The game is a model of elegant simplicity. Players start each round with 12 wooden discs. They try to flick their discs into the high-scoring circles in the middle of the board while knocking their opponents' discs completely off the board. The first to score 100 points wins.
Think shuffleboard meets curling on a tabletop and you're close.
Carl and Stan Hilinski have made custom Crokinole boards for years. Their creations -- 178 boards and counting -- are some of the most beautiful ever seen. Here's a photo gallery of some of their Crokinole boards.
When did you first discover the game Crokinole? Did you fall in love with it right away?
Stan: I first saw it talked about (avidly) on BoardGameGeek.com a few years ago. I did some research, especially to see how boards were built. Carl was woodworking as a hobby then, so I called him and suggested he might try building one. His first board was birch and cedar, and we played our first game of Crokinole on it. I think he won. It was great fun. I wouldn't say either one of us loves the game, though. We like it, and we have extremely competitive games when we play, but it's not something we automatically turn to when we get together.
Why did you start making Crokinole boards to sell?
Stan: I think Carl built a couple more boards, and I took one with me to Games Club of Maryland meetings. I think I sold a couple there, and I remember selling a couple more at the World Boardgaming Championships when it was in Hunt Valley, Maryland. I wasn't actively trying to sell them. They sort of sold themselves.
The artwork on some of your boards -- how do you arrange that?
Carl: All of our handpainting is done by Virginia artist Penny Hauffe. When someone wants a painted board, we have them talk directly to Penny to work out the design, details, etc.
Do you have favorites of the boards you've made?
Stan: My favorites of the ones I personally made are Swamp Fox and Sierra. I really liked how the colors and grains worked together. Of Penny's painted boards, I think I like Blind Justice and Witches Brew the best, mostly because of how creative she was with what I thought was ordinary subject matter. I also like some of Carl's boards where he used a special veneer. Our most asked about board is Northstar. It won't be duplicated.
Carl: I guess that Northstar is my favorite. It was a custom board ordered by a player in Philadelphia. All the stars lined up perfectly when I put this board together. The pegs and lines were exactly in the right places.
Crokinole has been played for more than 100 years. Why do you think it's so enduring?
Stan: It's active. It's easy for new players to play pretty well and have fun. The boards are nice. There's a lot of strategy that not's immediately obvious. It's a nice game to sit around with friends because it seems to foster a nice social atmosphere.
Carl: I think it's because you can enjoy the game at any skill level, and it's not difficult to learn.
Are you still making custom Crokinole boards?
Stan: We still make custom boards. Sometimes we do specials that interest us such as special veneers. I usually stick to simple stains, but I have done themed boards and boards with inlays. Normally we try one-of-a-kind boards, each with a unique name just so we won't get bored to tears, but lately I have started to make more than one of very popular boards.
We've also made some dismal failures that never got out of the workshop. I tried making a gradiant pattern with two stains that just didn't work out, and Carl should tell you about his "burlap board." Heh-heh.
Do you prefer making Crokinole boards out of certain types of wood?
Stan: We use half-inch thick plywood, so that limits our choices a great deal. Birch is our first choice because it has a nice grain, takes stain pretty well, and is relatively cheap. Maple is nearly as good. We occasionally use oak, but we don't like it because oak has deep pores, so it takes a lot more coats of finish to get that really glass-like surface. I've also worked with mahogany.
Carl: To keep the price down, we try to use the woods that are generally available at places such as Home Depot and Lowe's. We have on occasion purchased different woods from hardwood specialists, but the price has to go up to reflect the increased materials cost.
How long will you make Crokinole boards?
Stan: For Carl and I, this is a hobby and not a business. One of these days, one or both of us are going to "drop our shovels" and call it quits. When? Don't know. I guess when we get sick of it. There are some parts of making a Crokinole board that have gotten tedious, but so far it has not crossed the line. The important thing for both of us is to pace ourselves so we don't get overwhelmed or overly pressured. It just has to be fun and creative.
