Dwarf Tales

The Noble game of Kriks Krak is one of those activities that has grown up in the inertia of winter darkness and the inability to wage military campaigns as a result of bad weather. The dwarfish psyche has a great thirst for violence that is difficult to satisfy when pitted against a force majeur like planetary motion or the blizzard conditions of winter in the dwarf realms. This is particularly so on the largest island, Grunholm, a god forsaken place that is home to large bear like carnivores during the cold summer months and is otherwise impassible above the surface during the winter.

The object of the game (for, despite the passion with which dwarfs play, it is till only a game) is to achieve a good Krak. This is a term applied to the knocking down the solitary remaining King peg and thereby ending the game with a victory for the side with the King and all the other pegs standing. Of course, it is forbidden to strike the King until no other figure remains: such an event is the Kriks and results in instant disqualification for the team committing this foul move. In essence it is a form of skittles with rectangular pegs.

Kriks Krak is in many ways quite similar to another game known as Kubb, played amongst the humans of the northern territories. It is no surprise that the games have a certain similarity as they have probably evolved culturally in the same manner. Absence of fighting brought about by winter and general boredom brought about by males of the species hanging around with too much time on their hands and no pockets to stuff them into.