Finnish skittles

In 1894, a Finnish author and photographer I. K. Inha wrote in his diaries concerning his journey to White Karelia, that the game he had discovered was almost extinct and it was only played in remote villages.

In Karelia around lake Ladoga people knew about the game in Suojarvi and Salmi, but even there it was only played in remote villages.

[1][2] After the kinship wars the people that had migrated into Finland played skittles during their Karelian summer festivals.

In 1951 there was a movement to revitalise Finnish skittles with the approval of President Urho Kekkonen.

Finnish Skittles Association is a member of Finnish Sports Federation SLU (Suomen Liikunta ja Urheilu), a non-governmental sports federation for over one million Finns.

During 1951–1961 the Finnish championships for men's team event were held in Seurasaari, Helsinki.

[5] At the end of the 1980s, a new form of play was introduced, as the first Finnish Championship for individual pentathlon was held.

The fourth world championships were held in Maladzyechna, Belarus, on July 31 – August 6, 2009.

In addition to Finnish skittles, two versions of Russian gorodki were also played in the championships.

In men's individual game Finns filled all podium places and women took gold and silver.

During summertime skittles is being played on a hard gravel field, which is the official surface for the game.

In February, one of the biggest student tournaments in Finland, Academic Skittles World Championships, is held on the parking lots of Tampere University of Technology.

At the beginning of the game, pairs of skittles are placed on the front line of the playing square.

Boys and girls under 8 years make their opening and continuing throws in the playing square from a 4-metre (13 ft) distance (field 3 × 3 m, intermediate area 6 m).

The first half ends when either team or pair clears its playing square from skittles.