Kubb

Kubb is an outdoor game that has become a popular hobby in Sweden since 1990.

History

It is often claimed that the game originated in Sweden during the Viking Age and has been preserved on Gotland, but that seems to be a marketing story by the game's makers for better sales. The actual origin is before Viking time. The tradition on Gotland is that the Vikings invented the game with the bones of conquered tribes and played against each other. There are popular stories that actually prove that kubb was played in various places where the Vikings stayed, such as in Sweden, Scotland and Norway and in the early 20th century it has arrived from Eurasia, but it is not clear how the rules match up. from that time with the way kubb is played today.

Before 1912

The ancient Egyptians played around 3000 B.C. C. to games that are very similar to Kubb. They organized leisure games like a combined form of javelin and chess, which is now very similar to kubb. Back then, only the elite and the rich bourgeoisie played. This is clear from Egyptian murals and excavations where blocks of wood and human bones have been found. Some of the favorite sports and games in Egypt were forerunners of bowling, boxing, Kubb, stick fencing, and chess.

The early Egyptians also played other sports and games, including an early form of hockey, handball, gymnastics, javelin, and weightlifting.

The Scandinavian legacy

It was also popular among the Romans and the Persians, but it was the latter who continued to play Kubb since it was easy to learn. In this usage, the words "verify" and "chess" they come from the Arabic of the Persian sháh, which is "king". of "monarch" betekent (Murray 2012: 159).

Kubb was called differently in Arab countries: Kubtal كتلة which means 'blocking' and is a degeneracy of كتلة.

كتلة (pronunciation 'kutla']) Literally translates as 'block' in Arabic, which later became Kubb.

The Romans considered it an impure and low-class game, evolving into what we now know as petanque and bowling.

The final Scandinavian atmosphere comes from one of the Viking raids. The Vikings spent their raids on the border between Europe and Asia (see map). The Vikings also took the game presumably to Turkey and Russia in one of their raids (see map). It is also thought that the Vikings brought the kubb to Scotland and Scandinavia where it has survived under the name kubb in Swedish.

After 1912 to the present

It is important to mention that Föreningen Gutnisk Idrott Archived 2018-04-06 at the Wayback Machine, which was founded in 1912, has never named the game as one of Gotland's traditional games. However, they emphasize the lore of the game, its history, and related interaction standards. The game shows similarities with the games of bowling, chess, petanque and it is that these games share a common medieval origin. The first commercial Kubb games were produced in the 1990s-1999s, and the previously unknown game quickly became very popular. There is now international interest in the game and since 1995, world championships have been held annually on Gotland. There have been national championships in Spain. The game is also common in parks and beaches and is now sold in all toy stores.

Game Pieces

• The King, a wooden parallelepipe, of about 30 cm high and with a square base of 9x9 cm
• 10 kubbar, wooden parallels with a square base of 7x7 cm, and 15 cm high. Singular, kubb, plural kubbar. These wooden pieces give the name to the game.
• 6 wooden cylinders, called kastpinnar, about 30 cm long and 4 cm in diameter.

The pitch

The terrain should measure around 5 x 8m, although the dimensions may change for younger players or for faster play. Typically the terrain is grass, but it can also be played on other types of terrain such as sand or snow.

The court markings are placed at the corners of the rectangle. No other type of court demarcation is used. The shorter sides of the rectangle are called baselines.

The king is placed in the center of the court, dividing it into two equal parts, both lengthwise and widthwise.

The kubbar are placed equidistantly on the baselines, five kubbar on each line. Both the king and the kubbar are placed on the ground based on their square area.

Rules

The game takes place between two teams (which for simplicity will be called team A and team B), with any number of players. Each team has its own baseline, and owns the portion of the court from the baseline to the king.

The game is played in turns. Starting off, Team A throws the kastpinnar from their baseline towards the kubbar on Team B's baseline, intending to knock them down. Team B throws their kubbar knocked down by team A into team A's field (these are called field kubbar). These will be put upright on their base and team B will have to knock them down before they start knocking down the normal kubbar.

If team A knocks down more than one kubbar, team B can knock down the first field kubbar with the next kubbar to take down. throw into the field of team A. If, for example, team A knocks down 2 kubbar, team B can throw into the field of team the first kubbar of those knocked down by team A. team A, and once on his feet, he will be able to knock him down with the second kubbar that he must throw into team A's field.

Play the downed field kubbar is taken off the field and eliminated.

The kastpinnar should be thrown underhand (as in softball), and should be positioned perpendicular to the ground. Rotating them horizontally like a propeller is prohibited. They can rotate perpendicular to the ground like the spokes of a wheel.

The kubbs must be thrown underhand, but may rotate if the thrower wishes.

Then it is the turn of team B, which repeats the previous steps. From then on, the team on duty must first take down the field kubbar before the kubbar on the baseline, but can take the throws from any point behind them. the field kubbar that are in his field.

When a team knocks down all of the opposing team's kubbar, they can knock down the king, casting from their baseline. The team that knocks down the king is the winner. However, if the king is knocked down before any kubb, the team automatically loses. Also, to gain victory, the king cannot be taken down with the last kastpinnar. In other words, when the king falls, the casting team must retain at least one kastpinnar.

List of World Cup winners since 1995

year	equipment	world champion	world vice champion	third place	fourth place
1995	28 teams	# # Fole/Hejnum	# # Centralföreningen	# # Team Ekeby	# # Of 6 kubbspelarna
1996	59 equipment	# # Team Ekeby	# # Slappers Rone City	# Visby AIK 1	# # Palmkvists Sorkar
1997	76 equipment	# # Team Ekeby	# # Vambi	# # Centralföreningen	# # Rome
1998	108 teams	# # Fole/Hejnum	# # Vambi	# # Guteresor	# # Palmqvists Sorkar
1999	128 equipment	# # Fole/Hejnum	# # Onda papperets lag	# # Team Roma	# # Centralföreningen
2000	131 equipment	# # United States	# # Boffen's Drängar	# # By-Pers-Iris	# ♪ Hajo
2001	170 equipment	# # Team Ekeby	# # Sudret Losers	# # Kubbikarna	# # Jägarna
2002	183 teams	# # Team Ekeby	# # Kubbikarna	# # Fole/Hejnum	# Inge Lip
2003	176 equipment	# # Team Ekeby	# # Sportskubb Sportsklubb	# # Kubbikarna	# # Emmas Pojkar
2004	168 equipment	# # Sportskubb Sportsklubb	# # Mbinu Mashujaa	# # Elefantbajs 2000	# Korpen Nybro
2005	Teams?	# # Team Ekeby	# # Elefantbajs 2000	# # Granskogarna	# # Maltes Bil & Rep
2006	Teams?	# # Elefantbajs 2000	# # Team Ekeby	# Korpen Nybro	# # Mandelkubbar
2007	Teams?	# # Team Ekeby	# # Boffens drängar	# # Jonssons trutar	# # Flintstones
2008	Teams?	# # Team Ekeby	## Fortschritt99	# # Gloria Victis	# Korpen Nybro
2009	Teams?	# # Team Ekeby	# # Gloria Victis	## Fortschritt99	# #Mixkubbarna
2010	Teams?	# # Gloria Victis	# # Signalgatan	## Fortschritt99	# # Emmas Pojkar
2011	Teams?	# # Team Ekeby	# # Elefantbajs 2000	## SMP Basel United	# # Gloria Victis
2012	Teams?	# # Team Ekeby	# # Berras Sorkar	# # Gloria Victis	## SMP Basel United
2013	178 teams	## Kubb'Ings	# # Menage A Trois	# # Gloria Victis	# # Emmi Gardell