Announcement – Page 2

Happy Birthday Planet Kubb

As part of the Planet Kubb 1st birthday we asked a couple of “Kubbers” if they would write a guest post for us. In between publishing the new Kubbnation magazine and getting the 2013 US National Kubb Championship going Eric Anderson was kind enough to send us this post.

Hello Planet Kubb,

First of all, happy birthday/anniversary. What a first year for Planet Kubb. To think that Ask Planet Kubb, all the data for teams, players, and matches didn’t exist one year ago is amazing. If most people are like myself, I have already taken it for granted. Thanks for all of your hard work. I really appreciate it.

I would like to tell you about a few little girls here in Eau Claire, WI. As you know, your Planet Kubb Network website options are super easy to use. For the past year plus, my oldest daughter Maja has said that she wants to have her own kubb team in the future, and that her team name will be Kubbicorns. I know, not the toughest name out there, but then again, her favorite team is not mine, but the Kubbisicles. Anyway, a couple months ago, I asked her if she would like her own website for the Kubbicorns. As you know, I made a Planet Kubb website for my dad’s birthday last October for our team Crooked Lake Trolls. We played together a few times in tournaments, and I thought it would be nice for him to be able to see our team website. I also have one for another team I play on Sweden’s Sons. People can read about our team, we can update and blog news, it is really great.

Ok, back to the few little girls here in Eau Claire. My daughter asked a couple other girls here in the neighborhood if they would like to be on the Kubbicorns. Well, Anna, Elsa, and Clare have said yes. Keep in mind they are all in third grade, except for one who is in fifth. Also, my youngest daughter Cecilia is now thinking of team name for her future team, and she is in kindergarten. So, one night I asked Maja to draw up what she envisioned being her team shield, and she did it, with a lot of bright colors. From there, her and I sat down together to make her a Kubbicorns website on the Planet Kubb website. Less than two hours later, BAM, the Kubbicorns are up and live for the world to see.

The next day, I sent out the link to the parents of Anna, Elsa, and Clare. Total happiness when the girls saw the website, and from their parents as well. That is their team, and their team has their own website. They all go to the same school and after school, we have had more than one high-five regarding the Kubbicorns and a lot of smiles. I do believe that kubb unites people and creates peace on Earth. Their school is an international peace site, and we have been to the school several times to introduce kubb. Now we can add Planet Kubb to the mix as being in the connection of, “kubb unites people and creates peace on Earth” at Flynn Elementary School.

Thanks to Planet Kubb, people can talk all they want about stats, who the best players are, how much this sport will grow, etc., but please know that thanks to Planet Kubb, four little girls (and more in the future) in the Kubb Capital of North America can talk about their kubb website at school with big smiles on their faces. That is what kubb can do.

Thanks Planet Kubb. Happy Birthday, and here is to many more.

Eric Anderson
Director
U.S. National Kubb Championship
Eau Claire, WI

Happy Birthday Ramblings from a Kubb Junkie

As part of the Planet Kubb 1st birthday we asked a couple of “Kubbers” if they would write a guest post for us. Today’s post is from Dano, who has been particularly active on Ask Planet Kubb from the beginning and is someone that I sincerely hope I get to meet on the pitch at some point soon!

Around three years ago a group of friends had started an organization called the Kubb Collective, based in New York State’s beautiful Finger Lakes region. They held monthly blind draw tournaments with a $10 buy in. The winners got to donate the money to their favorite charity. I immediately fell in love with the game. I liked the low tech aspect of Kubb and the camaraderie. Being a person who loves athletics, and can’t run around anymore due to bad ankles, it satisfied my thirst for competition. I wanted to get better. I started searching the web for anything Kubb related. I’m willing to bet that I have seen every Kubb video produced, starting with “Hagar the Viking”. Those monthly tournaments became a big part of my life and I looked forward to them while working on my game two or three times a week. Then the Collective disbanded for reasons that probably warrant a post of its own. I was bummed. I was just starting to get good, what now?

It was Kubb limbo, playing the occasional friendly game at picnics and such, but it was not enough. The casual player had no desire to discuss the finer points of the game, and my family would respond with an eye roll and a good natured groan when I tried to strike up a conversation about Kubb. I stopped practicing and began to move on, but I had been bitten by the Kubb bug and thought about it all the time. I headed back to the web looking for forums on Kubb. The ones I did find had little or no activity. Then one day Planet Kubb came up! Holy cow this was it. I found blogs, video, discussions and more; all in one place. It was one stop shopping! Where else can you discuss the finer points of the game with “The Father of USA Kubb”, Champions from the Midwest circuit, and Kubb enthusiast from all over the US and the world? Thank you Planet Kubb for welcoming me in the true sprit of the game.

In honor of the one year anniversary of Planet Kubb I’d like to highlight my favorite moments. First the USA Kubb interviews. They were fun, informative and I learned a lot from the US players and their European counterparts. My favorite quote is from Lode of Team Signalgaton “I’m really good when I’m drunk” that brought a smile to my face for sure. I’m looking forward to more interviews in the coming year. I also enjoyed the charts, graphs, and player stats. They made me think, and gave me a way to measure my progress against the best players in the country. Another highlight was a call from Eric to explain the “And One” theory, an ancient secret philosophy that has been passed down thru time from Soren, to Eric and now, to me. (ed: we are waiting for a Planet Kubb wiki page on this!) Thanks Eric!! The video of the Dallas tournament blew me away. I had to watch it three times in a row to make sure I saw what I thought I saw. On that day a good player became a great one. Recently I returned home from a weekend trip to the Adirondacks and I rushed to the computer to see what happened at the Loppet Tourney. It was all there on Planet Kubb. I enjoyed all the blog posts from the different teams and clubs (this, this, this, this, this, this and this), and I almost felt like I’d been there, thanks!

What really impresses me about the Planet Kubb community is that even though the competition between teams is intense, you are still willing to share tips and strategy. That is something special! Someday I hope to make the trip out west to compete and to meet you all in person. I’m looking forward to another great year. Thanks Planet Kubb for providing my Kubb fix!

Dano / Dan Pritchard

Planet Kubb Wants Your Brackets!

We’ve put a lot of effort into the Planet Kubb Notation and Scoresheet. Over 100 games are in the system now and it’s very exciting stuff. We’ve also put a little bit of work into displaying brackets. Recently we started working on some great connecting code to tie it all together. One of the missions I envision for the Planet Kubb Wiki is to capture and archive the results of every Kubb tournament in the United States, and even the world!

I fully realize that not everyone is comfortable entering bracket information into forms on the wiki, and we want to make this easy for everyone. We have a new email address just for your brackets!

bracket@planetkubb.com

That’s right. Take your fancy smartphone, snap a picture or two of the bracket your looking at and email it to that address. Take a moment right now, and add that address to your phones address book so that you have it handy. Go ahead, we’ll wait… Let us know what tournament you’re at, and be ready that we may send a reply and ask for some followup information. If you need to take multiple pictures, go ahead. Send them all to that address and we’ll get those brackets on the wiki.

PS – This also means your old brackets! Have a bracket from a year or two ago? Send it to us! We mean all tournaments, not just future ones.

We can’t wait to get all these brackets!

New Planet Kubb Scoresheet Released

Jamie scored 8 amazing championship games at the Loppet and sent over some notes on how to improve the Planet Kubb Scoresheet. Namely, increasing the space for freeform comments and having a proper box to indicate any advantage line.

I took a good hard look at the overall structure of the page and dramatically cleaned it up. The box to indicate and advantage line (in meters from the baseline) now connects the inkast box and the baton boxes (as it should). The Winning Team designation and Time End line were relocated to the top of the page. These minor adjustments opened up so much vertical space that not only are there 2 full lines for freeform commenting on each turn – but there’s now support for 11 rounds (which at ~3 minutes per round means you’ll probably get called on time before you need a second scoresheet ).

Planet Kubb via Google+

Many of you like to get your Planet Kubb news directly from the Planet Kubb site. There are a bunch of folks that keep up using Planet Kubb’s Facebook feed or the Planet Kubb Twitter feed. And now, those of you that prefer Google+ can keep up-to-date on the world of Kubb as well by following Planet Kubb on Google+! Go there and put us in a circle, like some stuff, follow some stuff. Whatever your poison is.

Remember for those of you that like your content direct, you can bypass all of that liking, circling and following by subscribing directly to the Planet Kubb RSS feed.

I’ve also been considering an email feed that would drop items right in your mailbox. If that sounds like something you would like leave a comment here.

Announcing the Planet Kubb US Kubb Club Championship

In 2013 Planet Kubb will title the best Kubb club in the United States! The US Kubb Club Championship will be determined based on performance during the U.S. National Kubb Championship.

Kubb continues to grow from a backyard game into tournaments and for the last several years a national tournament. A big part of helping Kubb continue to develop is the local Kubb club. Des Moines Kubb is a great example of a club with a large number of members, regular friendly play and hosting a tournament as well. They play together and cheer each other on at tournaments. However, until now there has been no way for Des Moines Kubb to see how they stack up against Minnesota Kubb or Fox Valley Kubb. The Club Championship is intended to encourage more development in local clubs, more reason for fellow Kubb club teams to root each other on and an opportunity for Kubb club captains to think strategically about the teams that represent them in the tournament.

Some details on how this will work:

Kubb club captains will register at Planet Kubb to participate in the championship. You must register to be eligible to win. There will be a fee for entrance.
Kubb club captains will identify three Kubb teams that will collect points for the Kubb club. Kubb clubs must have exactly three teams that represent them.
The Kubb team captains must agree to represent the Kubb club that picked them (club picks the teams, teams confirm the pick).
A Kubb team can only represent one Kubb club.
The Kubb clubs captains and the Kubb team captains must be in the same state (Minnesota Clubs must be represented by Minnesota Teams, Iowa Clubs must be represented by Iowa Teams).

On July 14, 2013 concurrently with the completion of the U.S. National Kubb Championship we will tally the scores and determine the top US Kubb Club. A trophy will be given to the top club that they will keep for the year until the 2014 Championship! Details regarding the points system and registration fee will be announced in the beginning of 2013.

Club captains, start thinking through the teams that will represent your club in 2013!

Announcing Planet Kubb Network!

Would you like a website for your Kubb team? Need a blog for your Kubb club or tournament? Planet Kubb is now able to host sites for any Kubb team, club, tournament or individual Kubb blogger! Want one? Go to the site request form!

For a while now I have wanted to make it easier for people to create blogs about Kubb, particularly around their Kubb teams. I thought about writing up something on the Planet Kubb Wiki, sort of a “How To” but nothing seemed easy enough. On the way back from the Dallas Kubb Tournament I wondered if this is something Planet Kubb could do.

The first place to start was my own team, the Kubbchucks. We had our own website using WordPress. Planet Kubb Pitch also was a standalone WordPress site. WordPress supports networks of sites so I changed how Planet Kubb is setup to take advantage of this network capability. We’ve already got Kubbchucks, Sweden’s Sons and the Crooked Lake Trolls on the network with sites! I also reached out to the last three US National Champions, teams with their names on the Stapp King, and they are setting up sites as well! The Ringers are up and running and Team Knockerheads and Kubbsicles are getting setup as well!

Why is Planet Kubb doing this? A big reason is so to make it easier for people to share information about Kubb on the web. We want to get more exposure for the great Kubb teams, clubs and events on the web. To that end, all the Planet Kubb Network sites will be added to the Planet Kubb World feed and distributed via @PlanetKubb and the Planet Kubb Facebook page.

I also think that there is something to Kubb teams. Eric Anderson recently blogged on What’s in a Team Name?. We have an entire section of the Planet Kubb Wiki for teams. Having teams have a presence off the pitch is a great way to develop teams and the sport as a whole.

Some details about the network:

The Planet Kubb Network is run using WordPress. If you are familiar with WordPress you will be right at home. If not, it’s pretty easy to learn to use. You can even use WordPress apps on iOS and Android to blog from your mobile.
Planet Kubb hosts all of the sites, and the site URL must be pickyourname.planetkubb.com.
All of Planet Kubb is backed up nightly and weekly.
You have the ability to export from your site. If in the future you would like to move it somewhere else, you are able to do that with ease.
All Planet Kubb sites have sitemaps and proper indexes for search engines. This is managed by me for the whole network. See Planet Kubb’s robots.txt.
All Planet Kubb sites use Piwik for site analytics. Piwik is hosted by me for the network (running at stats.thingelstad.com). You can see traffic stats right in the dashboard, and if you want full stats I can setup a Piwik account for you as well. This way Google doesn’t get to spy on visitors to all the sites.

Would you like to start a site for your team? Would you like to start a site for your event? Would you like to start a site for your club? There is a site request form that will get you started!

New Planet Kubb Site!

Planet Kubb was launched on Feb. 14, 2012 by taking a river of news Kubb feed that I had made for me and some friends and putting it on the Planet Kubb domain name. The very first site just took a bunch of RSS feeds and aggregated them together. Planet Kubb quickly added Ask Planet Kubb for Kubb Q&A and the Planet Kubb Wiki. In the last eight months there has been a lot of developments with Ask Planet Kubb and the Planet Kubb Wiki, but aside from some minor tweaks the main Planet Kubb site stayed the same.

Planet Kubb was not a great experience for the first time visitor. It was confusing and didn’t even do a good job of highlighting Ask Planet Kubb or the Planet Kubb Wiki. There was just a big barrage of Kubb stuff aggregated. This week that changed, and Planet Kubb now has a much more approachable front door!

The Planet Kubb front page still highlights the most recent things from Planet Kubb World, the aggregator of Kubb content from all over the web. But it now gives special display to the activity stream from Ask Planet Kubb as well as recent items from Planet Kubb Pitch.

I think this is going to be a much more friendly look. It also made a bunch of changes on the backend that is going to allow us to launch a new Planet Kubb capability in a couple of days that I am very excited about, stay tuned for that.