Crokicurl an unconventional option for outdoor play during pandemic

Crokicurl: A new way to play outside in winter It's Crokicurl, a new way for families to play outside in winter. Glenn Campbell reports

Calgary — The odd bedfellows of the sport of curling and the board game crokinole are expected to draw curious onlookers to a community centre in southeast Calgary.

Phil Fulton, a member of the Acadia Recreation Centre's crokicurl committee, has been flooding the crokicurl rink and painting the lines over the past few weeks. He says the game is simple, welcoming and fun.

"The purpose is just like crokinole," explained Fulton. "You shoot your rock from the outside of the board.

"Ideally, you want to get as many points. So if you can get it inside for 20 points, great, and then just like curling, you can knock out the other player's rocks."

The "rocks" they use are empty bleach containers filled with ice, not the granite rocks used in curling.

Allison Lynch was introduced to the game at a rececent preview of the centre's rink but she's already hooked and plans to be back for more.

"I think it’s really fun," said Lynch. "It’s pretty awesome that it exists for the community and for the kids to get outside with their families."

Fulton’s son Elias is starting to play the game at a young age and admits to being pretty good at it. He offered a simple explanation of his approach.

"You need to get it in the middle hole in the middle."

The centre had constructed crokicurl rinks in previous years but stopped in 2019. The pandemic prompted the rink's return.

"There was an elevated need for it because we recognized, with the COVID, restrictions that we were really going to have a need for opportunities for our community members to get outside, socially distanced, and have something active to do outside safely," said Fulton.

The centre plans to open the rink to the public in early January.

With files from CTV's Glenn Campbell