Árpád Lonsták of Hungary, crokinole player and big Flyers fan, shares a game with a young opponent on a sunny day in Budapest. Lonsták is among nine players travelling from overseas for the 2026 World Crokinole Championship in Tavistock.
Photo contributed by Árpád Lonsták.

Some players can walk to the competition, while some drive for 15 minutes, while for others the drive is several hours. But for a few, their journey will start with an overseas flight, as competitors from Germany, Australia, Japan and Hungary will travel to the 2026 World Crokinole Championship.

"We are very happy to be participating. We are looking forward to competing against the best!"

Those words from Peter Gerst of Kirrweiler, Germany, speak to the excitement that many competitors, domestic or international, have for the Tavistock event, which is celebrating its 25th edition on June 6th. Andreas Schmitz, from Karben, Germany, echos the statement, “I’m really excited to see what awaits us.” Such excitement has resulted in over 400 people signed up for the Championship with still several weeks left. The German duo of Gerst and Schmitz are just two of the nine individuals who will be making the long journey from outside of the continent.

While crokinole has always been most popular in Canada, the game has established roots in many countries over the past 15 years. Where previously the only clubs and tournaments for crokinole could be found in Canada, now many countries have at least one club where crokinole enthusiasts can share their passion.

Dennis Graham, from North Sydney, Australia, was one of the first people to signup for the 2026 tournament. He learned of the game from a co-worker, and now plays daily against other staff members at the office. He’s proved his skills at the Crokinole Bottom Half of the World Cup, an annual event in Melbourne, which he won in 2025. “Appropriately enough, the winner's trophy is an engraved flask with Canadian whiskey,” says Graham.

In Japan there are not many crokinole players, and the game is still small. Motoaki Takenouchi, of Akita, Japan, is one person trying to change that. He runs Clockwise, a boardgame cafe in Japan which organizes some crokinole events. Takenouchi will be attending the World Championships for the second time this year.

Germany also doesn’t have too many players yet, but the German Crokinole Association was established last year and is having success. “The trend is growing, and a community is slowly starting to form,” says Schmitz. Gerst adds, “Perhaps we can find a way to promote the sport together so that everyone will eventually know about crokinole.”

While the travellers from afar are always welcomed warmly, most tend to have a hard time playing up to their potential. The crokinole boards, discs and even wax used at most tournaments in Canada differ in small but sometimes crucial ways from other parts of the world. That combined with jet lag from a long journey can be very difficult to overcome.

Árpád Lonsták of Budapest, Hungary can speak to that. When he first attended in 2023 he faced a very strong set of opponents in the preliminary round that hampered his chances of advancing to the playoffs. “Qualifying to the Playoff round is the target in both Doubles and Singles this time,” he says. He plays a big part in organizing some of the crokinole events in Hungary, and he’s been in good form recently as he is currently the top ranked player in the country.

Out of all of the overseas players to travel to the World Championships over the years, Ryotaro Fukuda of Saitama, Japan has been the most successful. He finished 11th when he first competed in 2024, and he returned again last year to finish to 14th. Despite his success, Fukuda maintains a great deal of humility in advance of his third appearance this year. Saying of his competitive aspirations, “I’m looking forward to playing with people who share the same passion. I’d like to do better than last time, but the overall level keeps getting higher, so it will be a challenge.“

A big difference over the last 15 years as well is crokinole’s online presence. In the past very little about crokinole could be found online. Takenouchi was even aware of the game of crokinole back in 2000, but for a while couldn’t find a website explaining the rules in Japanese. Today a simple search reveals a plethora of content, and most of the new crokinole enthusiasts, like Árpád Lonsták, even discovered the game of crokinole by pure chance thanks to a random suggestion from the YouTube algorithm.

Nowadays, World Championship matches are available on YouTube, and are frequently studied by international players. Gábor Kiss of Hungary can attest to that, “I'm really excited about seeing in person and playing against the guys I only saw on Youtube, and it is also the biggest challenge for me, but just to be at the same event as these legends will be a memory for life I guess.”

While some players are coming to Canada just for the crokinole tournament and then returning home, others are taking the opportunity to explore more of the country. Schmitz and Gerst have mapped out plans to see Toronto, Niagara Falls and the Stratford theatre. Graham will be travelling to watch FIFA World Cup games and will be finishing his vacation in Vancouver on Canada Day. Meanwhile Fukuda is more looking forward to experiencing the quieter side of Canada, “instead of famous tourist spots, I’d like to visit a few local towns and experience the atmosphere.”

With a few weeks still to go the 25th World Crokinole Championship is on track for a year of record attendance, with already more than 400 people signed up. From Canada there are registrants from 7 provinces, stretching from British Columbia to Prince Edward Island, while from the USA there are players signed up from 17 different states, including Texas, Florida, the Carolinas and Washington.

The organizing committee for the tournament is also hard at work, planning a showcase worthy of a 25 year anniversary celebration and will be announcing some of the attractions in the coming weeks.

Until then, the excitement for 2026 World Crokinole Championship builds every day. As Gábor Kiss says, “I have no idea how well I can do against the best, but I'll enjoy it and I'll try to do my best, that is for sure.”

The tournament takes place Saturday June 6th, along with a social night on Friday June 5th. Spectators are welcome, completely free of charge to experience the event, and registration is still available on the World Crokinole website: worldcrokinole.com.