Mölkky or kubb?

Side by side

The real difference

The table makes them look similar. They are not, and the difference is not about wood or Nordic countries.

Mölkky is a scoring game. Every throw is an arithmetic decision: you are on 44, the 12 is standing clear, and taking it costs you nineteen points. The skill is in choosing a target, and a careful player who throws poorly can beat a strong thrower who does not count. The pins scatter as the game goes on, which continuously changes which numbers are reachable.

Kubb is a territory game. There is no score at all. Every block you knock over comes back into your own half as an obstacle your opponent must clear first, so being ahead actively makes your opponent's next turn easier. The skill is in placement — where you throw the returned blocks — and in knowing when the endgame is safe to start, because felling the king a moment early loses the game outright.

If you want to think about numbers, Mölkky. If you want to think about the board, kubb.

Space, honestly

This decides it for more people than anything else.

Kubb wants five by eight metres, flat, with corners marked. That is a real pitch. A typical suburban back garden either does not have it or has it only by using the entire lawn, which means moving the furniture and playing across the flower beds.

Mölkky wants a throwing line and a flattish patch four metres away. It fits in half a garden, in the corner of a park, on a campsite pitch, on a wide gravel path. It also works on a slope, badly but playably, which kubb does not.

Group size

Mölkky handles any number from two to about eight without adjustment. Five people, seven people, a person who arrives halfway through — all fine.

Kubb is a team game and wants even sides. Three players is awkward, five is awkward, and someone joining mid-game means restarting. With eight or ten it is excellent, and better than Mölkky, which starts to drag past eight because the wait between throws grows.

Children

Mölkky, clearly.

The pieces are light and small. The throw is short. The throwing line can be moved to two metres for a seven-year-old without the game breaking — they play the same game as everyone else, just closer. And the scoring quietly teaches addition, subtraction and the idea of a target, which children take to more readily than they take to being taught it.

Kubb's batons are heavier, the pitch is longer than a small child can reliably throw, and the king rule means a child can lose the game for their whole team by accident, which is not a fun way to spend an afternoon.

Which to buy first

Mölkky, in most cases. Cheaper, smaller, faster to teach, works with any group, works in a smaller and rougher space, and a round is short enough that people play three.

Buy kubb first only if you know you have the pitch and you know your group is six or more people who like team games and will stay out for an hour.

If you end up with both, they do not compete: Mölkky is the game you start with while people are still arriving, and kubb is the one you commit to after lunch.

Read more

Kubb rules and how to play — the full ruleset, including the throw-back mechanic and the king. What is Mölkky? — the introduction, and the rules if you want the whole thing.