gemini://gemini.cyberbot.space/gemlog/2023-11-09-dexgames.gmi

If I do an acceptable job of describing them you will probably know just the type of games I'm talking about. Fun, usually multiplayer skill-based games that often involve some sort of real-time element. Some examples of the kinds of games I'm talking about: shuffleboard, ring hook game, crokinole, carrom, many others.

What kicked off this current obsession was recalling the game board I had as a kid that I couldn't remember the name of. It was a square wooden board that had a lot of different games you could play on it. There were net "pockets" in the corners that were used to play a vaguely billiards style game using little flat round pucks. There was a checkers/chess board in the middle on one side and markers for backgammon and lots of other possible games that I never played. I eventually figured out it was called "carrom". There is a game called carrom but what I had is a multi-game board made by a company also called Carrom. Carrom was presumably the flagship game among the many other possibilities. As a kid I loved the game board but mostly played it like pool with probably my own made up rules and checkers.

I really enjoy these types of games that involve some physical element that you can get better at with practice but are mostly about finesse and don't require a ton of space. My wife and I always play the indoor table version of shuffleboard whenever we wind up some place with a table. I made my own ring string hook game for my porch a long time ago but where I first encountered it escapes me at the moment. That thing got lots of play and was a really good time with friends. If you're not familiar it's a very simple game of swinging a large metal ring suspended from above by a string towards a hook on the wall. Very cheap and easy to make yourself with a quick trip to the hardware store. We have a nice front porch now that we love spending time on so it dawned on me that I should try to find some of these types of games to play out there. Shuffleboard would have been really fun to have but I don't think it would hold up well outdoors and the real tables are PRICEY. They also take up a lot of space and aren't something you can just move out of the way. Now that I've started down this rabbit hole here are some of these types of games I'm considering getting for fun porch hangouts.

This is one of the games that was possible to play on that carrom board I had as a kid. Unsurprisingly, that carrom board was about as cheaply made as it gets for this kind of game board and would probably be a less than stellar experience as an adult. I don't think I ever actually tried playing crokinole on my carrom board back then. It is a relatively popular game in Canada, where it originated in the late 1800s(maybe...probably), and seems to be having a bit of a resurgence. From my research just about anyone into tabletop gaming loves it. The gist of the game is you flick the little wooden discs towards the hole in the center. Getting it in the hole is worth the most points and the points you earn for a disc go down with each ring further out. There are some other rules that make the game a bit more interesting and introduce a bit of strategy to how you shoot your discs. Seems to hit that sweet spot of uncomplicated but engaging and dynamic enough to keep you coming back for more.

One plus for this game option is that the board lends itself well to hanging on a wall when not in use and many of them are very attractive. Doubling as wall art and not having to find somewhere else to store it in our small house is a definite plus. Pricing on these boards is what I would consider high for a board game but FAR more reasonable than a shuffleboard table :). A decent to good board runs in the $150-$300 usd range. These are pretty hefty wood boards that should hold up well for generations if taken care of so the price is not entirely unreasonable.

I have also seen some cool variants on the game rules. There are a couple card games you can get to turn it into a different type of game that weaves the basic disc flicking mechanic into more of a hybrid dexterity/card/board game. There is a print and play variant and a pre-made variant that can be played solo. I find that really intriguing as a way to play a game like this as a single player solitaire style game.

This game looks pretty fun and is also fairly compact and made of wood. Kind of like a mini version of air hockey with magnets and some interesting rules. You should probably read the description on the website for a better idea of how it works or watch a video but I'll attempt a quick rundown. You knock around a little wooden ball by moving a paddle around on your side of the table that you control by moving a second paddle under the table. These paddles have magnets in them so you are dragging the top one around with the one in your hand under the table and trying to knock the ball into the hole on your opponent's side to score. Like air hockey you want to protect your hole at the same time. There are also a couple other ways to score that involve your opponent making mistakes. This game looks like it could be pretty fun and is only about $60 usd. If I can figure a good place to store it it could be a good option. One downside I can think of is the small game pieces will probably be pretty easy to lose.

Sometimes called tiki toss. Because this game is fun and so easy to make yourself I think it would be a good one to add to the porch again. It is possible to buy pre-made sets but I probably wouldn't bother. There are also mini versions of this game that I have played at breweries and pubs that have a little wood frame with a set of rings and hooks on two sides. I think the big version is better for the porch because the mini version would have to be moved and stored somewhere when not being used. This game is fun to practice solo, just trying to hook the ring for fun and practice. There are also plenty of ways to turn it into a more competitive multiplayer game with different rules and scoring options. I'm looking this up now and apparently its also called ringing the bull. The Caribbean variant sometimes called bimini ring toss is what I first encountered and played with. I've never heard it referred to as ringing the bull.

As mentioned earlier, carrom has similarities to pool and crokinole. I've played it before and I've played it more recently on the Nintendo Switch as it is one of the games included in the Clubhouse Games cartridge I have. It can be fun for a little bit but for some reason just doesn't capture me as much as I'd like. Carrooka is a pretty new entrant into this style of puck sliding game. It bills itself as a mix of carrom and snooker and also has similarities to crokinole. It's a round board with 6 pockets evenly spaced around the edges. They also make a Carrooka pool board that is essentially just like pool but with wooden pucks on a round board. Carrooka is initially more intriguing to me than carrom but I think I lean more towards crokinole overall. I'm probably only going to get one of these roughly similar games and crokinole seems like the winner over carrom and carrooka to me.

Very similar to Klask in function but with different rules. It is a soccer (football) game where you move the player(s) with the magnets to try to score the ball in your opponent's goal. Closer to air hockey or foosball than the more complicated rules of Klask but the controls are the same. Weykick boards are also a lot more expensive than Klask but I would assume also much higher quality craftsmanship from the looks of it. There are also a few different board variations.

Sjoelen is a Dutch shuffleboard game where you try to slide wooden pucks down a long board and into slots to score points. I have also seen some mini tabletop versions of the traditional shuffleboard table. These games while probably fun are also harder to store and find a good spot to play than some of the other games I'm looking at.

More of a board game than the rest. It does involve some dexterity though as you flick your little ship discs towards the oncoming alien ships to hit them before they hit you. It's like a board game version of Galaga/Space Invaders. Not quite the same as the other games I've been talking about but also packs down into a box like a regular board game so pretty easy to store on a shelf with the other board games.

PitchCar and Bisikle also involve flicking something. Both come with modular track pieces that you can make your race course with in many different configurations. In PitchCar you are flicking your wooden disc car around and in Bisikle you flick a wobbly ball to race your bikes. Could be fun and also packs down pretty small for storage.

I'm definitely going to be picking up or making a couple of these games in the near future as we are getting into the time of year that is super nice to be outside in the area we live and there will be lots of time spent on the porch. If you have a favorite game in the realm of dexterity games that I didn't mention please do hit me up and tell me about it!

Dexterity Games, Pub Games, Tabletop Games, Oh My!

2023-11-09

Crokinole

Klask

Ring String Hook Game

Other Games

Final Words