WCC Committee - June 3, 2023
Top 4 Competitive Singles - Justin Slater, Andrew Hutchinson, Connor Reinman, Matt Brown
Connor Reinman of Grosse Pointe, Michigan won the 2023 World Crokinole Championship after a thrilling final match against Kitchener’s Andrew Hutchinson.
Reinman defeated 5-time and defending World Champion Justin Slater in the semifinals, while Andrew Hutchinson defeated an impressive showing from Matt Brown. The win marks the first time an American has won the competitive singles division at the World Crokinole Championships. All previous winners of the World Championships were Canadian, and Reinman’s dual-citizenship continues that streak.
Reinman is a graduate student at Indiana University, where he studies music theory. He has family roots in Southern Ontario and first played in the World Championships in 2010, playing cues. After an absence from the tournament for a few years, Reinman watched the competitive action of the event on YouTube and decided to switch to fingers, returning in 2017 and finishing 3rd. Coincidentally his opponent in the finals, Andrew Hutchinson, also has played cues, winning the cues singles category in 2016, and finished 3rd earlier in the day in the cues doubles division with David King.
Reinman came into the tournament as one of the favourites, after winning a number of crokinole tournaments leading up the championships on the National Crokinole Association Tour. He also won the 20s title, scoring 127 in the preliminary round.
The final was well played and highly engaging for the crowd of onlookers as the close match went back-and-forth. The definitive moment came in the penultimate round when Reinman made a follow-through-20, and then a ricochet-20 on consecutive shots. Those shots earned Reinman a 4-2 edge over Hutchinson, and the match was sealed in the next round.
Defending champion Justin Slater, rebounded from the semifinal defeat to win the 3rd place match against Matt Brown.
The World Crokinole Championship hosted their 22nd annual tournament on Saturday, June 3, 2023 with a new record setting 133 boards in action during singles play. Any concerns that the first event post-covid would see lower attendance were quickly diminished when registrations began coming in for the 2023 event.
Justin and Fred Slater won the competitive doubles competition, making it their fourth world championship, having last won in 2016. Second place went to Connor Reinman and Jeremy Tracey of Elmira. Reid and Nolan Tracey of Elmira finished third, while Clare Kuepfer of Dobbinton and Nathan Walsh of Kitchener finished fourth.
The Recreational Doubles championship was won by Tom Johnston and Cor Vanden Hoven, with second place to David Sleighthom and Tony Vanden Hoven, third place to Trevor and Kyle Grasby and fourth place to Brian Miltenburg and Steve Buchok. For Youth Doubles, Nathaniel Workman and Kiera McComb were the champions, while second place went to Leah and Logan McComb; third place to Manoah and Ezekiel Jongsma and fourth place to Knox and Norton Clark.
In the Cues division, Josh Carrafiello and Doug Schwartzentruber won the doubles competition for the second time, having previously won in 2017. Jeremy and Don Brubacher finished second, ahead of 2014 champions Andrew Hutchinson and David King in third. Two-time champions Oscar and Paul Weber finished fourth.
Doubles champions Carrafiello and Schwartzentruber also advanced to the finals of the Cues Singles category, where Carrafiello became the champion. Carrafiello also won the title for most 20s scored in the cues division with 118; the highest ever 20s score in the cues division in the history of the tournament. Carrafiello had played in a number of fingers crokinole tournaments throughout the year, and even won the Ontario Crokinole Championship fingers event, and expects to play in the fingers division at the World Championships next year. Third place in the cues singles division went to Lorne Steckley, while Oscar Weber finished fourth.
In other singles play, Brayden Kelner won the recreational singles title, Peter Stokoe won the Intermediate division and Knox Clark won the Junior division. The Karin Jeske Award for the top female in Competitive Singles was won by Beverley Vaillancourt, with Gina Schick in second, and Janet Waite in third.
INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS
Four Europeans attended the event. Starting from the left, Magnus Rundström from Sweden; Ian Witt from England; Antonio Cuaresma from Spain; Árpád Lonsták from Hungary.
Ian Witt, from Taunton, England discovered crokinole when it was reviewed by the popular board game review YouTube channel Shut Up and Sit Down, at which point he and others in the United Kingdom became interested in forming clubs and tournaments. The United Kingdom Crokinole Championship was first held in 2022, and won by Brian Cook, a former World Crokinole Champion and now resident of the UK. The 2023 United Kingdom Championship was held on the same day as the World Championships.
Magnus Rundström from Engelholm, Sweden first discovered crokinole by watching YouTube videos of competitive play from the channel CrokinoleCentre. A board game popular in Sweden is called couronne, and since couronne can only be played one-on-one, Magnus was looking for a similar game that would involve team play and encourage socializing. Crokinole was the perfect fit, and Magnus began purchasing boards and supplies to introduce crokinole to Sweden.
A number of Americans also travelled from far distances to attend the event. Chris Butkowski and Chris Struszkiewicz are two members of the Middleton Crokinole Club in Middleton, New Jersey. They were introduced to the game when a crokinole board was gifted as part of a birthday present and quickly found success getting their friends to join in. Struszkiewicz enjoys taking his crokinole board along with him on road trips, particularly for soccer tournaments for his children, and setting up crokinole games in unique locations. Along their way to Tavistock, Struszkiewicz and Butkowski setup their crokinole board next to Niagara Falls and played a few games before continuing on the road.
Also attending the event was Gary Martin of Chugiak, Alaska. Growing up in Brussels, Ontario, Martin was familiar with crokinole and grew up playing cues. He learned about the World Championships when a co-worker in Alaska mentioned the game. Martin, a teacher, has taken to building a few crokinole boards and has introduced crokinole to his students.
A film crew from Los Angeles took part in the championships. Director Brian Spillane of Above Board TV, an upcoming lifestyle show about tabletop gaming, participated in the tournament and filmed continually throughout the day, as well as with board-builder Jeremy Tracey in the lead up to the tournament. Spillane’s onscreen character is typically comically mis-informed and the final cut should be exciting to watch for all crokinole players. Spillane expects the footage from the tournament to be released in a few months time, and it will be available on the Above Board TV YouTube channel.
TOURNAMENT RECORDS
A record 133 crokinole tables were setup to accommodate the massive attendance for the 2023 World Crokinole Championship.
The World Crokinole Championship committee would like to thank all competitors for continuing to show interest in the event, and all the sponsors for supporting the community event. And the committee would also like to deeply thank the volunteers who helped prepare, setup, operate and clean up, all of which made the 22nd edition of the World Championships a great success.
For more photos, see the photo gallery link below. For final statistics, visit crokinolereference.com.
For videos from the world championships visit the YouTube channel CrokinoleCentre.