Embracing winter: the GTA’s first-ever crokicurl rink

By Brittany Du Ly

Is there anything more Canadian than staring winter in the face, going out, and just embracing it? There is now. Meet “Crokicurl”, a hybrid of two patently Canadian sports: curling and crokinole. And now, in a first for the Greater Toronto Area, a crokicurl rink is the latest addition to Stackt Market in one of the city’s newest neighbourhoods.

How to play?

The game is similar to curling, says Sam Thumm, event and activation manager at Stackt Market.

“You’re trying to get your rock to the center of the ring, as close as possible,” he said.

Two to four teams made up of one-to-six players each can take on the ice simultaneously. The middle hole or “20-point button” is worth 20 points and each ring outside of that is worth 15, 10, and five points, respectively.

Teams accumulate points by throwing the rock and sliding it across the surface. The team that gets it closest to the centre wins.

In a classic crokicurl game, plastic curling rocks are used as the lightweight allows for easier use and travels long distances.

The “house” or target area, where the rocks are aimed towards, have posts around the inner ring for an added element of challenge.

“People are calling it a great Canadian game, with a combination of crokinole, curling, and mixing in the beer as well,” says Thumm, “So far, we’ve had a ton of different reservations and walk-ups. The rink has been absolutely packed for the first two days.”

Curling explained

Two teams of four players take turns to slide stones made of granite towards the target or “house”, which is made up of three circles with diameters of 4, 8 and 12 feet.

The purpose of the game is to score points by getting stones closer to the house center. Players from either team alternate taking shots and the game ends when all eight rocks have been thrown from each team to make up a total of 16.

Crokinole explained

A wooden board-game where players take turns flicking wooden disks around the center that is surrounded by pegs or bumpers.

The objective is to land the discs in the higher-scoring surfaces of the board, while also attempting to knock away opposing discs.

Crokinole is most commonly played by two players, or by four players in teams of two, with partners sitting across the board from each other.

Launched Nov. 22, the game will be on throughout Stackt Market’s Holiday Hills Festival, until Dec. 22. Up to four teams will have access to the rink for 50 minutes.

Hours of Operation:
Tuesdays: 12 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Wednesdays: 12 p.m.- 11 p.m. (free access for community day)
Thursdays through Sundays: 12 p.m.- 9 p.m.

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