‘Very Canadian:’ Plans for ‘Crokicurl’ to come to Saskatoon in 2018

It’s a mashup of Canadian pastimes that’s right on the button.

“Crokicurl” combines the board game of Crokinole with the sport of curling on a supersized playing area.

The hybrid game made its debut in Winnipeg this winter – now, the PotashCorp WinterShines Festival is hoping to bring it to Saskatoon in 2018.

“We’re really trying to look at different things that we can introduce in the community to really celebrate its winter,” said festival director Shad Ali.

“This new version of both of those games is something that’s very Canadian.”

Instead of using discs, players take turns shooting curling rocks across a circular surface, trying to land on a higher-scoring region – on or near the centre “button” – while also trying to knock away opposing rocks.

Ali said Saskatoon is drawing inspiration from two versions of the game already in play in Winnipeg and Edmonton.

The Manitoba capital made national headlines with their large ice surface at The Forks, while Edmonton recently set up their own take on Crokicurl, without ice, in a downtown plaza.

“We might just create our own unique version,” Ali said.

The festival would ideally like to have the Crokicurl area open beyond the event dates; however, that depends on location, user safety and maintenance costs.

“All of those things will certainly be factors when considering how long we make it available for – and, of course, Mother Nature will have a role as well,” Ali said.

The festival director is already having conversations with several neighbourhoods and business groups about a location. He listed Broadway, Riversdale and downtown – near the PotashCorp skating plaza – as possible options.