By Brent Johnson
bjohnson@salisburypost.com
Even as cars rushed past on a perfect Sunday afternoon, the back lawn of the Salisbury Civic Center was a picture of earlier times, as a group of people in odd costumes tried to master a game started by the Vikings.
One member of the Society for Creative Anachronism jokingly compared the game to learning to “throw sticks at each other.”
The Anachronism Society promotes the re-enactment of arts, crafts and the chivalric customs of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
On Oct. 26, six teams of local residents, society members and others competed in the Kubb 2008 Championship of the Carolinas, staking Salisbury’s claim as the Southeast’s hotbed for this unknown game.
Kubb (pronounced koob), also known as viking chess, is “a modern imitation of an old viking game,” said Sanna-Maija Tucker, executive director of SAGA of the Carolinas. SAGA is a nonprofit organization that sponsors events such as ScanFest, a celebration of Scandinavian countries and Nordic culture. The recent championship match, co-hosted by SAGA, was the first official competition to take place in the Southeast.
Many say Kubb seems like a combination of chess, horseshoes and bowling.
“There are championships in Europe and championships in the American Midwest,” said tournament director Wayne Remes, of Salisbury. “It would be cool if it happened here.”
An enthusiast of Swedish heritage, Remes first heard about Kubb through friend Brian Boothroyd, another Salisbury resident, also known as William of Scarborough in the Society for Creative Anachronism.
Boothroyd had contacted a source in Sweden and confirmed that Kubb has existed for more than 1,000 years. With some lumber and labor, he made a Kubb set, experimented with it in his backyard and the rest is Southeastern history.
Three of the five Kubb sets on the field the last Sunday in October were homemade, while two were manufactured.
Most playing fields are 7 to 15 feet wide and 15 to 30 feet long. The standard pieces include 12 throwing sticks, 10 kubb blocks, four corner pins to outline the playing field and one king. Only two teams play at a time. The throwing sticks and kubb blocks are split equally between the teams of one to six players.
“It travels very easy,” Tucker said. “It comes in a nice little bag. Put it in the trunk and go.”
The object of the game is to topple the king, as in chess, which stands in the middle of the playing field.
The teams face each other along opposite outside boundaries. They also set their Kubb blocks on their boundary line, with the other team trying to knock over their blocks with the sticks, just like horseshoes.
A team must first knock down all the opposing team’s kubb blocks, before they can aim for the king. If the king falls too early, the team with the heavy hand loses.
Teams must throw their sticks with underhanded tosses. Competitors can’t throw the stick so that they twirl in a circle. Think of a helicopter’s blades.
The rules, though seemingly complicated at first, come quickly.
“That’s how simple it is ó even the children understand how to play,” Tucker said.
All of competitors participating in the Sunday competition hail from Salisbury.
Rick Godby, known as Richard the Bear, and Boothroyd teamed up as “Dark Lady Also” and won first place at Sunday’s competition.
Sharon Doherty and Bob Paolino placed second as “Dark Lady,” and David Howard and Roger Stegall, as “Team Confusion,” placed third. “Team Awesome,” consisting of Diane Remes, 16, and Matthew Hulce, 23, also known as Grimmer, didn’t win, but they still had a good time.
“It’s just fun,” Hulce said. “I get to hang out with friends and play around.”
An archer in the Society for Creative Anachronism, Hulce said Kubb improves his skill with the bow.
Kubb can be played almost anywhere and and apparently has developed a following ó as a viking drinking game ó among some college students, Boothroyd said.
ScanFest of the Carolinas, as advertised throughout the recent championship, is a growing, five-year-old attraction that is “already kind of bursting at the seams,” Signa Curry, another member of SAGA of the Carolinas, who visited Salisbury for the Kubb competition.
The free event for all ages will be held Nov. 8 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Wachovia Atrium in Charlotte. Organizers expect a crowd of approximately 2,000.
“It’s really fulfilling to watch it grow,” Curry said.
SAGA’s Tucker remembers children trying on different types of helmets at a previous ScanFest in Charlotte to see test what real viking helmets felt and looked like.
“It was a better thing than Santa Claus,” she said.