Viking Magazine - June 2017 - 21

Championships. The game continued
to spread across Scandinavia, England,
Germany and other European nations.
Coming to America
So how did this tossing game with
Nordic roots reach the shores of
the New World? Most Eau Claire,
Wisconsin, players can thank Anderson
for its arrival. Sometimes referred to as
the " godfather " of organized kubb in
the United States, Anderson first played
kubb in 2002 while in Sweden. In 2005,
his love for the game flourished. One
day while celebrating Midsummer in the
Skåne countryside, Anderson and his
friends played the game amid an idyllic
backdrop of an orchard, forest and lake.
" It was at that point that I fell in love
with kubb, " he says. " I didn't want to
stop playing. "
Luckily for him - and for many
North American players today - he
didn't. When Anderson, his wife and
oldest daughter returned to the United
States in July 2006, Anderson's late
father, Steve, had a kubb set waiting for
them back home in Illinois. This would
turn out to be the gift that launched a
thousand games.
In January 2007, when the family
moved to Eau Claire, Wisconsin,
Anderson and his wife came up with
the idea of hosting a small kubb
tournament. That first year, the
tournament had 15 teams and 35
players. A year later, those numbers
doubled, and they've rapidly risen ever
since. In 2016, the roster swelled to 128
teams and 460 players - that's 13 times
more players than the inaugural event.
In recent years, kubb clubs and
competitions have popped up
throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota,
Iowa and the Midwest. There are
even teams and tournaments as far as
California and North Carolina, with
new ones being added every year.
Kubb for a Cause
When Anderson organized that first
kubb tournament in 2007, the goal
wasn't profit or pride - it was to
raise money and bring awareness to
the heartbreaking humanitarian crisis
happening in Darfur, Sudan. " That
year we raised money for Save Darfur
and Aid Darfur, collected 40 pairs of
eyeglasses for Unite for Sight in Sierra
Leone, and assembled a large box of
school supplies for a refugee camp in
Ghana, " says Anderson.
Fundraising continues to be a central
tenet of the tournament, which is now
a registered non-profit organization.
The U.S. National Kubb Championship
(usakubb.org) donates to two local
charities, which help war victims and
empower young girls. The championship
has also set up the Steve Anderson Kubb
Set Program (named after Eric's late
father), which provides free kubb sets to
communities to introduce and promote
the game. Several tournaments that
have cropped up in recent years have
followed suit with that philanthropic
spirit, often giving away much of the
registration fees to various charitable
organizations.
Living the Kubb Life
For many players, kubb isn't merely
a game; it's a way of life. The game's
motto at the World Championship in
Sweden is: " Kubb unites people and
creates peace on Earth. " A lofty vision,
but it just might work. When you knock
down a kubb, you're also knocking
down barriers. Age, race, gender, class
- all are welcome to toss a few sticks,
work as a team, and make new friends.
Indeed, this game of wooden blocks
seems to have a way of weaving itself
into the fabric of a community. That's
certainly been the case in Eau Claire,
which, despite its modest population of
65,000, is known as the Kubb Capital
of North America. " When I go to the
dentist, we talk kubb, " says Anderson.
" Last week, my stepdad and I were at
the grocery store and saw two different
kubb players. Next thing you know, we
start talking for 10 minutes to each of
them ... about kubb. It's such a part of
our community now. The hope is that
it will continue to grow even more in
the city. "
BUY A
KUBB SET
Country Kubb
countrykubb.com
JP's Backyard Games
jpsbackyardgames.com
Yard Games
yardgames.com
Ingebretsen's
ingebretsens.com
sonsofnorway.com VIKING JUNE 2017 21
PHOTO BY PER MAGNUS PERSSON
http://www.usakubb.org http://www.countrykubb.com http://www.jpsbackyardgames.com http://www.yardgames.com http://www.ingebretsens.com http://www.sonsofnorway.com
Viking Magazine - June 2017

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