Kubb Rules Card

How to play

1. Mark the pitch and set the wood. Stake out a rectangle. The World Championship pitch is 8 x 5 m (about 26 x 16 ft), but a 20 x 10 ft pitch is friendlier for beginners and kids. Stand the king dead center, then line up five kubbs along each baseline at even spacing. Each team owns the kubbs on its own baseline.
2. Toss for first throw. One player from each team throws a baton as close to the king as possible without hitting it. Closest baton wins the first turn. On the first turn only, the opening team throws just four batons instead of six, which keeps the game from being decided before the other side ever throws.
3. Throw underhand, always. Batons are thrown underhand and vertically, so they tumble end over end. Sideways helicopter spins are not allowed. Stand behind your baseline and take aim at the kubbs on your opponent's baseline. Every standing kubb you topple matters.
4. Throw the fallen kubbs back. At the start of your turn, gather any of your kubbs the other team knocked down and throw them into your opponent's half. These become field kubbs: your opponents stand each one up right where it landed. If a kubb lands outside their half, you rethrow it once. Miss twice and your opponents get to place it anywhere in their half, as long as it is at least one baton length from the king.
5. Clear field kubbs before baseline kubbs. Now throw your six batons. You must topple every field kubb in your opponent's half before any baseline kubbs count. Knock a baseline kubb down too early and it just gets stood back up. And if you leave field kubbs standing at the end of your turn, your opponents may throw from behind the field kubb closest to your side instead of their baseline, which is a huge advantage.
6. Finish the king from the baseline. Once every kubb in your opponent's half is down, field and baseline both, use any leftover batons on the king. King shots are always thrown from behind your baseline, no matter where your throwing line was. Drop the king cleanly and your team wins.

Set it up

There is no single official pitch size. The Kubb World Championship plays on 8 x 5 m, which is about 26 x 16 ft, and that suits most adult games. Beginners and mixed family games run better on roughly 20 x 10 ft, and young kids can shrink it further still. The pitch length is your throwing distance, since batons are thrown from behind the baseline (or the throwing line once field kubbs are in play).