NEW BALTIMORE, Mich. — The second annual Motown Kubb Showdown took place on Saturday, Sept. 22 at Walter and Mary Burke Park in New Baltimore. The park sits right next to Lake St. Clair, which provided a beautiful backdrop for the 16 players to enjoy a day of kubb and good music.
The format was a newly developed scramble system developed by Christopher Jones and Derek Weller. An in-depth look at this system will be posted soon, but the overall goal is to pair players randomly throughout the day with minimal repeats. Unlike other scrambles, players will continue to switch partners all the way to the last game. It started with seven rounds of qualification play. Players earned points individually, which are used to rank them. The top eight were placed into the championship side, with the remaining ending up in the consolation side.
There was a five-way tie for seventh place, which meant a throw-off was needed. Each tied player took a turn inkasting three kubbs, setting them up themselves, and then knocking down those three and as many of the five in the back row as possible. It took a couple rounds, but spots seven through 11 were decided and the championship and consolation sides could begin.
These rounds continued to scramble, now with smaller fields of players, and a wiped clean score. They were slightly weighted to favor higher seeds with more favorable pairings. After five more rounds, the top four moved on to the final three games. Christopher Jones and Demian Moore were tied at fourth, which resulted in another throw-off. Moore won the tie-breaker and moved on to join the top three of Phil Dickinson, Joe Hrejsa, and J.R. Hrejsa.
The final three games had players team up with each of the other three players. The scores from the previous five games were kept, and any new points earned in the finals were added. Some good battles were fought, but the standings didn’t change. Dickinson walked away with the 2018 Motown Kubb Showdown first place champion title with Joe Hrejsa in second, and J.R. Hrejsa in third.
Throughout the day, there was also a side game that anyone could attempt called the Stevie Wonder Master Blaster challenge. This game had 10 kubbs stood up in a loose pile, and players would try to down as many kubbs as possible with one baton. Demian Moore managed to knock all 10 down, and took home a special award.
The tournament and side game raised over $200 for the Lustgarten Foundation in honor of and remembrance of Nancy Jones (enthusiastic kubb player and mother of Bryan and Christopher Jones of Motor City Kubb and Kubb On) as well as Detroit native Aretha Franklin. This is a non-profit organization created to advance science related to the diagnosis, treatment, cure, and prevention of pancreatic cancer, the disease that both women fought hard against.
Final Results
Consolation
Stevie Wonder Master Blaster: Demian Moore
Finals Match Video
Watch the archived live-stream of the finals match on Facebook
