Gorodki

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gorodki arranged in the pushka (cannon) pattern

Gorodki (Russian: Городки, townlets; Swedish: Poppi; Finnish: Kyykkä) is an ancient Russian folk sport whose popularity has spread to Karelia, Finland, Sweden, Ingria, Lithuania and Estonia. Similar to bowling, the aim of the game is to knock out groups of skittles arranged in some pattern by throwing a bat at them. The skittles, or pins, are called gorodki (literally little cities or townlets), and the square zone in which they are arranged is called the gorod (city).

In Scandinavian and Baltic languages, the game has many different names, such as kurnilöömine, kriuhka, köllöi, keili, miestučiai, and papin tappaminen. The last one is Finnish and literally translates as "killing the priest".

1 Gameplay
2 History
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Gameplay

The game consists of throwing a bat from a predetermined distance at the gorodki, which are arranged in one of 15 figures: cannon (пушка, pushka), fork (вилка, vilka), star (звезда, zvezda), arrow (стрела, strela), well (колодец, kolodets), crankshaft (коленчатый вал, kolenchatyy val), artillery (артиллерия, artilleriya), raquet (ракетка, raketka), machine gun installation (пулемётное гнездо, pulemyotnoe gnezdo), lobster (рак, rak), watchmen (часовые, chasovye), sickle (серп, serp), shooting gallery (тир, tir), airplane (самолёт, samolet), and letter (письмо, pis'mo).

Cannon	Fork	Star	Arrow
Well	Crankshaft	Artillery	Raquet
Machine gun installation	Lobster	Watchmen	Sickle
Shooting gallery	Airplane	Letter

[edit] History

Although traditionally Gorodki is a folk game, it was played by such Russian historical figures as emperor Peter I, generalissimus Alexander Suvorov, Vladimir Lenin, and Joseph Stalin, as well as cultural luminaries like Ivan Pavlov, Leo Tolstoy, Maksim Gorky, Nikolay Timofeev-Ressovsky, and others.^[1] The game as it existed prior to 1923 had no rules per se. It was organized into a legitimate sport and its rules codified by 1923, when the first All-Soviet-Union competition was held, and it became an event at the first All-Union Olympiad in 1928.^[1]

The game spread to Scandinavia in the aftermath of World War II and more specifically the two Soviet-Finn wars, the Winter War and the Continuation War. Evacuees from Karelia brought the game to western Finland, where it experienced a surge in popularity with a new audience.