Kubb court dimensions

The two short sides are the baselines. The pitch is 5 meters wide and 8 meters long, so each team defends a 5-meter end and throws the full 8 meters at the other one. Four corner stakes mark the rectangle; everything else is measured from them.

Five base kubbs stand on each baseline. The championship text we checked names them — base kubbs — but does not publish a spacing between them. Spread evenly across the 5-meter line is the natural reading, and it is how our own how-to page sets them. Whatever you choose, use the same spacing on both ends.

The king stands in the center of the pitch — by our arithmetic, 4 meters from each baseline and 2.5 meters from each sideline. It is the biggest piece on the pitch and it sits exactly where wild throws go, which is the point: knock it over early and you lose.

The throwing position is published precisely. Batons are thrown while standing on or behind your home baseline with both feet within the sidelines, and every throw of a kubb is made from the baseline too. The throw must be underarm with the end of the baton pointing in the direction of flight — spinning it flat like a helicopter blade is prohibited.

The one exception is the advantage line. If a team fails to knock down all the field kubbs on its side, the opposing team may move forward on its next turn to an imaginary line level with the field kubb nearest them, parallel to the baselines, and throw from anywhere on it. That shortens their distance for a whole turn, and it is the reason a missed field kubb costs so much.

The four corner stakes define the pitch, and the line between the two halves matters every turn: a field kubb has to land in the defending team's half. The rules on the edges are specific:

• A kubb on the line is raised so that at least half its base is inside the pitch. If it cannot be, it is out.
• A field kubb that lands outside the defending half gets one re-throw by the attacking team.
• A second miss lets the defending team place that kubb anywhere on the pitch — as long as it is at least one baton's length from the king or from a corner stake.
• Field kubbs are raised where they land, on the exact spot, standing in the direction of the defending team's choice.

That last rule is why the center line matters even though nothing stands on it. Mark it, and there is never an argument about which half a thrown kubb landed in.

You need a tape measure, the four corner stakes that come with most sets, and five minutes. A string line helps if you want visible baselines.

1. Set the first baseline. Push in two corner stakes 5 meters apart along the end where the first team will stand.
2. Measure the length. From each of those stakes, measure 8 meters straight down the lawn and place the other two stakes.
3. Square it up. Measure both diagonals, corner to corner. On a true 5 by 8 meter rectangle each diagonal is about 9.43 meters — about 30.9 feet — by our arithmetic. If the two diagonals match, the pitch is square; if they do not, nudge one far stake until they do.
4. Find the center. Halfway along each long side is 4 meters from each baseline. The king goes in the middle of the line between those two points.
5. Stand the base kubbs. Five along each baseline, with the same spacing at both ends.

A string along each baseline and across the middle removes most in-or-out arguments. Level ground matters more than exact length: a pitch that slopes toward one end hands that team an advantage every throw. The fixes for that are in leveling ground for yard games.

The championship rulebook itself offers a shorter option: to speed up the game, the field length can be shortened to 6 meters. That keeps the 5-meter width and takes 2 meters off every long throw. It is a sensible setting for beginners and children, and it turns an 8-meter pitch — about 26 feet — into a 6-meter one, about 19.7 feet by our conversion.

Below that, you are playing a house version. The game still works, but a short pitch makes the base kubbs easy targets and the king much more vulnerable to a stray baton, which changes kubb more than it changes most games. The honest comparison with games that do shrink gracefully is in kubb set sizes, and the footprint of every game we cover is in how much space do yard games need.

The 5 by 8 meter rectangle is the pitch, not the space you need. A baton thrown hard at a baseline kubb that misses keeps going past the far baseline, and players stand behind their own baseline to throw. Leave clear ground behind both ends, and keep anything breakable — windows, a patio door, parked cars — well away from either baseline.

The sidelines need less room: throwing is done with both feet inside them, and batons are thrown end over end, not sideways. If your longest clear run is well under 8 meters plus space behind each end, kubb is the wrong game for that yard — see Molkky vs kubb for the nearest game that fits in less.

Buy a set that includes corner stakes. Without them, the rectangle gets paced out differently every time and the game changes with it. The GoSports set publishes exactly the championship count of pieces — ten kubbs, one king, six batons — plus four corner stakes and a travel case, in hand-sanded, laser-engraved knot-free rubber wood, sold in a regulation size and a smaller backyard size.

It is the one kubb set we could confirm as purchasable when this page was written: in stock at GoSports' own store and listed “In Stock” on Amazon. Two other sets we cover elsewhere were not — the Yard Games premium set was sold out at the maker, and the premium hardwood set on our best kubb sets page showed “Currently unavailable” on Amazon. Neither is recommended here.

Kubb takes 2 to 12 players on a 430-square-foot pitch, which makes it one of the best large-group games that fits a normal lawn. The full set roundup is best kubb sets; the rules, turn by turn, are in how to play kubb; and if you are weighing it against the other precision game with a published court, see bocce court dimensions.