Story and photos by Annie Ham
NORTH CAROLINA – Whoosh. Clack. Thump.
These are the sounds that continuously echo during an “end” of Kubb [K-oo-b], the recreational yard game that is slowly but surely gaining popularity across the nation.
“We always just say it’s a culmination of cornhole, horseshoe and chess,” Mike Davids, founder of the Queen City Kubb club in Charlotte, said.
Believed to have been created by the Vikings to pass time during battle, the Scandinavian yard game involves throwing batons to knock down an opponent’s kubbs, or, for the Vikings, the skulls of their enemies. Rone, on the Swedish island of Gotland where Kubb was first played, has hosted the annual Kubb World Championship since 1995 making it well-known across Europe.
In the United States, a similar trend in attraction has developed with the first official tournament taking place in Eua Claire, Wis., – the “Kubb Capital of North America” – in 2007.
Though clubs have existed in the Midwest for years, the East Coast Kubb scene is still relatively new with Queen City Kubb being the first club developed in the area in 2014.
At this year’s annual North Carolina Kubb tournament, 12 dedicated players got together to compete at River Run Athletic Park in Davidson where the sounds of Kubb filled the air. The biggest prize among the crew is bragging rights and a leg up toward winning the Atlantic Kubb Tour (AKT) – a season long race of six tournaments up and down the East Coast, with the next stop in Maryland this June.
“If you don’t think everybody is trying to win, you’re wrong,” Drew Gander, founder of Raleigh Kubb club, said at the Davidson tournament.
However, the competition and strategy of Kubb are only part of the story, the most recent tournament a testament to the community that has develop among the fellow Kubb lovers.
Old rock classics and modern pop played over a loudspeaker while high fives and fist bumps were frequently passed between teammates throughout the day. The sun beamed down on the Kubb-crazed crew with three tents set up for shade – usually the site of breaks between ends and conversations catching up with old friends.
The hope of the founders and members of the four Kubb clubs along the East Coast that make up the AKT – including clubs in Charlotte, Raleigh, Pennsylvania and Maryland – is to attract more people to this unique game.
“It’s really just a bunch of friends that get together and play this ridiculous game and have a good time doing it,” Gander said.
Conquering the king in Kubb
The rules of Kubb are complicated on paper but simple in action.
“If you play it once, you’re an expert,” Dan Corey, an early member of Raleigh Kubb, said.
An 8 by 5-meter area designates the playing field, or “pitch,” for Kubb with up to a six-person team on either side. Five kubbs, or wooden blocks, line both baselines equidistance apart with a king kubb placed in the middle of the pitch.
The goal of the game? Knock down the opposing team’s kubbs using six batons and get the opportunity to topple the king for the win.
While some prefer to play more recreationally – often with a drink in hand – others, like Corey, view the game as a sport they’re working to get better at with each game.
Corey started playing Kubb about four years ago. What started as an internet search led to a passion for the game.
A senior vice president at the YMCA by day turned Kubb enthusiast by evening, Corey practices at least four times a week. Last year, Corey and Gander were the winners of the East Coast Kubb Championship and contributors to a team from Raleigh and Charlotte that placed 17th out of 144 teams in the U.S. National Kubb Championship.
Corey is what Davids calls an anomaly due to his quick grasp of the game. Over the course of just a year, Corey learned skills like the tricky 8-meter throws to knock over an opponent’s baseline kubbs to the lighter toss of the “field” kubbs, another barrier to defeating the king kubb and winning the game.
“It’s just one of the easiest games to learn how to play,” Corey said. “It’s just a little bit harder to master.”
A box of kindling
Davids first discovered the game during a church service project in West Virginia. Bored during the slower hours of the day, Davids and his fellow church goers took their hosts up on an offer to try an abandoned game collecting dust in a basket outside.
“I went out there and looked around and went back inside, and I was like, ‘Hey, I don’t see a game. I just see a box of kindling out here,’” Davids joked, the wooden pieces that make up Kubb catching him by surprise.
After a few rounds, Davids was hooked.
“By the end of the trip, I was like, this is the best freaking game I’ve ever played,” he said.
Davids brought the game back to Charlotte and created a Kubb tournament through his church. Over the course of the next eight years, the annual tournament raised over $15,000 toward the Appalachia Service Project.
Club members have taken an all-hands-on deck approach to gaining momentum around Kubb.
“It’s a very niche thing, and so you kind of draw off of what everybody’s skill sets are,” Gander said.
Davids and Bob Hickes, founder of Keystone Kubb in Pennsylvania, decided to take their love of Kubb up a level when they started the East Coast Kubb Championship in 2019. The two provide Kubb sets, TVs and other score recording software out of pocket, while the club hosting the tournament finds the location and promotes the event.
As a result, the typical $50 per team participation fee is directed to individual clubs, allowing them to eventually grow and organize their own tournaments – covering everything from Kubb sets for all participants to prizes for the winning teams.
After participating in over 100 Kubb tournaments, Davids’ advice to first-time Kubb players remains the same: Have fun.
Run club without the running
Breweries and outdoor recreational spaces are common locations for a game of Kubb, one of Raleigh Kubb’s go-to spots being Trophy Maywood Brewery & Taproom in Raleigh. Corey likens Kubb to “run club without the running” due to its social nature.
Gander said he always takes the time to explain Kubb to interested passersby.
“I mean, I think it’s like finding a job, you know,” Gander said. “You have to send out 10 resumes to get one interview.”
Corey has hosted “pickup play” events at the Alexander YMCA and the Raleigh Art Museum for locals looking for something fun to do in the area. He also collaborated with Austin Howe, community operations and program supervisor for the Town of Cary, to host a tournament at Bond Park this past October.
“We’re always looking for ways to bring communities together,” Howe said. “So, when Dan came to me with this idea, we were happy to help out.”
Corey even offered to teach Howe’s team at the Town of Cary how to play, the get together acting as a team building exercise for the staff, Howe said. The game displayed each person’s individual strengths and weaknesses both recreationally and professionally.
“They just had a blast learning how to play,” Howe said.
A game for anyone
Whoosh. Clack. Thump.
To some, these sounds are just indicative of a recreational game played with “kindling,” as Davids initially thought. To others, they are reminiscent of good people, friendly competition and a chance encounter with a game that ultimately changed their lives.
At the Davidson tournament, Nick Bartlett from Gastonia described the atmosphere as friendly and positive.
“We do the best to make it like a party atmosphere with good music and good friends,” he said.
Anyone can play Kubb – young or old, male or female.
Ryan Huber from Alexandria, Va., said he has taught his kindergarten students how to play. At age 56, Mike Horengic from Lebanon, Pa., joked that Kubb lets “old farts like him” still be competitive and active. Horengic has even seen people in their 70s enjoy the game.
Gander recalled playing at a tournament with a man from Maryland who was a beginner. The novice was amazed by the camaraderie he witnessed between the new players and the highly skilled veterans: “If you’re a basketball fan, you’re never going to be able to play against Michael Jordan,” he said to Gander.
“If you like Kubb, you show up to a tournament and get to play against the best players in the country,” Gander said. “And you just go talk to them and say, ‘Hey, man, how’s it going?’ and they’ll sit there and talk to you about Kubb.”
For more information on how to find a Kubb club or tournament near you, visit KubbOn.
