If you've been to The Forks this winter, you might wonder what that giant ice rink bullseye equipped with curling rocks situated at The Plaza is... Or, if you're Manitoban, you might just intuitively know: it's Crokicurl!
Crokicurl is the brainchild of Public City Architecture, and combines two iconic Canadian pastimes: crokinole and curling, to become an exciting new outdoor sport for all ages.
The object of the game is to accumulate the most points through shooting the rock into the center button and positioning the rocks on the playing surface so they remain within the highest scoring circle at the end of the round.
The Rules:
• The game is played with two teams. Each team is composed of 1-2 players. Teams of 1 play from opposing quadrants. For teams of 2, players from the same team play from opposing quadrants. Each player is limited to 1 quadrant. Each team has 4 rocks of the same colour.
• A crokicurl shot is accomplished by firmly sliding a rock onto the playing surface, releasing before the halfway point of the starting line. The rock may be played from any point within the assigned quadrant. Players are permitted to place their feet against the side rail while shooting the rock.
• The first player will try to score 20 points with their shot. If the rock successfully lands completely within the button it is removed and set aside to count as 20 points at the end of the round.
• Subsequent shots attempt to remove an opponent rock from the playing surface, unless there are no rocks on the playing surface. If the rock fails to make contact with an opponent rock, the rock is removed from the game. At the same time, each player attempts to make a 20 point shot difficult for the opposing team.
• Whenever possible, each player seeks to score 20 points by shooting a rock into the center button.
• No player may enter the coloured point rings during game play until all rocks have been played by both teams and scoring is being determined. The exception to this is when a team scores 20 points with their rock entering the button.
• Players may not change quadrants during a round.
• Play proceeds in a clockwise fashion, alternating each team and player.
• A rock that lands more than halfway over the outer edge of the starting line will be removed from game play.
• Scoring occurs after all rocks have been played. Teams play to a per-determined score. The player or team with the higher score wins the round. The winner of the match is determined by the team who wins the most rounds, best of 1, 3, 5, 7, etc.
• Losing team treats winning team to mini donuts or a round of drinks from The Common.
Rocks are accessed on a first come, first served basis. Please be respectful of other players and limit your time to one hour.
Crokicurl FUN FACTS:
• Junior curling rocks used to play Crokicurl weigh 20lbs - half the weight of a normal curling rock
• After its debut in Winnipeg in 2017, Crokicurl rinks popped up across the country, including Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Yukon
• Northern-most Crokicurl rink: Dawson City, Yukon
• Litres of water pumped from the river to create the rink: 37,000