Kubb-ing Grandma a Wednesday Night

If you've found your way to this blog because you googled KUBB, I apologize in advance for your side trip to something not very helpful in the KUBB department. You have entered the Addiverse, not the KUBB Cube. Alas, I met the national champion last night, so maybe you HAVE come to the right place. Dang. Maybe I should have asked for his autograph. 
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 Yesterday, I learned something new and did something of which I had ever done before. But, before I get to that, I need a moment of silence....

While in counseling with a new client, I asked if she had any questions for me. Her question?

"Do you have any grandchildren?"

OUCH! Didn't ask if I had kids--she went straight to grandchildren. I may have to re-think this Jamie Lee Curtis-inspired graying hair.

Maybe it's the triceps flapping that gives me away. Time to wear longer sleeves or start pumping iron. I know which one I'd prefer.....
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Back to yesterday. A dear friend asked us to join her at a local pub to play a round of....

...KUBB. 

I had never heard of this thing called KUBB. (prounounced KOOOOO-buh...one syllable) She assured us it was easy and fun--some kind of "Viking Chess" lawn game. I like Vikings and lawn games, so that was a plus when deciding about the offer. She added that our softball prowess would come in handy. (Thank god she didn't say my bowling prowess would serve me well while playing KUBB, as I have no bowling prowess). After determining I probably could not and would not sustain an injury while trying out the game, we decided to take her up on the offer. It was reassuring to know that was an instructional league night.

Talk about learning from the best--we learned from a KUBB-er from the US Championship team. Seriously! Here we were, KUBB-ing for the first time and we meet the top dawg. It could have been intimidating but he was a gentle soul with an understanding heart and a passion about sharing his love for this Swedish Viking game.

He is a kick-ass KUBB-er. Dang, he was good!

Perhaps those of you living in Wisconsin are familiar with this game, as it the capitol is Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Or, maybe not--even the cheesehead wife didn't know this was going on in her home state. Although the game hails from Sweden, the US nationals are held in Eau Claire. (The International championship is held in Sweden on some island. Makes sense to me--the Swedish part. Eau Claire...I'm not so sure.)

I'd try to explain the game to you but I'm no master. Besides, I just followed the lead of the champion and didn't concentrate on learning such nonsense. (Read: I didn't pay attention.) I've included a video at the end of this blog entry so you can learn more, if you should desire.

Suffice it to say it's a team game (although you can play one against one) where you throw these wooden batons underhand in an attempt to knock down cube blocks at the other end of the pitch (the name for the field). You keep doing this until all the cubes are knocked down. Then, you knock the king down. Easy enough, even for people with gray hair. As you can see in the video below, one can KUBB and have a beverage at the same time. Bonus points for that.

I say "easy enough" because there really wasn't much danger involved, although I suppose you could accidentally hit someone in the head with a baton. I liked that it is performed underhand, so that is easy on the muscles. I can't say I was born to KUBB but I can say that I wasn't quite as bad as I thought I'd be. (Read: I didn't get hurt, I didn't hurt anyone, I didn't run off the pitch crying like a baby.) I think the wife enjoyed the game well enough.... but, not well enough to run out and buy her own KUBB game (which you can, surprisingly enough to me, at local department box stores).

If you are invited to play a game (match? set?) of KUBB, do say yes. It's like horseshoes + bocce ball + bowling + chess all rolled up into one.  Those are fun games, so how can a game that combines all that on to one field be less than fun? Perhaps we should take a road trip to Sweden and play where the game was invented.

....well, not until I firm up these triceps and perfect my KUBB form. I think gray hair goes well with KUBB (the US champion guy has gray hair and a gray beard) but the triceps definitely flap when tossing the baton. I can't be flapping on the pitch. Kuuuu-beeee-doooo-beeee-dooooo.