the way the pucks serenely glide across it. It’s a beautiful object too. Continuing the Push It comparison, Crokinole also has more of a dramatic arc to it; games feel less repetitive and a well-placed flick can swing the likely winner from one way to the other. I have to say it’s a great game.
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Take That!
Plenty. You're trying to knock each other off the board most of the time!
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Fidget Factor!
Minimal to non-existent.
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Brain Burn!
Almost absent.
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Again Again!
Very much so.
