Finnish skittles

Finnish skittles (aka Karelian skittles, outdoor skittles or kyykkä) is a centuries-old game of Karelian origin. The aim in Finnish skittles is to throw wooden skittle bats at skittles, trying to remove them from the play square using as few throws as possible. Skittles can be played with four-man teams, in pairs or as an individual game. Finnish skittles is one of the three skittles games played in the World Championships of Gorodki Sport. The other games include Classic Gorodki and Euro Gorodki.

In 1894, a Finnish author and photographer I. K. Inha wrote in his diaries concerning his journey to White Karelia, that the game he had discovered was almost extinct and it was only played in remote villages. In Karelia around lake Ladoga people knew about the game in Suojarvi and Salmi, but even there it was only played in remote villages. The game was also known in Karelian Isthmus and Ingria areas.

After the kinship wars the people that had migrated into Finland played skittles during their Karelian summer festivals.

In 1951 there was a movement to revitalise Finnish skittles with the approval of President Urho Kekkonen. A set of rules and a scoring system were created, taking into account the traditional Karelian skittles terms and rules.

Karelian Skittles Association was registered in 1986. Later on, the name was changed to Finnish Skittles Association in 1993. Finnish Skittles Association is a member of Finnish Sports Federation SLU (Suomen Liikunta ja Urheilu), a non-governmental sports federation for over one million Finns.

The chairman of Finnish Skittles Association is Jyrki Juvonen.

Men's team event was the first form of competitive skittles in Finland. During 1951–1961 the Finnish championships for men's team event were held in Seurasaari, Helsinki. Since 1961 the games have been held together with the Karelian summer festivals around Finland. Men's individual event was added to the curriculum in 1954, but the first championship medals were given in 1964, when the sport was officially given a championship status. In 1971, the first Finnish championship medals for veterans individual event were given. At the end of the 1980s, a new form of play was introduced, as the first Finnish Championship for individual pentathlon was held. The latest addition in Finnish Skittles is men's pairs event in 2005.

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