EXETER - It happens faster than the eye can see.

One moment, there are two red discs sitting on either side of the target - the so-called "20 hole."

Then, Joe Fulop daintily rests his right hand behind his black disc and flicks it across the board, where it caroms off the two red discs - sending them skittering off the playing surface - and settles into the hole.

If I didn't know better, I'd think magnets were involved. Or mirrors. Or maybe magic.

But, in fact, it's a fairly routine shot for Fulop, the three-time world and seven-time Ontario crokinole champion and now the author of an insider's view of the game called It's Only Crokinole: But I Like It.

"I wouldn't hesitate to call him the Wayne Gretzky of crokinole," says Wayne Kelly, one of the co-founders of the World Cokinole Championship held annually in Tavistock. "He's a humble individual, but I think he's also the finest, most consistent shooter in the world.

"I've seen him shoot 12 twenties in a row - a perfect game - many times."

And since I planned to challenge Fulop to a few friendly games of crokinole, did Kelly have any advice for me?

"Yeah," laughed Kell. "Make him tie his right hand behind his back and shoot with his toes."

I should have listened.

Because even though Fulop struggles daily with the Parkinson's disease he was diagnosed with seven years ago and for which he swallows nearly 50 pills a day, the 63-year-old Exeter man is still a force to be reckoned with on the crokinole circuit.

Crokinole?

You mean croquet? (No.) Crockery? (No.) Crocodile? (Don't be silly.)

According to Kelly's research, crokinole developed in rural Cnada during the 1860s. A unique blend of various English, French, German and East Indian games, it's a bit like shuffleboard and a bit like curling - minus the ice, the brooms and the heavy rocks.

Essentially, players try to flick their discs (or butons) onto the board's scoring circles or into the 20 hole, while (sometimes simultaneously) knocking their opponent's discs aside.

Popular during the 1920s and '30s and now undergoing a revival as parents try to wrest their kids away from computer games, crokinole is an entertaining variation on "get-it-in-the-target" games like golf, darts or marbles.

"It's one of those games where a six-year-old can play a 96-year-old and they'll both have a good time," says Kelly, who also sells game supplies online (www.crokinole.com).

For Fulop, it all started at about age four when his family played crokinole on his grandfather's board at Christmas.

But he hadn't played for more than 30 years when he entered a Grand Bend tournament on a whim in 1992 and - with zero practice - finished fourth.

He hasn't looked back since.

"It's an easy game to play, but it's not so easy to play it well," says Fulop, who will hold his own tournament at Exeter's South Huron District high school on May 3. p> "My big advantage always seemed to be that I didn't get flustered ... I can relax and concentrate."

Fulop plays an offensive-style game, constantly trying to drop his disc into the centre hole - a feat he says he once accomplished 28 times in a row during a practice session.

"You have to learn how to play your angles and use the posts," says the retired teacher who was crowned world crokinole champ in 2001, 2002 and 2004. "And relax."

For the record, during a handful of friendly games beat Fulop once, although he let me replay one key shot after I missed my first attempt.

Still, I did put Fulop into the "ditch" (the gutter surrounding the playing surface) and dropped a "20."

Just call me The Crokinole Kid.

THE LOW-DOWN ON CROKINOLE

- A variation of games like Britain's shuffleboard, Germany's knipps-brat and Asia's carom, crokinole is believed to have developed in rural Canada during the 1860s.

- The earliest known crokinole board was made in 1876 in Perth Couny.

- The first annual World Crokinole Championship was held in Tavistock on June 5, 1999.

- Can be played by two or four players. The object is to position shooting discs in such a manner that they remain within the highest scoring circles by the end of the round; players seek to make a "20" (centre hole) score when possible.

- A shot is accomplished by firmly holding the end of your index or middle finger against the thumb and then flicking or snapping it against the disc.

Source: Wayne Kelly's Mr. Crokinole pro shop (www.crokinole.com)

TO ORDER:
It's Only Crokinole: But I Like It, an 83-page book by Joe Fulop, is available for $18 ($27 for a colour version) by calling 519-235-1022 or e-mailing jfulop@cabletv.on.ca