''Gorodki'' (; ; ) is a Russian folk sport. Similar in concept to

bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

and also somewhat to

horseshoes Horseshoe is a shoe for horses and by analogy is applied to many things with a similar shape. Horseshoes (game), a tossing game played with a horseshoe Horseshoe(s) or Horse Shoe(s) may also refer to: Places Settlements and jurisdictions * Horse ...

, the aim of the game is to knock out groups of skittles arranged in various patterns 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"). Its popularity has spread to

Karelia Karelia (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; , historically Коре́ла, ''Korela'' []; ) is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Russia (including the Soviet Union, Soviet era), Finland, and Sweden. It is currentl ...

, Finland, Sweden, [ ngria, parts of

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, and

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. In the

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

n and

Baltic languages The Baltic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family spoken natively or as a second language by a population of about 6.5–7.0 million people

, the game has many different names, such as ''kurnimäng'', ''kriuhka'', ''köllöi'', ''keili'', and ''miestučiai''. The Finnish variant is called ''kyykkä'', or

Finnish skittles Finnish skittles, also known as Karelian skittles, outdoor skittles or ''kyykkä'', is a centuries-old game of Karelian origin. The aim in Finnish skittles is to throw wooden skittle bats at skittles, trying to remove them from the play square u ...

. The game was known in a form that is quite close to the modern one at least from the 17th century, since one of the most notable ''gorodki'' players was

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

. It has survived in the contemporary period.

Gameplay

The game consists of throwing a bat from a predetermined distance at the ''gorodki'', which are arranged in one of 15 configurations: * Cannon (, ''pushka'') * Fork (, ''vilka'') * Star (, ''zvezda'') * Arrow (, ''strela'') * Well (, ''kolodets'') * Crankshaft (, ''kolenchatyy val'') * Artillery (, ''artilleriya'') * Racquet (, ''raketka'') * Machine gun installation (, ''pulemyotnoe gnezdo'') * Lobster (, ''rak'') * Watchmen (, ''chasovye'') * Sickle (, ''serp'') * Shooting gallery (, ''tir'') * Airplane (, ''samolet'') * Letter (, ''pis'mo'') The goal is to completely knock the ''gorodki'' out of a marked square using the fewest possible number of throws.

"Letter" figure rules

When a player reaches the "letter" figure, a special set of rules apply: * You must aim to the center spot and knock the ''gorodki'' in the figure out (players say "open the letter") * Another four ''gorodki'' return to their place unless the center spot is knocked out * You must knock the figure from 13 metres. Image:Gorodki-pushka.jpg, Cannon Image:Gorodki-vilka.jpg, Fork Image:Gorodki-zvezda.jpg, Star Image:Gorodki-strela.jpg, Arrow Image:Gorodki-kolodetz.jpg, Well Image:Gorodki-kolenval.jpg, Crankshaft Image:Gorodki-artilleria.jpg, Artillery Image:Gorodki-raketka.jpg, Racquet Image:Gorodki-pulemet.jpg, Machine gun installation Image:Gorodki-rak.jpg, Lobster Image:Gorodki-chasovye.jpg, Watchmen Image:Gorodki-serp.jpg, Sickle Image:Gorodki-tir.jpg, Shooting gallery Image:Gorodki-samolyot.jpg, Airplane Image:Gorodki-pismo.jpg, Letter

History

Although traditionally ''gorodki'' is a folk game, it was played by Russian historical figures such as Peter I,

Alexander Suvorov Count Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov-Rymniksky, Prince of Italy () was a Russian general and military theorist in the service of the Russian Empire. Born in Moscow, he studied military history as a young boy and joined the Imperial Russian ...

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

, and

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

, as well as cultural luminaries like

Ivan Pavlov Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (, ; 27 February 1936) was a Russian and Soviet experimental neurologist and physiologist known for his discovery of classical conditioning through his experiments with dogs. Pavlov also conducted significant research on ...

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

, Maksim Gorky, Nikolay Timofeev-Ressovsky, and others. The game as it existed prior to 1923 had no rules per se. It was organized into a legitimate sport and its rules codified in 1923, when the first all-Union competition was held, and it became an event at the first all-Union Olympiad in 1928.

Popular culture

The game was shown in an episode of the Soviet animated series ''

Nu, pogodi! ''Well, Just You Wait!'' (, ), also known as I'll get you! in official translations, is a Soviet and Russian series of animated short films produced by Soyuzmultfilm. In the 2014 all-Russian poll, ''Well, Just You Wait!'' won by a wide margin ...

''. Additionally, ''gorodki'' was featured in the popular CBS reality show ''

The Amazing Race 17 ''The Amazing Race 17'' is the seventeenth season of the American reality competition show '' The Amazing Race''. Hosted by Phil Keoghan, it featured eleven teams of two, each with a pre-existing relationship, competing in a race around the wor ...

'', episode 7, during a Roadblock challenge. The game was also featured on ''

Schlag den Raab ''Schlag den Raab'' (, German for ''Beat (the) Raab'') was a live game show that was televised by German television channel ProSieben on Saturday evenings from September 2006 until December 2015. A total of six episodes were produced and broadcas ...

'' on 4 June 2011, and was a favorite childhood pastime of the eponymous protagonist of the novel ''Pnin'' by

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...

(p. 106, Vintage). The game can be played on the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

game system through the game disc ''REC ROOM'' released in 2009.

References

External links