Watch Your Back, Pickleball. There's Another Sports Trend Waiting To Eat Your Lunch

A lawn game with Scandinavian roots has taken over the pint-sized Los Angeles suburb of South Pasadena. If devotees have it their way, the game "kubb" will be on many more people's minds, just like that other little power sport that has transformed tennis courts the world over.

"Nothing will ever catch on like pickleball," said John Pettersson, a South Pasadena resident and commissioner of the Los Angeles Kubb Club.

But "like Pickleball, [kubb] is for all ages. The barrier to entry is very low and you don't need to be a top flight athlete to be good at it," he added.

How kubb is played

Kubb, pronounced koob, has been described as a blend of bowling and horseshoes, "where you stand around with your friends chatting and having fun and throwing things across the yard," Pettersson said.

The gameplay is pretty simple: Two teams, with up to 6 players on each side, try to knock down as many wooden blocks in their opponent's camp as possible by tossing wooden batons (underhand tosses only) within an area — or "pitch" in kubb parlance — of roughly 26 feet by 16 feet.

"Do you like throwing things at other things? Everybody does, right? Well, it's a good outlet for that," Pettersson joked.

The history of kubb

Wood batons and wooden blocks are all you need to play kubb.

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Andy Lemon

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Courtesy Los Angeles Kubb Club

)

Kubb is sometimes known as "Viking chess" — linked to the rumor that Vikings had played the game using the skulls and bones of their conquered enemies during the Middle Ages.

Legends aside, the game is commonly believed to have originated from Sweden in the early 1900s.

Landing in the U.S.

A century later, it found its way to the U.S. While there's no definitive documentation of when the very first game of kubb was played stateside, the sport has grown to such a degree it warrants its own national championship.

That's thanks in large part to Eric Anderson of Eau Claire, a city of about 70,000 people in Wisconsin.

"We have the largest weekly kubb league in the world. Pretty much every school in our school district has kubb sets. I can go on and on," said Anderson, director of the U.S. National Kubb Championship that's held every July in Eau Claire.

Anderson and his wife were living in Sweden in the mid-2000s where he attended graduate school. Upon returning to the states, they brought with them their love for the lawn sport.

In 2007, the couple moved to Eau Claire, "sight unseen." Despite not knowing anyone in their new adopted home, Anderson decided to start a national kubb tournament that raised money and awareness for the atrocities in Darfur.

Players compete at the 2023 U.S. National Kubb Championship.

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Courtesy U.S. National Kubb Championship

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In that first year, Anderson estimated about 15 teams, or around 35 people, participated. The tournament has now grown to comprise of 144 teams with some 500 players — traveling in from states including Texas, Arkansas, Washington, New York, and of course, California.

Besides the national championship, there's an East Coast variety, a West Coast variation and other competitions at the state level, Anderson said.

Given its influence, it's only fitting that Eau Claire is known formally as the Kubb Capital of North America.

"In 2011, I went to the city manager, asked him to [name Eau Claire] as the Kubb capital of the U.S. And he laughed and said, 'no, how about Kubb Capital of North America?'" Anderson said. "I think the city manager was just like, 'Let's go bigger.' I wasn't gonna argue with him."

The South Pasadena contingent

For the folks thousands of miles away in South Pasadena, they first learned about kubb through a chance encounter in New York.

"So the guy we call the forefather of Kubb in Southern California is also a resident of South Pasadena," said Julie Halverson, a kubb player who lives in Highland Park. "Joe Zenas saw the game being played in a park in New York and brought it here."

A group of residents quickly embraced the game, but all roads to kubb always lead back to Eau Claire.

"An early group of them went out to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, to play [and] check out the national championship, and then came home and got really excited about it," Pettersson said.

That was about nine years ago — shortly before the Los Angeles Kubb Club was founded. Today, more than 20 teams — with names like Ace of Baseline, Poplar Mechanics, and Kubbix Rubes — play against each other at various parks in the L.A. area.

West Coast Kubb Championships

On April 28, the L.A. Kubb Club will host the 8th Annual West Coast Kubb Championships in South Pasadena, where players travel from kubb powerhouse states like Minnesota and Wisconsin to compete.

Competition aside, Halverson and Pettersson said the vibe at any kubb game is always cordial, kid friendly and welcoming of newcomers, even if you have never swung a baton at a wooden block in your life.

"People who play it often come back for more," Pettersson said.

How to watch

2024 West Coast Kubb Championships
When: Sunday, April 28, starting at 9 a.m.
Where: Orange Grove Park, 815 Mission St., South Pasadena
More info here

2024 U.S. National Kubb Championship
When: July 12-14, 2024
Where: Eau Claire, WI
More info here