pick your surface 

Pick your surface. Finska can be played anywhere. Grass, gravel, sand, dirt, snow, mud, asphalt, lava - Just kidding silly. Original Finska is made of Birch, not Valarian steel. Be kind to your pins, and they'll be kind to you.

pick your players   

 

Finska can be played one on one or team versus team. You can play with as many people in a team as you want, but we recommend keeping teams to a maximum of four a side for ultimate enjoyment. Decide how many games shall be played for the match. We recommend best of 3 or 5 games per match.  The team or player to "break" or throw first in game 1 is traditionally determined by good ol' Scissors, Paper, Rock.  In subsequent games,  the player or team to throw first is rotated to keep things fair.

group the pins 

 

Start by setting up your pins in a tight little cluster, ordered just like these guys. 

mark your throwing spot 

 

Mark your spot 3–4 metres back  from the pins and you're good to chuck wood. If you're serious about your game, grab an official Finska Launch Bar from the shop. Be sure to keep both feet inside the marker when throwing the log!

shop Launch Bar 

1. chuck 

  

Standing at the Launch Bar, with throwing log in hand, aim for your pin(s) and take one clean underarm throw! Improper form (i.e, overarm tosses) are illegal in Finska law.   

2. score  

  

You score points in Finska by tossing the "throwing log" at the numbered pins in an effort to knock them over. However there are two ways of scoring after knocking down these pins: 
1. The single pin knock down – knock over one pin, and you score the number on that pin.​

2. The multiple pins knockdown – knock over several pins in one throw, you score ONE POINT for each pin knocked down. Once again, it's one point per pin knocked over – you do not add the numbers on the pins! E.g; if you knock down the 5 and 3, your score is just two points – not eight points!  

*no lazy pins​*

A pin must lie completely flat to be considered knocked down – that lazy pin leaning on one of its mates doesn't count! For example in this image two pins have been hit and are no longer fully upright, but only the 8 pin is lying flat, so the score is eight. Whereas, if the 3 pin was also lying flat, the score would be two. These "lazy pins" simply get stood up again for the next throw.

3. put em back up 

After each throw, stand up any fallen pins exactly where they lay just like so. As pins are knocked over and pushed in different directions, the playing field becomes more and more spread out, increasing the game's difficulty.

but wait for the twists...

striking out 

If you throw and don't knock down any pins, three throws in a row - i.e - you score zero points three turns in a row, that's game over for you. Yep, pretty brutal.

*FUNSKA FACT*

The 2020 Australian Finska Championship final was won (or rather lost) by a strike out!

busting 50 

A game can only be won by reaching exactly 50 points. If a player/team accidentally goes above 50 points, their score drops all the way back down to 25 points. For example;

If a player is on 45 points, and is trying to hit the 5 pin to reach 50, but instead actually hits the nearby 6 pin, their score would become 51, thereby busting 50 and bringing their score back down to 25.