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Re: CAMBOK!




Poster: David KUIJT <kuijt@umiacs.umd.edu>


Meus Sanguis Camboki Fervet!
(tuus sanguis Camboki ex naso iactet!)

Dafydd ap Gwystl greets the rowdy crowd at Cheapside!

Efenwealt Wystle recently said:

>I am need of someone who is interested in running a game of 
>CAMBOK at the upcoming Jongleurie (3/22/97) in Elvegast (near 
>Raleigh, NC). We have a field and probably some players. Alas we 
>have no sticks nor anyone who really knows much about the game. 
>If there is some kind and reliable gentle who would offer to run 
>a game or advise me in the running of it I would greatly 
>appreciate it.

and Ursula responded:

>You should post to:
>
> kuijt@umiacs.umd.edu
>
>(Dafydd ap Gwystl).  He "invented" the game based on period accounts of 
>similar games.  He's Canadian - hockey's a genetic addiction up there.  
>Anyway, he published the rules and documentationand the instructions for 
>making the hittie-poundie-smackie things (cambok sticks) in one of the 
>Oaks - I have a copy if you need it.  He'd probably be able to give you 
>some kind of help and maybe lend you a few sticks, too.  It wouldn't be a 
>bad canton project to build (at least 10) sticks for future use.  If the 
>equipment were available it would really catch on.  I wanted to include a 
>Southern debut of Cambok! at the Cerberus Tourney, but we had already 
>extended ourselves on the logistics as it was.  Oh, well.


Well, that would be me.  Although I am Welsh, not Canadian.  David
Kuijt is Canadian.  You can tell the difference easily--Dafydd owns
a pair of shorts with the Welsh Dragon brightly printed on them,
David's shorts have the Canadian Flag (with the maple leaf centered
diplomatically).

As Ursula reported correctly, one of the Oaks in the last three years
(maybe number 6?) has the article I wrote on Cambok, including the
documentation and how I came up with the rules.  Anyone who was receiving
the Acorn about two years ago would have received that Oak--ask around.
At the moment my home computer isn't working, so I cannot just print you
off a copy of the article.

As for balls, I believe that several people other than myself have proper
Cambok balls.  A gentleman named Fergus in the south somewhere, plus at
least one person in Caer Mear (probably the incomparable Susanna Grey).
It is also easy to make your own, and the instructions are in the article
in the Oak.

As for sticks, the best sticks (and the only ones that have survived the
rigours of this energetic game) have been made from oak plow handles,
acquired by Lady Susanna somewhere in rural Virginia.  You may be able
to find such plow handles, or beg her to procure them for you.  With a
bit of work with a hand plane and saw, these make excellent sticks, and
cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $6-$10 each the last I heard.

Goals are easy -- I usually make them onsite by digging two 8' 4x4s
a foot into the ground with a posthole digger, then lashing an 8' or
10' stick across near the top, to get something vaguely 7' square.
Two of those and you are done.

The best field is something on the range of 40-60 yards, depending
upon how many players you have.  Old dukes would prefer it some
20 yards shorter, as their stumpy legs cannot carry them far without
a lot of blowing and thrashing; young energetic earls like myself
would love to play a game on an 80 yard or longer field, where you
can separate those with functioning cardiovascular systems from those
without.  The objective is to have it short enough that scrums occur,
but long enough that there is also some dashing through the ... snow.
A memorable Cambok game was played the weekend after the great storm
last year, in 2' of fresh snow (until we packed it down into great
uncomfortable bruise-making lumps in front of the goal).

Cambok has been played in all parts of the kingdom; I taught a class
in it (with outdoor play) at the last University in South Carolina,
as well as the University in Stierbach.  We've played games at Pennsic
and Emerald Joust.

As for your event, I am afraid I cannot commit to attending it this
far in advance.  Even if I cannot come, however, I may be able to send
some equipment if someone else is coming there from up here.  Further,
you may be able to borrow equipment from Caer Mear, a Barony which has
enough Cambok in its own right to support a game.

Regards,

Dafydd

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