Build A Nok Hockey Table

This was one of my favorites when I was a kid. However, after moving to the midwest from the northeast, no one here seemed to ever hear of Nok Hockey.

If you know what this is, welcome back to your childhood.

If you never seen this before, here's your chance.

This is a pretty easy build, and inexpensive too.

Build List

1x3x8 Pine - 2 pieces
2'x4' Hardboard
Nails or Screws or Glue
Small piece of hardwood (for pucks and sticks) 1/2" thick

Step 1 Cut the base

Cut your hardboard to 2 feet by 4 feet.

You can use a table saw or circular saw. Regardless of tool, cut it as square as possible.

Whew, that was hard.

Comments

[SolidStar]

Would it be possible to make it bigger? Maybe instead of 2'x4', it'd be like 3'x6'?

[lee_schnitz]

SolidStar I made mine 2x4 because we were making them for Boy Scouts and had a 4x8 sheet of hardboard. You can make it any dimension you want. Good luck!

[Spider64]

there it is :) do u own the real nok hockey board?

[lee_schnitz]

Nicely done! Hope you got a an 'A' in your shop class. No, I havent owned a real one since I was a kid.. About 30 yrs ago ;-)

[vtstruct]

I just built one of these and put the center of the guard pieces 4" from the inside edge of the vertical backpiece. Seems to work okay for double bank shots. Also, the blue defense line should be about 1/4 the table length from each end. Also noticed after I built this one that "real" nokhockey tables come in two sizes, neither of which is the same as this one. They are 36" x 24" and 48" x 36". That makes it easier to get a single bank shot in because the table has more proportional width. Also, their corner pieces come all the way up to the top of the frame, so a high shot still corners in.

[lee_schnitz]

Thanks Vstruct! All good points.. Yes, this is not the same dimensions as the 'real' one. Feel free to post a pic.. Would love to see it! Lee

[Spider64]

Thank you for the instructions :) im 14 and made one of these for 10$ in wood shop in school. there so fun like we have competitions and stuff.putted one coat of gloss the waxed it and it slides real smooth. the only concern i have is the goalies are good 6 inches away but i would say about 4 because on 6 inches you cant do the bumper to goalie shot :( but its still fun at 6 :) Thank you 4 stars :)

[lee_schnitz]

Spider.. That totally made my day! Glad to hear you built one. If you have a picture, feel free to post in this thread. Enjoy! Lee

[smarino88]

I masked and painted the lines and circle on table with kids craft paint. After drying, I finished the table with 2 coats of high gloss poly. Ran some extra fine steel wool over it just to smooth it a bit. The most important step was to spray "pledge" polish over it, and that table is as slick and fast as can be. Just make sure your kids don't walk on it in their socks!

[lee_schnitz]

Very nice! Thanks for sharing the pix! Enjoy!

[lee_schnitz]

Awesome! It looks beautiful. Thanks for sharing!

[smarino88]

Great instructable! I just made this, but changed the dimensions as follows: 48" x 36" table, 5" wide goals, and goalies placed 5" from the goal. I have yet to finish the surface, but am thinking of a nice coat of high gloss poly, but plan to paint lines and circles first. Anybody have any suggestions for finishing? I liked the earlier comment about using plastic, but its a little pricey. I did remove quite a bit of the friction by waxing the surface of the puck. It goes much further. I also used poplar for the sticks and pucks, but they just don't feel right. Next time I'd use a denser wood like oak.

[mamsis]

we made 3 or these games for our grand-kids. Great directions, though we guessed at where to draw the defense lines. We used wood glue and an air-nailer/stapler to fasten things together. Then we used paint pens to decorate the "ice" - didn't seem to affect the slickness of the surface too much. I even painted on team logos (Red Wings, Avalanche, and Wild) to match my grand-kids locale. Thanks for bringing back a great memory - and help me pass it on to the next generation!

[lee_schnitz]

Awesome! Thanks for letting me know! If you took any pix, let me know and I'd be happy to post them here. Lee

[kokosmack]

you could also cover the surface with something like wax paper to make the puck glide more, just a thought

[lee_schnitz]

You'd be surprised how well the puck slides on the hardboard... Actually, when I get some time, I am planning on building an upgraded version. This one will have the hardboard painted like a rink, and then clear plexiglass or polycarbonate plastic as the 'ice' surface. That would be slick.. Thanks for looking!

[outlate]

I used to play this game daily at the youth center as a kid. We used to play it without the sticks and a plastic checker instead of the puck. Why is it better that way you ask? Our favorite part of the game was the corner/goalie combo shot :) HUH you say? Check this out. You can shoot the checker along the wall and have it ricochet off the corner and then again off the goalie square and POW! a goal, in one shot. Here's how. Place a checker against the wall (lets say the right wall), put your right thumb against the left side of the checker while your other fingers are on the outside of the same wall (basically pressing the checker in to the wall), then squeeze the checker till it shoots forward. practice and you'll get it. we had a rule that If you could touch the checker and the wall at the same time, with the same hand (spreading your fingers) you could move the checker over to the wall and shoot from there. All other shots we would just use our thumb on top of the checker and flick forward. Hope this adds to the fun. PS> This may require that the goalie and corner pieces need to be correctly positioned.

[lee_schnitz]

You are absolutely correct. We used to do this at summer camp back in the late 70's :-D Thanks for letting others know about it!

[Koming100]

i never knew u can make ur own nok hockey board thingy

[servant74]

Hmm, could do the same thing for air hockey. use a 1x6 or 8 rather than a 1x3, put the solid 2x4' hardboard on the bottom and a 2x4' of pegboard on a top layer about 3" down from the top of the 1x3. Duct in an electric leaf blower, use a CD or 3 laminated together. The could be a slot about an inch wider than the CDs and about an inch tall (rectangular would work OK here). ... sounds like a weekend project! ... BTW, great instructable!

[ross353]

do you think you couild use a few computer fans for the air flow or sould it be to weak?

[servant74]

I would suggest going with a vacuum cleaner. (The wife knows I would never use one otherwise ;)

[moomoocows]

I'm from Wisconsin and I've not only heard of it I play it quite often at my neighbors house. I like the instructable.

[lee_schnitz]

Helloooooooo Wisconsin!! Now you can build your own, and invite the neighbors over!

[Kiteman]

Very nice. I've never heard of Nok Hockey (are you sure it isn't Knock Hockey?). Being British, the only hockey I know is played on grass, against bloodthirsty teenage girls but this looks good.

Are there any special rules to Nok Hockey, or is it just "hit it until it goes through the hole, try not to break any knuckles"?

[lee_schnitz]

Yes - It is NOK Hockey... ;-)

Yes there are rules...

http://www.carrom.com/instructions/download/uncompressed/NokHockey.pdf

Enjoy!

[Spectrace]

thats pretty cool how you make that. I've seen the tables for sale in sporting goods stores. You can buy a hockey stick/puck set for cheap. but making your own is more fun. another thing is, the goalies should be only about 3-6 inches from the goal. 12 seems like you can make a goal too easy around it. Great instructable by the ways.

[lee_schnitz]

Good point... Just went back to my original.. And the goalies are closer to 6 inches away from the goal... (blush)... I'll edit that... Thanks!