How To Play Crokinole (4 Minute Guide)

Crokinole is a disk flicking game, a lot like Tabletop Shuffleboard, where the goal is to flick your disks to ricochet off of your oponent’s disks, in competition for the best position. After all the disks are shot, points are awarded based on the areas the disks rest in.

Games can be played to 100, or tournament style to 8, scored diferentially. (see below for scoring instructions)

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Gameplay

A Crokinole board is divided into three concentric rings, scored 5, 10, and 15 as you move closer to the center, with a gutter around the outside of the board. Around the innermost ring, there are eight posts, or bumpers. In the middle of the center ring there is a divot, if a player succesfully flicks their disk into the middle divot, also known as the Toad, or Dukie, that player scores 20 points, and that disk is set aside for later scoring. Do not bring a disk that has landed in the center divot back into play, each disk can be shot only once.

The outermost ring is divided into four quadrants. For two player games, opponents sit opposite each other, and have 12 disks each; for four player games, teammates sit opposite each other and have 6 disks each. Players take turns flicking their disks into the center of the board, making sure that each shot comes from within their quadrant of the outer ring, from its outer edge.

Randomly select a player to go first. On the first shot, or when the board is empty, your disk must enter the center ring, or at least cross the line around it. Any disk that fails to do this is pushed over into the gutter, and is out for the round. Play moves to the left, each player shooting one disk on their turn.

If there is an opponent’s disk on the board anywhere, play changes slightly. Your disk must make contact with the opponent’s disk at some point during your shot, if you fail to do this, your disk is moved to the gutter. You can of course perform combo-shots, where you ricochet one of your disks into an opponent’s disk. It is a good idea to try to ricochet your opponent’s disks out of the center ring, as this gives you an advantage.

When all 12 disks have been shot, the round is over. Tally up the points and clear off the board for the next round. Play continues to a predetermined number, usually 100.

Scoring

Tally the number of points each team has, by seeing in what ring each disk sits in. 20 for each disk that has landed in the center divot, 15 for a disk inside the posts, 10 for a disk outside the posts, and 5 for a disk in the outermost ring without touching the outer line. If a disk rests in between two rings, move it to the lesser ring. If a disk lands in the gutter, it earns no points.

Only the team with the higher number of points scores. Subtract the lesser score from the higher score and the difference is their score for the round.

Scoring Example: Black scored 55 points, white scored 25 points, therefore black is awarded 30 points.

The first team to reach the predetermined number, usually 100, wins.

Tournament Scoring

Tournament scoring begins the same way, by tallying the number of points each team has, however, the team with more points is awarded two points for winning the round. If the game ends in a tie, each team earns one point. The first team to reach eight points wins the game.

Common House Rules

The One Cheek Rule

Normal rules dictate that each shot must originate from your own quadrant. The one cheek rule states that you cannot move the board, shift your seat, or shift your sitting position so much that you lift one of your cheeks from your seat. This ensures that certain angles are harder than others, and levels the playing field.

Time to play: 30 mins

Alternative titles of the game: Crokinolinho, Croquignole, Krokinole, Krokonol, Mini-crokinole

Suggested player age: 8+

Community suggested player age (from Board Game Geek dot com): 6+

Community rating (from Board Game Geek): 7.8/10

Popularity (from Board Game Geek): 7.52/10

Difficulty: Easy

Published year: 1876

Creator: Eckhardt Wettlaufer

Link to official game site & rules: http://www.worldcrokinole.com/thegame.html

Awards: N/A