Most board game lovers enjoy a large group of people to share the fun with during a friendly competition. Many Athens residents also appreciate this aspect of board games, but their usual scene involves drinking crafted cocktails and cider and playing crokinole next to the cozy fireplace in the West End Ciderhouse.
The Athens Crokinole Club was founded by Adam Graham, a local musician and guitar teacher at Hocking College and Stuart’s Opera House After School Music Program. Graham discovered crokinole while at a neighbor’s house, where he was encouraged to try out the game. After playing, Graham said he was hooked on the game.
“I went home and told my wife, ‘I am ordering a board, I love this game,’” Graham said.
According to Wooden You Know, crokinole is typically played between two and four players on a tabletop board. Each player takes a turn “flicking their discs” from the edges of the board onto their “field.” A player’s goal is to make contact with an opponent's disc during their shot; however, if there are no other discs on the board, players must aim for the 15-point guarded line. During any shot, if a player flicks their disc into the 20 hole, the disc is removed from the play and “counts and twenty points for the owner at the end of the round.”
The end scores are determined after all discs are played.
The Crokinole Club has met for 11 years, holding tournaments and hosting get-togethers throughout the year. Dawn Graham, a member of the Crokinole Club and Adam Graham’s wife, said the group is more than just club members and they enjoy spending time at the Ciderhouse every second Saturday.
“It is like one big happy family and we just have a really good time together,” Dawn Graham said.
After Adam Graham got his hands on his own board, he introduced his friends to the game, inviting them to a few rounds before heading to a show at The Union. However, the group never made it to The Union that night, getting lost in the gameplay and thrill of their new activity. Since then, Adam Graham said boards were bought all across town, and many people were introduced to the game.
“So before you knew it, we had 10 boards or 15 boards in town,” Adam Graham said. “I started ordering boards from this guy in Stratford, Canada, and he was giving me a really good deal on them. I was just distributing them for cost.”
Crokinole is of Canadian origin, and the earliest record of the game is from the 1860s, according to Canada’s History. The oldest board still intact is from 1875 made by Eckhardt Wettlaufer, a carpenter who lived southwest of what is now Kitchener, Ontario.
Justin Shields, a member of the Crokinole Club, decided to bring down a crokinole board with a friend to play outside the Ciderhouse one day. He said the board caught people’s attention, and many were inquiring about the game, asking to play. Crokinole eventually caught Deanna Schwartz’s attention, the Ciderhouse owner, and soon the establishment had a new club and events to host for customers.
Adam Graham said he had “a vision” for the Ciderhouse before it was the club’s regular meeting spot. To him, it was the best place for the club, as it is not populated with college students.
The club has 31 members, and Dawn Graham said get-togethers are split between the serious crokinole players and those who just attend for the fun.
“We get together three or four times a year, and everybody brings something to share, for food and drink, and it lasts anywhere from God, six to 10 hours,” Dawn Graham said.
In 2018, the club rented out the entire historic Stockport Mill and Inn on the Muskingum River for an ‘80s-themed crokinole party. Dawn Graham said the members stayed up until 3 a.m. playing and singing.
Many crokinole players view the game differently, as some find it enriching and others get lost in the gameplay, competing for endless rounds and perfecting skills and technique. Shields said he enjoys the game for the challenge and is always striving to improve.
“I like skill-based games where you can play it, and it's easy, fun and enjoyable,” Shields said. “But at some point, you can get better at it and get really good at it, and kind of progress that way as a skill level, too.”
The Crokinole Club also has its own look, with custom T-shirts. The members also have their own trophy for tournaments, which is modified by each winner over the years.
The next Crokinoke Club meeting is at the Ciderhouse on Saturday from 2-5 p.m. and is open to any skill level.
