Kubb, rhymes with “tube”, is an ancient Scandinavian game – also called “Viking Chess”. It is said the game was used to keep Viking villages occupied in between battles and to improve their hand-eye coordination for future battles. We don’t know if the story is really true, but we do know that playing Kubb does take some skill and strategy.
To begin, Kubb is a fun yard game for 2-12 players and a game can last anywhere from twenty minutes to even several hours. The goal of the game is to be the first team to knock down all your kubbs and then the king OR be on the opposite team of the player who knocks down the king before knocking down all their kubbs. In other words, the king is sort of like the 8-ball.
After setting up your game, it’s time to play! The first team will begin throwing their batons at the opposite baseline, aiming for the kubbs. Sounds pretty easy right? Yes, but the challenging part is the batons must be thrown underhand, traveling straight (or end over end). This may take some practice from some.
Next the opposing team throws any of their knocked-down kubbs back into the other half of the field – becoming the “field kubb”. Once all the kubbs are thrown back into the field, Team 1 stands them up. If two kubbs hit during the throwing process, they are stacked on top of each other. There is no limit to how many are stacked like this.
Team 2 must knock down all the standing field kubbs before they get to start throwing at the baseline kubbs again. If they do knock down the baseline kubbs before the field kubbs, they have to be stood back up.
The game continues this way until one team has knocked down all the field kubbs and baseline kubbs, then giving them a chance to knock down the king. When the king is knocked down, the game is over!
As you can see, Kubb is a fairly easy and fun yard game, great for the whole family. Although it does require some skill and strategy, after a few games you will feel like an expert!
