How To Play Crokinole: Crokinole Rules
Overview of The Board: The “20 hole” is a disc-sized mark in the board’s middle.
Posts or pegs surround the 20 hole making it difficult to sink the discs.
The “ditch” is a dent that runs along the very edges of the board. Place discs eliminated from play in the ditch.
According to Crokinole rules, the “starting line” is the largest circumference, an inch from the ditch. Play starts by shooting a disc touching this line.
The board has divisions called “quadrants.” Take shots with a disc that’s at least 50% inside your quadrant.
Setup: You can have two or four players, but the four play in partnerships of two.
Place the board at the center of a table, so every player has equal access. Crokinole rules require partners to sit at opposite ends.
For two players, both receive 12 discs of a particular color. As for four players, a partnership gets 12 discs of one specific color. That means the four players will have six discs each.
Crokinole Rules for Game Play: The starting player is random, and play proceeds clockwise.
You cannot move the board once play starts, and neither can players move their chairs. The “one-cheek” rule stipulates that a player must have one butt-cheek on their chair.
You cannot touch the board unless it’s your turn to shoot. Place a disc on the starting line, with at least 50% of it within your quadrant. Shoot it by flicking as Crokinole rules prohibit pushing.
If There Are No Opponents Discs: The goal is to land your disc in the 20 hole. If it lands entirely in the 20 hole, place it aside for scoring after the round. A disc that lands inside the 15 zone or on its line stays in the board.
According to the World Crokinole Championship rules, ditch any discs that land on the 10 or 5 zone when there are no opponent discs. This is meant to prevent defensive play.
Crokinole Rules with Opponents’ Discs on the Board: In this case, you must try to hit your opponent’s discs. You can do this directly, by a ricochet off the pegs, or hitting an opponent’s disc into knocking their other discs.
If you fail to hit an opponent’s disc, place your disc in the ditch. Additionally, if you hit your own or partner’s disc, place both discs in the ditch.
Crokinole Rules for Disc Balance and the Ditch: After making your shot, any disc touching the starting line ends up in the ditch.
A disc that is not entirely inside the 20 hole stays in the board as if it were in the 15 zone.
For discs that go off the main board and boomerang back into the playing area, Crokinole rules recommend you place them in the ditch. Any discs they hit on their way remain where they end up.
Scoring: Crokinole Rules direct that you add up the scores after the round ends.
There are three scoring areas. Along the perimeter of the posts, surrounding the 20 hole, is the 15 Zone. Outside the 15 zone is another circle marking the 10 zone, while the area right inside the starting line is the 5 zone.
You score the same number of points as the zone in which your disc ends up, not forgetting the 20 points for any discs placed aside after scoring the 20 holeshots. If a disc touches a line in different zones, count the lesser value.
After every round, subtract the lower score from the larger one and award the difference to the team or player that scored the highest. For instance, if the side playing with the white discs scores 80 points while the blacks score 60, award the whites 20 points after the round.
Winning Crokinole: Crokinole rules dictate that the first player or partnership to get to 100 points wins.
