A familiar tabletop favourite is getting a thoughtful update, as designer Colter Hahn introduces two new ways to play around the crokinole board: Crokinole Cards and Crokinole Imperium. Both build on the original rather than trying to replace it, adding a few new ideas to a game most people already understand.
For the uninitiated, Crokinole dates back to the 1800s and centres on flicking discs into scoring areas. It’s simple enough to pick up in minutes, but the skill ceiling is very real - play against someone experienced and it can turn into a long afternoon.
That gap between new and seasoned players is something Hahn wanted to soften. Crokinole Cards leans into that by adding different ways to play, including solo challenges and cooperative modes. It gives players room to practise, experiment, or just take things a bit less seriously when the skill levels around the table don’t quite match.
Crokinole Imperium, on the other hand, is aimed more at players who already enjoy the base game and want a bit more going on. It introduces secret objectives, perks, bonuses, and alternative scoring systems, giving each match a slightly different shape without changing the core act of play.
Both releases still rely on having a standard crokinole board, so think of them as add-ons rather than standalone games. The flicking stays exactly as it is - these just give you more to do around it.
The whole project started when Steven Brown of BrownCastle Games put out a call for new ideas. Hahn pitched several concepts and ended up being selected from a large group of applicants. From there, the two designs took shape as separate releases, with Crokinole Imperium published by BrownCastle and Crokinole Cards initially handled through Hahn’s own label before joining them as well.
What stands out is how restrained the approach is. Nothing here tries to “fix” crokinole or turn it into something else. Instead, these additions widen the ways you can approach it. A casual practice session, a co-op puzzle, or a more structured match with extra scoring hooks - it’s all still recognisably the same game at its core.
If you already have a crokinole board, this is more about adding variety than learning something new from scratch. And if you don’t, well… you’ll still need one.
