Author’s note

Mölkky® is an internationally protected trademark of the Lahden Työn Paikka Oy Corporation. Lahden Työn Paikka Oy supports workers at reintegrating into workforce and employs people with different kinds of physical and/or mental disabilities. Every Mölkky® player promotes this social commitment.

Rules mentioned in this book are based on the international set of rules.

Preface

What’s the deal with Mölkky®, the popular throwing game from Finland?

The book offers a clear standard reference to the continuously growing fan base both on introductory and advanced level. For this reason, the author – being a passionate Mölkky® player himself - was concerned about the ways of playing in free time, but also about the situation at championships. The overall goal was to design trainable standard game situations and to add more components to the basic idea of Mölkky®.

Due to the geometry of the throwing skittles and the pins, an infinite number of different gaming scenarios emerged. However, during each game, participants have to cope with similar patterns and figures. The author of this book has elaborated on this similarity and has defined specific training scenarios. This is one of the main strengths of this standard reference.

For those who have never heard about Mölkky® before while holding this book in their hands: this publication offers a complete overview of rules, throwing types and techniques, playing opportunities and a lot more.

Being myself one of the initiators to establish a national Mölkky® championship in Germany, I want to personally praise the author for his dedication to Mölkky® and his high-quality demands on such a book.

If this book inspires more people to play this wonderful outdoor game and enlarges the fan base all over the world, it meets its purpose.

I am sure it carries all required prerequisites – it is now all up to you!

Jörg Laechelin, May 2016

What is Mölkky?

I Standards

Basic rules

Setup

Course of the game

When does a pin count as fallen (knocked over)?

Hit more than 50 points?

Miss

How does throwing work?

Surface

What is the size of the game field?

Tournament rules

Mölkkout

Variants of play

Tournament

Free time / in the group

Throwing techniques

Hitting areas of the throwing skittle

Hitting impact at the pin

Flight paths of the throwing skittle

Position of feet and throwing arm

Positions of the throwing hand

II Tactics

Continuously scoring and don’t release high numbers

Having an eye on score

Options to score

Dealing with misses

Knowing the rules

Interfere the plans of your opponent early on

Posting a trap

Playing away

Playing apart and playing towards

Working with groupings correctly

The tactical miss

Overthrow early!

Realize unfair behavior

Never give up!

Keeping team moral high

Optimally use team resoureces

III Training

Preparation

Beginner

Hitting exactly – straight throw

Hitting exactly – small groupings

Hitting exactly – with boundary

Hitting exactly – barrier pins in front

Hitting exactly – right in the middle

Semiprofessional

Hitting exactly – barrier pins in the back

Picking out single pins – position on the side – throwing crossways

Picking out single pins – position on the side – throwing crossways – barrier pins in the back

Picking out single pins – position in the middle

Hitting exactly – big groupings

Professional

Playing pins away

Blocking pins

Throw groupings without releasing pins

Stress training

Maximum variations – Absolute Mölkky®

Maximum variations – Memorymölkky

Maximum variations – Nightmölkky

First throws

Competitive exercises

Warming-up

Competitive exercises: Setting

Training with figures

The Big House

The Square

The Arrow

Summary and more exercises

Ackknowledgements

Table of figures

What is Mölkky®?

Mölkky® originates from Finland. Workers in the vastness of Finnish woods played a throwing game named Kyykkä during their breaks to distract themselves. Kyykkä is bigger and heavier, hence, more muscular strength is required. The principal of counting fallen wooden sticks that are marked with numbers has merged into Mölkky® as we know it today. It seems obvious that Kyykkä is the ancestor of modern Mölkky®.

Nowadays, Mölkky® finds increasingly adherents world wide. The main strengths of Mölkky® are its simple set of rules that can be explained within minutes, low requirements onto a suitable gaming field, but also the game itself that never becomes boring.

Therefore, it is convenient for all imaginable target groups, starting from children up to elderly people and it can be played on different occasions; whether this might be an excursion to a lake for bathing, on a frozen lake in winter or as loosening up at a party.

Parallel to increasing throwing ability the importance of gaming tactics rises, too. This mechanism leads to exciting moments and ensures that every game is different.

So far, Mölkky® currently is a rather non-organized form of sport. There is no classic league and no international championship-operation. Increasingly, national and international competitions emerge and with it, a rising number of societies and smaller organisations.

It will still take a while until there will be organized league structures comparable to other kinds of sport. Because of the just named characteristics of Mölkky®, one can assume a remarkable change very soon on that matter.

I Standards

Mölkky® has an easy to grasp and fast to be learned rule set. In addition to basic rules, there are often specialized advanced rules for tournaments.

Basic rules

Rules of Mölkky® can be explained within a few sentences:

Throw a wooden stick (the Mölkky) onto the gaming sticks (pins), until the first player earns exactly 50 points; avoid three misthrows in a row (no pin is hit), otherwise you are eliminated from the game. Also, beware of getting more than 50 points (in this case you fall back to 25 points!). In case a single pin is hit, the number on its top is counted. If more pins are knocked over, the number of pins represents the number of points that are added to the score. After each throw, all fallen pins are put upright on the spot where they knocked over. Now you know the rules and can start!

Setup

The following illustration shows the setup of pins in the beginning of a Mölkky® match. Pins are placed according to the formation on the graphic. The setup in the beginning of a match is always the same.

People throw from a predetermined starting point. This point may be marked by a so called mölkkaari (mölkkframe). A mölkkaari contains three wooden lathes connected by joints. It terminates the throwing area towards the front and towards the sides. Pins are placed approximately at three to four meters’ distance in front of the throwing point. For free time play, the distance between pins and throwing area can be measured easily using three large steps.

Figure 1: Formation of the pins in the game setup

Course of the game

On a rotating base, all players throw (using the throwing skittle, the so called "Mölkky") onto one or onto many pins. In team mode, a player of team A completes a throw followed by a player of team B, of team C and so on, until it is the turn of the second player of team A.

The order of players is determined before the game and stays the same for all sets.

Fallen pins are put upright exactly on the spot where they fell. When pins fall close to an existing object on the surface like a wall, they are moved away from the object so that the throwing skittle fits between the pin and the object.

Usually, the field gets larger with each throw and the distance between pins rises within one game. Therefore, pins diverge from their starting position and spread all over the playing field.

It is the aim to reach exactly 50 points. Points are counted in the following way:

If only one pin falls, the number of points marked on that pin is counted. If a few pins fall, the number of fallen pins is taken.

When does a pin count as fallen (knocked over)?

Only pins that completely lie on the floor count as knocked over. In order to be counted, they need to be in horizontal position. On the following picture, pins 4 and 12 are leaning on each other. This means they don’t lie completely on the ground, but partly on other pins. In this image, only six pins count as knocked over: There are 12 pins all together, minus 4 that still stand, minus 2 leaning pins = 6 points for the thrower.

It doesn’t matter whether the leaning pin lies on another pin or on the throwing skittle. In both cases the pin doesn’t count as knocked over.

Figure 2: Knocked over pins

If a knocked over pin sets itself up again (and this can happen once a while), the hit doesn’t count and a miss is written down for the thrower.

Generally, it doesn’t matter, if you hit a pin (or more than one pin) directly with your throwing skittle or roll the Mölkky over the ground to touch a pin. In the end, it is important which pins are fully knocked over.

Hit more than 50 points?

Most likely you will mistakenly throw more than 50 points which is called “overthrow” in Mölkky® players’ jargon. An overthrow might happen if more than the pins you actually needed fall or you simply have hit the wrong number. Overthrows always are penalized - the player’s score is set back to 25.

Although this circumstance is annoying, never give up! A seemingly lost game still can change – and this happens fairly often in Mölkky®.

The chapter “tactics” contains hints regarding the topic of “overthrowing”.

Miss

Not every throw hits its target. This happens to free time players, but also players at championships are not beyond it.

A miss doesn’t bring you any points, but it is noted – in case you write down your points – as a stroke (instead of a number). Therefore, a miss often is succinctly commended with a „stroke“.

If you allow yourself another miss next time when it is your turn, it slowly becomes tight. After three misses in a row, you are eliminated from the game with zero points. Aquivalently this rule is valid, if teams play against each other. The only difference: all three consecutive players mustn’t have hit a pin to eliminate the team. The rule, “the third miss in a row leads to elimination“ is referenced to a team in this case and not to a single player.

If you have already missed twice, your next throw is entitled as a so called “security throw”. This emphasizes that you definitely need to hit one or many pins to stay in the game.

It doesn’t matter how many times you throw a miss during a Mölkky® match. So you still can be in the game, if you’ve already missed five times – but you need to score in between the misses.

How does throwing work?

Generally, there are no specific rules or restrictions, how you need to throw the “Mölkky”. However, some techniques have proven to be more effective than others. The chapter "Throwing techniques" contains more details about them.

Surface

Mölkky® can be played on almost any surface. Certainly, game physics can differentiate massively.

Pins spread much quicker and wider if you play on ice than on sand. Pins hardly spread on the latter. The throwing skittle roles on hard surface (tarmac, concrete) very calculably, however, on grass or sand very unpredictably.

A basic football ground, preferably without grass or other vegetation or a similar surface is recommended. In case a field of the French “Boule” game is available: this has proven to be an optimal Mölkky® surface.

Still, it can be enormous fun to try out completely different floorings. Passionate Mölkky® players can find a place to play Mölkky® everywhere they currently are – no matter if they are on holidays, at a beach, in a town or in open countryside.

What is the size of the game field?

In tournaments, normally a defined field is set out. Pins moving out of this section are thrown out of the game and can not be targeted again; this may also be used as a tactic, i.e when a player or team requires a certain number to win.

For free time plays, the size of the field usually is determined by the available space and the throwing capabilities of the players. You can make your own rules, when a pin “is out of the game” – if it has passed an imagined line, has landed in a flowerbed, in the garden of the neighbour or in a ditch. When pins fall close to an obstacle like a wall, they are moved away from it so that the throwing skittle fits between the pin and the obstacle.

Tournament rules

As mentioned before, there might be advanced rules at tournaments. A stricter handling of available rules is common. The reason has nothing to do with producing pressure through regulations, but to guarantee equal and fair conditions for everyone and a smooth playing procedure.

Throwing area and the position, where pins are setup in basic formation after each game, are marked. A mölkkaari (the mölkkframe) usually is deployed and set onto the throwing line with the sideelemtes in a 45 degree ankle (see picture 3). Sometimes, playing fields are marked as well. The following picture shows, how a field at a championship may look like.

Figure 3: Playing field at a championship

The hardest tournament rule for Mölkky® newbies is the rule to leave the throwing area only towards the back. Going forwards and/or sideways is seen as a foul and the throw is counted as a miss (0 points).

In case the team already earned 37 points and produces this kind of foul, it additionally falls back to 25 points. Often, all players who currently don’t have to throw, help with setting up pins. Most likely, a thrower then won’t get used to stepping over the mölkkaari in the wrong direction. There is nothing more annoying than losing a good throw!

Mostly, it is not possible to bring your own Mölkkys at tournaments. You can consider this already in training sessions. Each throwing skittle has – due to its natural material – an individual weight. If you are too much used to your own Mölkky, it could be your calamity at tournaments. Change the throwing skittle more often to avoid this kind of familiarization.

It is common to talk to each other at free time play. If you comply with fairness, it is nice to avoid too much talking during the moment of throw at tournaments. Then, the thrower gets the possibility to fully concentrate on the throw.

Real situation: During Mölkky® World Cup in Lahti (Finland) the game fields during finals look like tennis courts. There is a seated stand behind and next to the thrower. Hence, a larger number of people is present. This causes respective background noise, however, in the moment where the thrower enters the throwing area, suddenly there is cemetery silence. This only is released when the Mölkky is in the air.

To ensure a chronologically organized tournament procedure, the period to throw is limited. There is an addional time frame for tactical considerations. As a rough guide, there are 20 seconds for tactical advices, plus 20 seconds for the throw itself.

Knocked over pins at tournaments must be setted up very precisely. Everyone has an eye on this process. Generally, a pin is placed from the back to the front. Knocked over pins are not lifted directly, but must touch the ground during their setting up. Each pin is placed in the direction of its laying direction onto its bottom. The pointing direction of the number is ignored for this step.

Only afterwards, the pin may be turned and aligned towards the throwing area with both hands.

The following sketch shows the correct way of setting up a knocked over pin (clockwise, starting in the top left corner).

Figure 4: Setting pins up correctly

Summing up, it should be clear by now that tournament rules are neither very complicated nor interfere a lot with playing procedures. They only guarantee that you can compete with other players in a fair and regulated way.

Mölkkout

A Mölkkout (comes from: Mölkky®-Out) is a possibility to bring about a decision at Mölkky®, e.g., who may start the next match. This variant of play is easy on purpose (without tactical considerations) and is meant to achieve a shorter playing duration.

Pins 7, 9, 11, 12, 10 and 8 are placed in usual distance to the throwing area in this exact order one after another with two Mölkky® length distance each.

Figure 5: Mölkkout formation

Another variant, provided by the finnish Mölkky®- Association (FIMA) is to use only five pins, numbered 6, 4, 12, 10 and 8 instead. There are even more variations which numbers to use in Mölkkout. However, the general principle always stays the same.

Having a team of four, each player has one throw. The beginner is identified through coin flipping.

The order of throwers is determined before the game starts. Knocked over pins are placed on their initial position. Points are counted in the common way. The team with most points wins the Mölkkout. As long as the score of both teams stays even, every player may throw one more time. This idea is continued until a decision is certain.

Due to relatively tight standing pins, it is a challenge to hit a single pin at Mölkkout.

Variants of play

Tournament

During a tournament, single players or, much more often, teams compete against each other. According to a defined system – achieved points and/or won matches – it is ascertained who comes into which ranking position. The following remarks show exemplary, how a tournament can be organized.

At larger tournaments, a lot of preliminaries are played off. The first teams are eliminated during these rounds until an even number of teams stays in the game. Usually, both “number of achieved points” as well as “number of victories” are taken for assessment – or, in some cases, only one of both.

The number of sets varies between one and five. The more sets are played, the longer the preliminaries last.

Right afterwards, deciding rounds begin. In those rounds, two teams compete against each other where the winner procedes to the next round.

The results made during the preliminaries are taken to figure out the next playing pairs: the winner of the preliminaries plays against people that came last, players that came second against the team that was second last and so on.

So, ranking in preliminaries may have relevance for upcoming rounds. Having earned a good rank in the preliminaries, you can hope for a weaker team. Usually, three or five sets are played off. The team that wins two or three sets (depending on the overall maximum number of sets, three or five) continues to the next round. All teams that lost, compete about the lower positions in the ranking list.

This procedure is continued until only two teams remain to battle for the victory. Often, the number of sets is risen to five from semi-finals on (in case five sets have not been played so far).

Single players have to get through the tournament all alone by themselves. Teams start with a determined number of players (two to four) and might be allowed to register one or two replacement players. You need to check with the championship organizer about terms and conditions.

Specific throwers might be determined before each game. It is possible to change throwers after a game. If more than one set is played, currently weak players might be replaced for that one match. However, it is not allowed to change players during a running match.

Free time / in the group

Mölkky® can be played together with a couple of players in very different ways. It is suitable for an almost arbitrary number of players. Having an even number of players, teams may be made (team mode), with an odd number of players a match can take place in single mode (score for each player). If 7 or more players meet up, you can also play in single mode, but maybe have more than one ranking list (single players where each player is allocated to a group). Or you compete, if you prefer it that way, with 6 players all together, in two teams of three players each.

If you are a single player in a group – so you play against many other single players – tactical considerations are of minor consideration. It is hardly possible, to simultaneously traverse the plans of many players. However, there might be a chance for weaker players to prevent the victory of a stronger player (e.g. by playing away needed points).

All together, everyone involved should have fun.

Of course, you might not want to follow the rules in a strict manner when playing in free time. This is especially relevant for crossing lines terminated by the mölkkaari. Eventually it is less about winning a game, but having a pleasurable pastime.

Whats more, you are absolutely free of choosing your playing surface.

Throwing techniques

As mentioned earlier in this book, there are no compulsory throwing techniques. However, the number of useful throws or throwing techniques respectively, is limited. Depending on the actual gaming situation, a good player may choose among his or her repertoire of throws.

Hitting areas of the throwing skittle

Generally, the throwing skittle can hit its target in two different ways:

Figure 6: Throwing the Mölkky - hitting areas

You can hit a pin with your throwing skittle either crossways or in longitudinal way. Depending on the exact position of the target, one of both is indicated.

A throwing skittle that is thrown in crossways position has a potentially larger hitting area. Even if the exact hitting position mostly is in the middle of the throwing skittle, a slight “shift” doesn’t matter. It is best to hold the throwing skittle in your fingers to optimally control it.

If you throw in longitudinal way, you distinctly reduce possible contact areas. In return, you can target pins which would not be knocked over individually by a throwing skittle that is held crossways. Hereby, the throwing skittle flies like an arrow out of the wrist or reaches its target by a rotary movement.

Hitting impact at the pin

It makes a huge