kubb

Kubb is typically played on a rectangular pitch approximately 5 m by 8 m. Typically the pitch is grass, but kubb could also be played on sand, snow, or dirt. Stakes are driven into the ground at the corners of the pitch.

The narrow ends are called “baselines.”
The king is placed in the centre of the pitch, halfway between baselines. The kubbs are set up across each baseline, five to a side.

There are two phases for each team’s turn:

•  Team A throws the six sticks, from their baseline, at their opponent’s lined-up kubbs (called Baseline kubbs). Throws must be under-handed, and the sticks must spin end over end. Throwing sticks sideways or spinning them side-toside is not allowed.

• Kubbs that are successfully knocked down are then thrown by Team B onto Team A’s half of the pitch, and stood on end. These newly thrown kubbs are called field kubbs.

Play then changes hands, and Team B throws the sticks at Team A’s kubbs, but must first knock down any standing field kubbs. (Field kubbs that right themselves due to the momentum of the impact are considered knocked down.) Again, kubbs that are knocked down are thrown back over onto the opposite half of the field and then stood. If either team leaves field kubbs standing, the kubb closest to the king now represents that side’s baseline, and throwers may step up to that line to throw at their opponent’s kubbs. This rule applies to field and baseline kubbs only; fallen kubbs are thrown from the original baseline, as are attempts to knock over the king.

Play continues in this fashion until a team is able to knock down all kubbs on one side, from both the field and the baseline. If that team still has sticks left to throw, they may make one attempt at knocking over the king (In Somerset, as a sporting gesture, right-handers will attempt this using the left hand, and vice versa). If a thrower successfully topples the king, they have won the game.

However, if at any time during the game the king is knocked down by accident -- even by a newly thrown kubb -- the offending team immediately loses the game.