Crokinole

Crokinole is a board game with certain similarities to pitchnut, curling and shove ha’penny. Players take turns flicking discs across the circular playing surface, aiming for the highest-scoring areas while attacking the opponents’ discs and knocking them off the board. The game is especially popular in North America.

The game is for two or four players (four play in teams). The board is divided into three concentric rings worth 5, 10 and 15 points respectively (counting from the edge). In the centre is a small hole worth 20 points, and the innermost 15-point ring is guarded by eight small pegs. The discs are roughly the size of draughts pieces and slightly smaller than the hole in the centre of the board; there are typically 12 discs per team or player. The discs can also be rings like those used in the Danish table game bob. As in bob, friction on the board can be reduced with potato starch, for example.

Each team in turn shoots a disc onto the board, usually with the fingers, although a cue can also be used, as in bob. When there are opposing discs on the board, one of them must be hit; otherwise the disc that was shot is removed from the board. A disc that lands in the hole is removed from the board, and the team it belongs to scores 20 points. When all the discs have been shot, the two teams’ points are counted, and the team with the most points wins.

This edition is from Philos, with an octagonal board in pine and schima with an MDF core. It comes with 30 wooden discs of 27 mm in brown and natural, 15 of each.