Snookered

[Joe]

Hello there ... until about three weeks ago, I'd never heard of crokinole. But I went online looking for a new table game to play at Christmas, and as soon as I saw crokinole I knew I’d found the one. I now bow down before it, and acknowledge it as simply the best thing human beings can do while sitting down. Now I just regret all the wasted decades I spent not playing crokinole.

And that’s despite the fact that it seems to have more sets of conflicting rules than any other game on earth. One rule I haven’t been able to find ...

When a player finds himself completely snookered - it’s his go, but it is literally impossible for him to hit an opponent's piece legally - what does he do? The obvious thing to do is to deliberately flick your piece into a safe place, making sure you don’t disturb any other pieces. But that could get boring pretty quickly. In our house, we adopted a house rule - no negative play allowed. So you have to go for the shot, even though it’s impossible to hit it, and all you're going to do is hit your own pieces. But that’s not satisfactory either.

(I’ve since realised that this wouldn't arise in World Championship play, because as I understand it, under those rules, you don’t have to hit the opponent with the actual piece you flicked - you can flick one onto another. But I’ve been playing under the rules included with the set I bought, which doesn't allow such shots.)

Sorry - long question (and I‘m going to post another one over on the general questions thread!). But can anyone offer any advice? Thanks a lot.

[BCook]

Hi Joe, welcome to the crokey world! You`re right that the generally accepted tournament rule is that you don`t need to hit the opponent`s button directly, you can hit your own to hit your opponent. I`ve only ever played in one tournament that used your house rule and there was much grumbling about it amongst the players. Do you know the other part of the rule which is that if you hit your own button and not your opponent, then your shooter and any of your buttons you contacted are removed from the board?

Brian

[Joe]

Many thanks, Brian - yes, the rules which came with the set I bought mentioned the rule about removing any discs you hit during a foul shot.

So - would you say that in ordinary, non-tournament play (in people’s homes, or whatever) that most people play the rule that you DON’T need to make direct contact?

Obviously, I was just going by the rules as supplied, but I’ll be very happy to adopt the tournament rule in this case, as it seems to make more sense!

[BCook]

Dunno, growing up we always allowed combination shots but we never new about the rule that you have to shoot into the 15 circle when no opponent button is present. We would just try to hide it behind our own post on the first shot when we played, made for boring matches but good for practising those tough cross board shots.

[Ray]

From what I have seen in the past combination shots have been allowed in most cases. (I have only played one tournament that would not allow you to hit your own man first) When this rule was being used, (must make direct contact with your opponent) I saw more than a few spoiled shots. It really does change the complexity of the game and adds a whole other level of strategy. I have played with this rule with friends just to mix things up a little and it is especially fun in a doubles setting. It is a great option if you are looking for a change in your game. However, it seems to be widely accepted that you can contact your own piece before hitting one of your opponent's.

Happy Flickin'!