What Finger Should I Shoot with in Crokinole?

For new crokinole players, the very first thing they want to know is this: “what finger should I shoot with”? This is the foundation that all of your crokinole skills will be built off of, so it’s best to figure out early on what works best for you – let’s dive into it.

The Short Answer: Go With What Feels Right

The good news for new players is that there is no right choice. So long as you are following the rule of what constitutes a flick, you can and should go with what feels most comfortable and natural to you (National Crokinole Association Section 7. Shooting covers this in-depth, and we’ll touch on key points below).

With that being said, the two most common choices are to shoot with either your middle or your pointer finger. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of each.

Common Finger Choices: Middle or Pointer Finger

People will argue both ways in terms of which choice is better between shooting with your middle and your pointer. The truth is, there are top players who shoot both ways:

Pointer Finger: Justin Slater (5-time World Champion); Jason Beierling (8-Time World Doubles Champion); and Shawn Hagarty (current World Champion in 2025)
Middle Finger: Jeremy Tracey (2025 World Doubles Champion); Nathan Walsh (2017 World Doubles Champ & 2nd in the 2017-18 NCA Tour); and Ron Langill (2nd in 2024 US Open Championship, top 10 in 2024-25 NCA Tour)

So, I personally don’t think that a statement can be made about which way is the best. Comfortability and familiarity should be your key indicator for which way you should shoot.

One note and downside I’ve heard about shooting with your middle finger is that the disc is hidden from your line of sight when you shoot. Specifically, your pointer finger may block your view of where your piece is before you shoot, which 1) may affect your judgement of your shooting line, and 2) may result in a misfire, if the disc slides slightly before you shoot and you don’t spot it.

This is NOT to say that shooting with your middle finger is therefore worse than shooting with your pointer – it’s something to keep in mind, if that’s what feels most comfortable.

A Few Special Cases for Crokinole Shooting

It is also worth noting that these two options aren’t the only way to shoot. Here are some unique cases that show how shooting styles can vary.

The Spider – There is only one player I’ve seen do this, and his name is Simon “the Spider” Dowrick. Here is a video of one of his matches to give a visual. Dowrick uses his pointer and ring finger to anchor his hand to the board, then shoots by loading his finger on the edge of the playing surface. How effective is this style? Dowrick placed in the top 8 at the Elmira Winter Crokinole Classic, in a pool that was 75% World Champions or World Champion contenders – so, his style of shooting works very well for him.
Carrom-Style Shooting – Carrom is a game similar to crokinole in the sense that it requires players to flick discs on a board, although the objectives vary greatly. While I haven’t found that my crokinole skill translates well to Carrom, Yoann Pidial, who competed in the 2024 Crokinole World Cup semifinals, uses a carrom-stye flick for shots on the side of the quadrant (see an example here on the Shevatos Crokinole Channel). This style of shot involves crossing your middle finger under your pointer, as a way to load it up for a flick.

Would I personally recommend these styles of shooting to a beginner? Probably not, unless you have previous carroms experience and are comfortable with that shooting style, for example. But, these two examples show how your choice of shooting finger (and style) largely comes down to a preference.

What NOT to Do

Here are a couple of things you should avoid when you’re starting:

Sliding your finger across the top of the disc: First off, this is an illegal shot according to the National Crokinole Association Rules, section 7e: “A disc must be struck by one or more fingers. No aids, such as finger guards, are permitted”. A slide from the top is not a strike, and is therefore illegal. But more importantly- it’s not accurate. Getting a straight line this way is a nightmare, and if the disc sticks to your finger at all, it’ll go off the already shaky line that you have.

Using Two Fingers at Once: Flicking with two fingers isn’t against the rules, however, I’ve never seen anyone shoot this way with any kind of accuracy (and I’m open to being proved otherwise on this). Shooting with two fingers leads to pieces not being hit dead-centre, and results in your shot not going where you want it to.

Final Tip: Experiment and Settle

I recommend playing around with both your pointer and your middle finger (and maybe some of the more niche shooting styles, just for the fun of it). You’ll find out pretty quickly that one feels more natural than the other, and that’s the one you should stick with. Just remember: there isn’t one correct way – whatever feels natural will be best.

Whichever way you choose, there are guiding principles to each one that should be followed to ensure that you have the cleanest shot. You can tune in to our Crokinole for Beginners series on YouTube to see what those are right away, or keep an eye out for future blog posts. In the meantime – happy flicking!

This post was built from our Crokinole for Beginners series, episode two. Watch the episode here!