What is the origin and history of Kubb?
The origin of Kubb is a bit vague, but the most reliable explanation is that Kubb was played by the Vikings who played the game with the bones and skulls of their enemies.
Ok, scary right? I was doing some research on the origin of the game Kubb and found out about this both vague and interesting history. Ok, let me tell you what I found about the history of Kubb.
One of the many and most frequent info claim that it is an old Viking game. This is the reason that “Kubb” is also called “Viking Chess”.
But Vikings? Yes, as said in the beginning of this article: it gets a bit lugubrious here …
According to the sources, the Vikings played Kubb to celebrate the victory over the enemy. They didn’t play Kubb with wooden blocks … No, the Kubbs among the Vikings were the skulls of their enemies! And it doesn’t stop there: the thighs of their enemies were used as throwing sticks!
Anyway, there are other, less lugubrious stories about the origin of Kubb too. Other sources claim that Kubb comes from France, played in a match between villages. And other sources report that it was invented by Swedish children a millennium ago as a game during the gathering of firewood. Well, quite broad right, but my conclusion is that the origin from the Vikings is the most reliable.
A game very similar to Kubb was played in ancient Egypt and later in Roman times. There are thoughts that it, via the Persians and Turks, ended up with the Vikings who robbed everything on the border of Europe and Asia. Here they probably also conquered this fun game and took them to Scandinavia (and invented their own throwing pieces, swallow…)
In the 90’s the first Commercial Kubb games were produced and from that moment on, the craze is over! Give it a try, the game is terribly addictive!