Palikka in the park

So what exactly is Palikka? Well, according to my husband, it’s sort of like Toss Across meets lawn bowling. Palikka is a variation of a few different Scandinavian lawn games like Findland’s Mölkky. The object of the game is to score exactly 50 points and to do so, you toss the throwing pin underhand to knock down the pins. Each pin that you knock down (they must be flat on the ground–no leansies) gives you a score. If you knock down one, your score is based on the number on that pin. If you knock down more than one, your score is equal to the number of pins you’ve toppled. For fun, there’s a 13th “wild pin” that has no number, so if you knock that one down, you earn the same amount of points as the person before you. As the players earn more points, there’s a bit of strategy that comes into play since you have to reach exactly 50 points. Players who go over the 50-point limit automatically lose 25 points.

My nine year-old positively loved the game and it was a lot of fun for the whole family. If you’d like to see a Palikka demonstration, Winter and his friends will be holding one at Green Lake this Saturday, August 6, from 12pm – 2pm near the basketball courts. Check out their website: palikkagame.com where you can also purchase your very own Palikka set for $35.