NorsePlay wins Speed Kubb at the 2021 Southwest Frith Moot!

After winning the Southwest Frith Moot Viking Games' Knife Throwing event in 2019, I thought I could possibly win that again last weekend in Arizona's White Mountains, along with the prestigious Axe Throw by building our very own backyard NorsePlay Axe Throwing Target and putting in the practice.

So many, many drinking horns of mead and late into the night before the Viking Games, SFM co-organizer & Chieftain of Wanderer Kindred Vincent Enlund says he'd like a way to include Kubb, the celebrated Viking lawn game, but without it having to take days like the annual championships up in Eau Claire, because we've serious Heathenry lectures scheduled for the afternoon, otherwise Kubb's a no-go.

Bragi's tongue's suddenly in my mouth and I say: "Let's invent Speed Kubb! We can reduce the kubbs from 5 to only 3 with no throw-ins, only give the players 3 batons so that way the opponent at least gets one turn, half the playing field, and keep the King victory condition -- but if you miss, you instantly lose!"

Vince looks at me like I just stole & quaffed the Mead of Poetry. "Guillermo, that's exactly what we're going to do!" And we drank some more, pleased at my invention of a brilliantly abbreviated Kubb variant.

Next day my axe didn't rotate right even once, but I got second in the knife throw in a four-way tie-breaker, which I was happy with since the throws I did land were beautiful & satisfying in their execution. While hunting over 12-minutes in the forest for my arrow that flew quite a distance just left of the bear target in the Archery Event (we never found it), I finally arrived at the not-bracketed but linear elimination Speed Kubb games toward the end, and after two final matches, I won!

After the feast that evening, Vince held an awards ceremony and I got this handsome Borre Style (850-950 CE) relieved silver-plated armring as my victory trophy:

[2021 Speed Kubb trophy armring pictured with my 2019 Knife Throw challenge coin trophy.]

And I'm even more glad to have NorsePlay'd up what will be an enduring new tradition of Speed Kubb for the Southwest Frith Moot!

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Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires' Norse Gods and Giants at age seven. Since then he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the Map of Midgard project, and spearheaded the neologism/brand NorsePlay. If you have employment/opportunities in investigative mythology, field research, or product development to offer, do contact him.