NEW BALTIMORE, Mich. — On Saturday, Sept. 30 Maynard Memorial Park welcomed the first ever kubb tournament to the Metro Detroit area of Michigan. Motor City Kubb hosted the Motown Kubb Showdown, which was made possible by a grant from Kubb United and sets were provided by PlayYardGames.com (Phil Dickinson).
Four states—Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin—were represented by 16 players.
This unique scrambler style format saw seven rounds of two-on-two team action. Teams were set by complete randomization, and repeat partners were allowed. The tournament used the Kubb United ruleset with painted pitches and kubbs. Matches were best of one game with a 25 minute time limit. The winning players of each match received 1 point, players whose teams were winning received .7 points, and players whose teams were trailing received .3 points.
After seven rounds, the top eight players were separated into the championship bracket, while the remaining eight players were separated into the consolation bracket. After seven rounds, here are the eight players that advanced to the championship bracket;
- Jesse Fraim, 6 points
- Christopher Jones, 5.3 points
- Phil Dickinson, 5 points
- Dave Giese, 5 points
- Michelle Fitzgerald, 4 points
- Evan Fitzgerald, 4 points
- Steve McDiarmid, 4 points
- Matt Doan, 4 points
Cody Glorioso also finished with four points, but was relegated to the consolation bracket after a five-way tie breaker. Michelle, Evan, Steve, Matt, and Cody all participated in the U.S. National Kubb Championship tie breaker where you inkast three kubbs into play, set them up however you’d like, then have six batons to blast the group and knock down as many baseline kubbs as possible. Cody had the most baselines remaining, and therefore was eliminated from championship play.
At this point competitors were randomly paired up for four more rounds of matches, following the same match and scoring rules as in the morning. Following the these four matches, the top four scoring players would be paired up the Motown Kubb Showdown Finals.
The top three players were tied with three points and another tie breaker round broke their tie to find their seeds for the championship. The first championship team was number one seed Phil Dickinson teamed up with number three seed Dave Giese. The other championship team was number two seed Jesse Fraim teaming up with number four seed Evan Fitzgerald.
The final was best of three format with no time limit. Game one saw Giese and Dickinson come out hot in their 8 meter game, which Fraim and Fitzgerald couldn’t match. Giese and Dickinson won on their third turn with eight kubbs in play. In game two, Fitzgerald and Fraim returned the favor by going two-for-two on 8 meter shots to start the game. When Giese and Dickinson cleared the field and only eliminated one more baseline, Fraim and Fitzgerald were looking to make them pay. While they cleared their field kubbs with ease, they were only able to eliminate one additional baseline kubb on their turn, missing three 8 meter shots. This left the door open for Giese and Dickinson and they definitely took advantage of it. Dickinson cleared his group of three with only one baton and Giese went two for three on 8 meter shots. Dickinson took the last two baseline kubbs with his final two batons, and it was the beginning of the end for Fraim and Fitzgerald. Needing a perfect turn to get back into the game, Fraim and Fitzgerald fell short as they cleared the field and punishment kubbs but couldn’t eliminate enough baseline kubbs. Dickinson and Giese finished the game on their next turn.
Congratulations to all of the competitors on a well played day of kubb. The finals of the tournament were live streamed, with some technical difficulties throughout, and can be viewed on the Kubb On Facebook page.
Final Results
Championship Bracket
Finals Match Video
Watch the archived live-stream of the finals match on Facebook
Consolation Bracket
