Crokinole discs are the little discs that you flick towards the hole in the center of your crokinole board, called the “20” hole. It’s worth 20 points every time you land your disc in the middle. Interestingly enough, the little discs come in various shapes and sizes and in this article we will break it down for you so you will get the right discs for your board.
What makes a good crokinole disc?
Good crokinole discs are made of hard maple and they are turned and cut so correctly that they should be perfectly flat on both sides. They should be painted if they are colored and finished as well. Without a finish, the paint will chip off quickly. Pichnotte discs are often concave on one side and flat on the other. This makes them easy to grip. Pichnotte discs also can come with holes right in the middle. They are used on Pichnotte boards and American-style carrom boards too. Crokinole discs on the other hand, are to be flat on both sides for optimal performance.
How to determine the size of your crokinole disc set
Typically, a crokinole disc should fit in the center hole of your board with a little bit of wiggle room. They should not be “tight” with no wiggle room. Otherwise this would make it to difficult to score middles. So based on the size of the center hole, here are the different disc sizes available from Crokinole Canada:
Large Tournament Style Discs:
- For boards with a 20 hole that is 1 3/8" (3.5cm) and a playing surface of 26" in diameter or more
- Typically these work for large round boards or large octagon with a 26” inch playing surface but always use the center hole size as the ultimate guide
- Large Tournament Style Discs are 1 1/4" diameter x 3/8" thick (3.2cm wide x 0.9cm thick)
Small Traditional Style Discs:
- For boards with a 20 hole that is 1 1/4" (3.2cm)
- Typically these work for octagonal boards with a playing surface up to 24" in diameter but always use the center hole size as the ultimate guide
- Discs are 1 1/8" diameter x 3/8" thick (2.9cm wide x 0.9cm thick)
Mini Size Discs:
- For boards with a 20 hole that is 1 1/4" (3.2cm) and a playing surface of 22-24"
- 1 3/32" diameter x 13/32" thick (2.8cm wide x 1cm thick)
How many discs do I need for one crokinole board?
Traditionally, all you need is 24 discs for one crokinole board. If you are playing with only one opponent, then you each play with 12 discs. So you would need one set as pictured below:
If you had 4 people around the board then you could split each half set into 6 and play as partners. So the person sitting opposite would be your partner with 6 discs and you would play with 6 discs as well of the same color. The the other team would do the same, sitting opposite each other and playing with 6 discs each. That is traditionally how crokinole is played.
Another option, which is not played as often, is to each play your own color - every man for himself type game. In this case, you would purchase a set like this:
Photo compliments of Crokinole Canada
Where can I purchase good quality crokinole discs from?
You need to be selective when it comes to getting crokinole discs. There are retail discs out there that are poorly shaped or do not come finished so the paint wears off easily. We recommend Crokinole Canada at an excellent disc supplier. Their discs are made in the USA of hard maple, are fully painted / stained and finished properly. They are flat on both sides and slide very well. You can see their selection of crokinole discs and crokinole party packs here:
https://crokinole.ca/collections/tournament-size-crokinole-discs