How to Play Mölkky

Players

• Ideally 2-6 players

Materials

• A flat lawn area: 32-49 feet (10-15 meters) long and 9-16 feet (3-5 meters) wide
• 1 set of 12 Mölkky pins, numbered 1-12
• 1 Mölkky throwing pin, made of wood
• Game scoreboard (optional)

Scoring

• The goal of the game is to reach exactly 50 points by knocking down pins
• If you knock down one pin, you’ll get the number of points on that pin
• If you knock down multiple pins, you’ll get the amount of pins you knocked over as points instead of the number on those pins
• The first player to reach exactly 50 points wins the game

Additional Setup Notes

• Don’t forget sunscreen, hats, and plenty of fluids if you’re playing a game of Mölkky on a hot day!

While this simple lawn game hails all the way from Finland in Northern Europe, Mölkky is surprisingly popular in countries like France and the UK, too. And what’s not to love? The lawn game has the familiar feel of knocking down pins (hello bowling) and a strategic streak of having to aim to knock down numbered pins of different values to get to exactly 50 points.

Start off by setting the wooden pins in a close formation about 10-13 feet from the point you’ll be throwing the pin from. 

Here’s how to set the pins up initially:

• Front row: 1, 2
• Second row: 3, 10, 4
• Third row: 5, 11, 12, 6
• Final row: 7, 9, 8

Time to play! The order of who goes first is determined at random, you could for example toss a coin. During the subsequent rounds, the person with the lowest score from the previous round goes first. After each round, the knocked-over pins are lifted back upright exactly where they fell down.

Players will take turns noting down their opponent’s scores on a scorepad. There is no set amount of rounds, but rather the game goes on until a player reaches 50 points. Also, if they go over that number, the score goes down to 25 and the game continues.

Important notes and rules to follow:

You’ll always have to throw the pin from below, but other than that, it’s freestyle

• If you don’t manage to hit any pins three times in a row, you’re out of the game
• If a pin is leaning towards another pin, it won’t be counted as “knocked over”

A game of Mölkky does not have a set number of rounds. Instead, it comes to an end with the first player reaching exactly 50 points.