King and sticks in a traditional Kubb set at Dutch ChampionshipĪccording to the US Championship rules and World Championship rules, kubb is played on a rectangular pitch 5 metres by 8 metres. Paul, MN), and the Twin Cities Kubb League (Minneapolis/St.Paul, MN). There are currently 7 other kubb leagues in Wisconsin, Illinois, Maryland, and virtually.īrew City Kubb League (Milwaukee, WI), Energy City Kubb League (Moose Lodge in Bativia, IL), Hopkins Farm Brewery Kubb League (Havre De Grace, MD), Madison Kubb League (Madison, WI), Keystone Kubb Virtual Kubb League (Played over software virtually), St. The Eau Claire Kubb League is the largest weekly kubb league, playing in Eau Claire, WI. Because of this, kubb leagues have started to form around the United States. States that have held tournament include Arkansas, California, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin.Īs the number of tournaments continue to grow, there are groups of players looking to play on a weekly basis. Tournaments have been held in a large variety of states. In 2023, there are 32 tournaments on the tournament schedule. Tournaments are now held throughout the country from coast-to-coast. Kubb continues to grow in popularity throughout the United States of America. In addition, kubb sets are in the local schools, with some schools having kubb units in physical education classes and kubb clubs. National Kubb Championship since 2007, and is home to Kubbnation magazine and many clubs and leagues, including the Eau Claire Kubb League, which is the largest weekly kubb league in the world. On 13 December 2011, Eau Claire, Wisconsin declared itself to be the 'Kubb Capital of North America'. Medieval Week also incorporated the playing of kubb, and this connection has likely motivated kubb's being marketed, both in the US and in Europe, with such unfounded appellations as "Viking Chess" and "Old Norse Viking outdoor game". The Kubb World Championship takes place at the same time as "Medieval Week" in Visby : 22 (which has been "the island's main tourist magnet since the mid 1980s" : 19 ). Belgium alone held over 50 tournaments in 2012. : 20–21 Large kubb tournaments now occur throughout Europe and the United States of America. : 20 However, within only a few years, mainland and international teams were coming to Gotland to compete, and a major Swedish manufacturer was selling Kubb sets in the 2000s Kubb spread to several European countries, as well as the USA and Canada. : 20 : 25 In 1995 a tournament was initiated in Rone, Gotland - the Kubb World Championship - somewhat ironically titled, as it was at this time still a thoroughly local affair. In the 1980s it became a local craze, leading to the first local commercial manufacturing efforts in the late 1980s. : 24 However, in 1931 a Gotlandic ethnologist, visiting the island of Fårö, just to the north of Gotland, recorded the earliest known use of the name "kubb" for this game, : 23 and it was played by residents of Gotland by at least the mid-20th century. Kubb was evidently unknown in Gotland in 1912, when a list of traditional Gotlandic games was drawn up, in conjunction with the Olympic Games (held in Stockholm that year). Kägelkrig, the Polish game, and kaisers all seem to feature felled pins being thrown to the opponent side in order themselves to fell opponent pins, which is not a feature of contemporary kubb. : 22 This game was known on the Swedish mainland at least as early as 1878, when it was described in Ungdomens Bok, a sort of Boys' Own Book. Sören Wallin has identified the Swedish game kägelkrig (as described in a 1911 encyclopedia ) as essentially the same as, and the forbear of, kubb. Though typologically related to kubb, no definite historical connection between these games and kubb has been shown. The Karelian game kyykkä and the possibly Siberian game bunnock both feature team sides and (unlike the Polish game and kaisers) use versions of batons as projectiles rather than balls. Though differing from kubb in detail, kaisers, as published in Leipzig in 1800, displays most of the fundamental features of kubb, including team sides, recycled pins, a kingpin, and even the requirement to throw from behind one's own pins though as in the Polish game, the main projectile is a ball rather than a baton. Endrei & Zolnay briefly note an unnamed game, played in Poland "as early as the sixteenth century", which seems to exhibit both features. The features of kubb most distinguishing it from other pin-toppling games (such as bowling and skittles) are that 1) teams "own" opposite sides of the playing field, and 2) toppled pins are "recycled" back into play and may be tossed to opposite sides. Boys playing the game kaisers with-the author insists- the wrong pins
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