Board to Be Wild: The Unexpected Cool of Crokinole

It’s a Saturday evening. The week’s done. The world’s still spinning. And if you’ve got a minute, I want to tell you about a game. Not one you’ll find on your phone or between commercial breaks, but an actual game built on wood, discipline, and cold-blooded precision.

It’s called Crokinole. And despite its quiet name and round, unassuming board, this game is no casual pastime. 

It’s war with fingertips. 

A duel in four quadrants. 

If you think it’s just some folksy diversion, you haven’t seen a proper match.

The Game That Stares Back

Crokinole is played on a large, round wooden board, approximately two feet in diameter. Each player or team takes turns flicking wooden discs toward a recessed center hole worth 20 points. 

That’s the jackpot. 

Sink it, and your disc is removed and locked in as a perfect score.

But if your opponent has a disc on the board, you must contact theirs at every shot. Miss, and your piece is removed. 

That one rule separates the dabblers from the serious contenders. Crokinole isn’t just about aim. 

It’s about angles, rebounds, psychological grit, and the art of control under pressure.

Every game is a mix of geometry and nerve. One mistake can swing the round. 

The center hole taunts you. 

The pegs guarding it play cruel defense. 

And when you land a clean double-takeout with a 20 tucked behind it? That sound, the disc clacking into the cup, is a rush no video game can match.

Born from Maple and Mennonites

The roots of Crokinole go back to 1876 when a woodworker named Eckhardt Wettlaufer carved the first known board in Ontario. He gave it to his son for his birthday. 

That act sparked a legacy. What began as a gift evolved into a staple in Canadian households, particularly among Mennonite communities.

But this wasn’t a polite tea-time hobby. Crokinole quickly grew competitive. 

Tournaments sprang up. 

Boards were passed down like heirlooms. 

Skills sharpened. 

Rivalries were born. 

Today, the sport’s crown jewel is the World Crokinole Championship, held each year in Tavistock, Ontario, a town that turns into a battleground every June.

The Rise of the Americans

Canadians dominated the sport for over a century, but that’s changing. Americans are stepping in, stepping up, and stepping into the ring with purpose. 

Chief among them: Connor Reinman.

Reinman, a dual citizen from Michigan, became the first American to win the World Championship. Not once, but back-to-back in 2023 and 2024. 

If you think that’s easy, try spending months mastering your flick speed, hand angle, and position control. The man didn’t get lucky. He trained, competed, and took it from the best.

A Game of Angles, Nerves, and Heart

Let’s be clear: Crokinole is no novelty. At the elite level, players train. 

They practice daily. 

They scout opponents. 

They travel, compete, and shake off losses like pros in any other sport.

In matches, there’s a quiet intensity. No shouting, no horns. Just the snap of wood-on-wood and the occasional sigh when a perfect line goes off by a half-inch. 

Think billiards mixed with chess, minus the chalk.

“It’s like a knife fight in a phone booth, but the blades are smooth, and the booth is round,” said Jamie Harter, a competitive Crokinole player who knows what it takes to win. “There’s no room for panic. You make a mistake; you pay for it.”

Videos of high-level play rack up tens of thousands of views online. Slow-motion replays, expert analysis, highlight reels, they’re all there. 

And in every clip, you can feel the stakes. 

The pride. 

The grind.

This is strategy, skill, and competition carved into maple.

Saturday Night, Done Right

So yeah. It’s Saturday. You could be anywhere. But if you’ve got a board, a few good players, and something to sip while you sharpen your edge, you just might find yourself drawn to the flick.

“You don’t just play Crokinole,” Harter added. “You endure it. You measure yourself against it. It’s a test.”

Crokinole is not unlike pickleball in its cultural trajectory. 

Both games were once regarded as light, fringe pastimes. 

Both involve finesse and surprising stamina. 

And both have exploded in popularity because they bring people together in close, competitive quarters. 

But where pickleball courts are noisy and full of movement, Crokinole requires stillness, subtlety, and nerves of steel.

Because Crokinole isn’t just a game, it’s a proving ground. A chess match you can play with your hands. 

It’s deliberate, focused, and fiercely satisfying.

It might be quiet, but it’s never soft.

And once you drop that first 20? 

You’ll understand.

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