How crokinole works

Rings, pegs and the 20 hole

Know how each disc scores, the rule about hitting your opponent, and the two basic shots.

The board

Crokinole is played on a round wooden board, about 60 cm across here, with a shallow hole in the centre. Rings mark out the scoring areas, and eight rubber-covered pegs stand round the inner ring. A ditch runs round the outside. Players take turns flicking discs from the shooting line on the outer ring.

In the centre hole: 20, scored at once, and the disc comes off the board.
Inside the ring of pegs: 15.
In the middle ring: 10.
In the outer ring: 5.
In the ditch: nothing, and the disc is out of play.

A light disc on 15, a dark disc on 10, and another light disc on 5. Yours waits on the shooting line at the bottom.

The flick

Rest your disc on the shooting line and flick it with a fingernail, usually of the index or middle finger. Keep the rest of your hand still and the flick straight through the disc. Most of the skill is weight: a disc that is too fast skims over the hole or runs into the ditch.

An open 20: a straight flick at the right weight runs up the board and drops into the hole.

The hitting rule

If any of your opponent's discs is on the board, your shot must hit one of them. If you miss, your own disc is removed. This rule makes the game a battle: you are always trying to knock your opponent's discs off while keeping yours on.

The best hit takes out the opponent's disc and leaves yours on the board, ideally hidden behind a peg where it is hard to reach.

A takeout: the dark disc is driven off into the ditch, and yours stays on the board in the 10 ring.

Scoring a round

Here each player has six discs in one round, taken in turns, and the higher total wins. In a traditional match each player has twelve discs, only the difference between the two scores is added to the round winner's total, and the first player to 100 wins.

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