Octopus Overlords

I have become obsessed with Crokinole ever since I was introduced to it by Kristie at the last Octocon. Now that my tax return has arrived, I am now ready to pull the trigger on buying my own board. I've narrowed my choices down to four boards, pictured below.


The "Eagle" Tournament - Red Ditch


The "Eagle" Tournament - Green Ditch


The "Eagle" Walnut Sunburst, Tournament


"The Executive" Walnut Sunburst Octagonal

Other boards can be found here, so if you see another one you like, use the other option to let me know.

Knowing nothing about the game, I can only offer my opinion on asthetics.

I like eagle tournament red ditch the best.

the executive looks dull and sterile
eagle walnut sunbust looks pink, which would invalidate your mancard
the green just had a cheap look, thats not a natural color for wood,

the red is professional looking, has a distictive color so it doesn't blend into the suroundings.
red is a good color for competitive games. the round edge fits smoothly with the round playing surface

Crokinole rocks. I have a great board that my dad (who is huge into woodworking) made for me out of cherry and walnut. Anytime we have folks over to play they can't get enough.

I'd eliminate the bottom one ("Executive") right off because of the outer fence shape. At some point, you're going to have to make a shot where your hand/wrist is resting right on one of those sharp corners, and you're not going to like it. The rounded fence is consistent all the way around and will be more comfortable.

That said, I prefer the radial look of the Walnut Sunburst one myself.

Well, I finally placed my order today. After much hemming and hawing and days, nay weeks of internal debate, I ordered the Executive. I had a lengthy discussion on the phone with with the proprietor of Mr. Crokinole, Wayne Kelly, and we disucssed the pros and cons of each of the boards I was interested in. Finally, I decided on the Executive over the Sunburst because I plan on hanging in in my living room when not using it, and the neutral tones will work much better in my room than the other colors.

Delivery will be sometime in mid-July, because this sucker is being built by hand. I can't wait!

Forgive the rudeness of my ignorance, but from looking at the website this looks to be a $400 board game where you take turns trying to flick chips into a hole. Is this basically a sort of circular table version of bocce ball or shuffleboard, or is there something more to it?

I missed this the first time around but GOOD CHOICE!

Those boards are octogonal, end of story! hehe

wonderpug wrote:Forgive the rudeness of my ignorance, but from looking at the website this looks to be a $400 board game where you take turns trying to flick chips into a hole. Is this basically a sort of circular table version of bocce ball or shuffleboard, or is there something more to it?

It is pretty much as you described, a circular version of shuffleboard, where you flick pucks at the center hole, and score based on which region your pucks land in. The rules are a bit more complex than that, of course, but it really is a hell of a lot of fun to play.

I used to play this growing up when I visited my grandparents!

Must..... resist....

xwraith wrote:I used to play this growing up when I visited my grandparents!

Must..... resist....

They have some cheaper boards in the manufacturer's seconds section of his site. But I figured in for a penny, in for $400.

Don't miss the upcoming World Crokinole Championship™. You could win up to C$1000!

http://www.crokinole.com/wcc.asp" target="_blank

I played Crokinole when I was a kid until my fingernails were black and blue. Good times.

This was our board:

I'm starting to feel like I absolutely must find someplace to try this game before the end of the year.

I don't get it. How do the darts stick into walnut? You have to throw pretty hard I guess.

Moat_Man wrote:Don't miss the upcoming World Crokinole Championship™. You could up to C$1000!

http://www.crokinole.com/wcc.asp" target="_blank

I played Crokinole when I was a kid until my fingernails were black and blue. Good times.

Dammit,I'm going to be in Dallas! Oh well, there is always next year!

How you play.

Lawbeef, please watch, so I don't come home from the next Octocon with my $400 board filled with holes.

wonderpug wrote:I'm starting to feel like I absolutely must find someplace to try this game before the end of the year.

Just get Sorry Sliders and think of it as the gateway game for Crokinole.

Speaking of which I just picked up Sorry Sliders. I think Hasbro recently printed another batch of them because they were pretty hard to find up until recently. Anyway, I bought it for the express purpose of being a gateway into Crokinole, to see if I'd enjoy these kind of games. Turns out that I do, now I'm looking for an affordable board.

Anyone know regular walk in places that might have them, or do I basically have to order online?

Is that video above considered standard crokinole? Are there variants or other games to play with the same board?

Well, I'm not a crokinole expert, having only played a couple of times, but besides that version there is a four player version that plays in teams. There may be variants, but how they played in the video is how Kristie and thatsteveguy taught me.

And I don't know about finding the game locally other than finding a board in an antique or thrift shop. I know that Kristie picked up a board off of ebay for real cheap, and thatsteveguy found a multiuse Carrom board in a garage sale. But that may be more work than you want to go through.

Here's an inexpensive starter Carrom set that includes crokinole. I don't think I would like the hollow pucks though. I like the weight of the solid wooden pucks.

OK, I think I'm going a bit overboard now. I found a place in Canada where I can buy a hand-made board for under $75 shipped. And I can get it right away.

And I'm thinking about buying it, despite the fact that I have a $400 board coming sometime in July.

I need an intervention...

You have a problem? thatsteveguy's dad has built two, I've bought two on ebay, and as you said, thatsteveguy picked up a carrom/crokinole board at a yard sale for $1. We're planning to have some fun with them at family reunions, scout camp, and the like. We've yet to introduce the game to someone who hated it, and the best part is that everyone can play. Frequently there are lines to play next, hence the multiple boards. Actually, I had planned to give one to Hentzau as a thank you gift, but after being cleaned up a bit, it was too pretty to part with.

Kristie wrote:You have a problem? thatsteveguy's dad has built two, I've bought two on ebay, and as you said, thatsteveguy picked up a carrom/crokinole board at a yard sale for $1. We're planning to have some fun with them at family reunions, scout camp, and the like. We've yet to introduce the game to someone who hated it, and the best part is that everyone can play. Frequently there are lines to play next, hence the multiple boards. Actually, I had planned to give one to Hentzau as a thank you gift, but after being cleaned up a bit, it was too pretty to part with.

Aw man! I wuz robbed!

Saw the thread title and thought "leave the gun and take the Croknole"

And...today I ordered the board from Toad Hall Toys. $75 US shipped. They shipped it out today, so in about 5 days I should have pictures available of the board, along with impressions, etc.

I'm justifying this one as my practice/family board.

I also recently bought another board. You trying to keep up, or just going for different playing surfaces to practice on before the next con?

Kristie wrote:I also recently bought another board. You trying to keep up, or just going for different playing surfaces to practice on before the next con?

Mostly I was in Veruca Salt mode..."Don't care how, I want it NOW!"

But it hasn't shown up yet. Probably stuck in customs...

hentzau wrote:
But it hasn't shown up yet. Probably stuck in customs...

Mine hasn't shown up yet either. Maybe our boards are partying in customs together. Luckily I have several other boards to practice on while I wait.

You'd better hope your practice board shows up soon. I spent a bit of time practicing the perfect 20 shot this weekend. You could be in trouble for the rematch in the fall.

Kristie wrote:You'd better hope your practice board shows up soon. I spent a bit of time practicing the perfect 20 shot this weekend. You could be in trouble for the rematch in the fall.

Don't try and frighten me with your sorcerorous ways...

hentzau wrote:Don't try and frighten me with your sorcerorous ways...

How about frightening you with my board that just arrived today? A new surface to play on! Interesting, the pucks don't fly as fast on this one.

Kristie wrote:

hentzau wrote:Don't try and frighten me with your sorcerorous ways...

How about frightening you with my board that just arrived today? A new surface to play on! Interesting, the pucks don't fly as fast on this one.

And I just heard from my wife that my board showed up today. Apparently they were canoodling in customs...

OK. New board was unpacked, and several games were played. Here's my review:

Solid board, nice construction. Hexagonal board frame, natural wood tones, no stain. The frame and ditch appear to be made of pine. The playing surface birch. I am unsure if it is a solid piece of birch or a birch laminate, but it has a nice natural wood grain.

The playing grid is silkscreened onto the playing surface, including scoring numbers in the quadrants. I would have preferred to not have the numbers on the surface, because it takes away from the esthetic (IMO). And it's not like there are tons of numbers to keep track of. If you run your hands over the surface, you can feel little divots where the board was tacked/stapled/fastened to the frame. These are all along the outer rim, and under the outermost circle, so they will not effect puck travel, and because they are under the ring marking, it doesn't show up just by looking at the board. A minor annoyance.

The pegs are all screws that have a plastic/rubber/latex sheath around them. This sheath makes the pegs very bouncy. If I look at the board, one of the pegs is not completely vertical, it leans just a bit. I've thought about taking it out and trying to straighten it, but I'm afraid of loosening up the peg, or getting it even more crooked. So it will just have to lean a bit.

Surface speed is pretty good. Having only played on one other board, I would call it comparable to that board. Came with a set of solid wooden pucks, 12 per player, colored black and wood tone. Would have been nice to have a couple of extras in the set, since I know my kids will most likely end up losing them. They're kids, you know.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this board. It was purchased from Toad Hall Toys. Not much to see on their website, only an e-mail address and phone number. Apparently the boards are made by special needs workers, which is kind of cool. Nice little sticker on the back saying where it came from, and a sticky note saying the person's name that worked on the board (I'm assuming. It just had a name on it.) If you are looking for an entry-level board to try out crokinole, you can't go wrong with this one.

As a starting board, I'm going to give it six out of eight tenticles, taking off 2 for the numbers on the board and the slightly crooked peg.

hentzau wrote:

Kristie wrote:

hentzau wrote:Don't try and frighten me with your sorcerorous ways...

How about frightening you with my board that just arrived today? A new surface to play on! Interesting, the pucks don't fly as fast on this one.

And I just heard from my wife that my board showed up today. Apparently they were canoodling in customs...

And now you know why that peg is slightly crooked. Foiled again!

Zarathud wrote:

hentzau wrote:

Kristie wrote:

hentzau wrote:Don't try and frighten me with your sorcerorous ways...

How about frightening you with my board that just arrived today? A new surface to play on! Interesting, the pucks don't fly as fast on this one.

And I just heard from my wife that my board showed up today. Apparently they were canoodling in customs...

And now you know why that peg is slightly crooked. Foiled again!

My board kicked his board's ass during the customs canoodling session! Just wait till he gets his next board.

A minor addendum to the review...after playing with Thing #3 last night, I noticed a scratch on our dining room table. The wood is kind of rough and unfinished where the pices are joined in the frame, so I am sure that is where it came from. Nothing that a couple of stick-on felt pads can't fix. Take off a half tentacle for what will surely be the berating I will get from my wife when she sees it.

Forgot to update this. I got my new executive board it, and it is verra nice. Very fast compared to my bargain board, and LOADS of action off of the posts. I've only been able to play about 4 games on it, but I haven't played against a serious player, just my wife (who defines the attitude "Yeah, whatever, I'm just doing this to humor you.")

I have introduced several OOers to crokinole over the past couple of months, and it appears to be a hit. It was quite amusing a few weeks ago watching a quite, um, "relaxed" hepcat attempt to play crokinole.

I brought my board up to Madison to show my friends who run Pegasus Games. They had been very interested in stocking it, but they can't find anyone in the US that manufactures boards. Once again, it was a hit, and lots of interest in the store about the game.

I brought my inexpensive board down to introduce my dad to the game, and he really enjoyed it as well. I'm going to leave it with him for a while so he can show some of his "cronies" and decide if he wants to buy a board of his own.

Spreading the crokinole love all over the midwest!

Needs more variants though.

I've got the gamer itch to pollute the game with various weird add-ons like new rules, pucks that change the scoring depending on where they land or what they hit.

Heh, maybe play it with the tiles from Hive.

Just found out that Wayne Kelly, or Mr. Crokinole, as he was known, died this past week. He's the gentleman that I bought my first board from, and as such I had multiple conversations with him. Tonight I shall be taking my board off of the wall and getting a few games in in his honor.