What The Heck Is KUBB?

Dave Wigdahl, our local Kubb guru, describes it as Swedish lawn-bowling that has been modified for play on snow. It’s also sometimes called Viking chess, presumably without the bloodshed and horned helmets. There is quite a lot of tossing about of various carved pieces of wood that represent a king and other chess-like characters in an effort to knock over the other team’s wooden “men.” Finesse and technique are preferable to muscle-bound hurling of flying objects.

It became really popular in the midwest (which these folks mean to indicate WI and MI) about 25 years ago. It has since basically exploded in popularity on a lot of college campuses.

We have 10 teams registered at the moment. They’ll begin tournament play Saturday morning. Spectators are welcome, of course, as are curious people who might just want to try it out. Practice pitches (playing fields) will be available.