Kubb

Kubb

2012 US National Championship in Eau Claire, WI
Presence
Olympic	Not yet
Paralympic	Not yet

Kubb (pronounced [kɵb] in Swedish or [kub] in Gutnish) is a lawn game where the object is to knock over wooden blocks, known as kubbs, by throwing wooden batons at them, known as "kastpinnar." Kubb can be described perhaps as a combination of bowling and horseshoes.

Play takes place on a small rectangular playing field, known as a 'pitch'. 'Kubbs' are placed at both ends of the pitch, and the 'king', a larger wooden block, is placed in the middle of the pitch. Some rules vary from country to country and from region to region, but the ultimate object of the game is to knock over the 'kubbs' on the opposing side of the pitch, and then to knock over the 'king', before the opponent does. Games can last from five minutes to well over an hour. The game can be played on a variety of surfaces such as grass, sand, concrete, snow, or even ice.

The alleged Viking origin of the game has led some players and kubb fans to nickname the game “Viking chess”.

It is often claimed that the game dates back to the Viking Age and has survived since then on Gotland, although there is no evidence of this. The Föreningen Gutnisk Idrott ("Society (of) Gotland Games"), formed in 1912, does not list kubb as one of the traditional games from Gotland. The earliest mention of a kubb-like game comes from the second edition of the Swedish Encyclopedia “Nordisk familjebok” (the Nordic familybook) in 1911. It's there called "Kägelkrig" (Skittles war) and is described as a variation of Skittles and played with a ball. The game in its modern conception became popular in the late 1980s when commercial kubb sets were first manufactured.

The key feature of the game (opposing teams throwing) is shared by the games kyykkä and bunnock, both of which come from Karelia or neighbouring areas. The game has now gained international interest, and an annual World Championship has been held since 1995 on Gotland. Large kubb tournaments now occur throughout Europe and the United States of America. Belgium alone held over 50 tournaments in 2012.