Novuss

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Novuss (also known as koroona) is a two-player (or four-player, doubles) game of physical skill which is closely related to carrom/ Karrom, and pocket billiards. Novuss is a national sport in Latvia. The board is approximately 100 centimetres (39 in) square, typically made of wood, has pockets in each corner, and lines marked on the surface. The board is usually placed on a stand, but may be placed on a barrel or other surface that allows the pockets to hang down properly. It uses small discs instead of balls, and each player has their own small puck instead of the cue ball used in other cue sports. Players use a small cue stick to propel their pucks into their colored object discs (the novuss equivalent of object balls), knocking them into the pockets. The winner is the first one to sink all eight of their object discs (of which there are sixteen in total in two different-coloured sets, plus the two pucks).

The game is sometimes informally referred to as "Baltic billiards" or "Scandinavian billiards",but these are misnomers, since although it is a cue sport in the broad sense, novuss does not use billiard tables and balls.

History

80-year-old novuss from the Latvian Novuss Federation
According to Jānis-Ēriks Piebalgs, President of Latvian Novuss Federation, the game was first played in Northern Europe, particularly Latvia and Estonia around 1925–1927.[1]

The game appears to have developed from billiards as ship-board game[citation needed]; the compact size and comparatively stationary nature of the discs in response to the rocking of the vessel on the water made it practical as an onboard game;[2][citation needed] the game has been called the equivalent of "sea billiards" in some languages such as Russian.[citation needed]

Latvian seamen, while visiting ports of England, played a similar game in the local pubs. The first tables were made from blueprints brought back from England. In the beginning, novuss was played in the port cities Ventspils, Liepāja, and Tallinn. In some countries, novuss is also known by Estonian name koroona ('crown') or a local variant. The oldest known record of the rules of the game dates to 1932. In Latvia, the game spread even more quickly than in Estonia, and soon emerged as a national sport. The first professional competition took place in 1932, in which Albert Raminsch won 1st place.

The Latvian Novuss Federation was founded on 6 December 1963. National Championships have been held since 1964 in singles and since 1966 in team competitions. Men's, women's and junior's (up to 15 years old) divisions have been established.

In 1980, the Novuss community contained around 55,000 members. In the meantime, district, city, national and world championships are regularly organized. Novuss became one of the three most popular sports in Latvia.

The game is further establishing itself in the United States, Canada, Israel, Georgia, Ukraine, Australia, England, Russia, Finland and Germany. The International Novuss Championship has been held annually, beginning in 1993, with teams from countries where Novuss has a large following, especially Latvia and Estonia.

Novuss players at the Baltic Children's Olympics, 2006

Novuss was integrated into the roster of the first Baltic Children's Olympics on 30 September 2006.

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.novuss-lnf.lv/?lp=2
  2. ↑ "Новус Москва [Novuss Moscow]". novus-sport.ru (in Russian). Moscow, Russia: Moscow Novuss Federation. 2012. Retrieved 2012-03-16. 

External links

Pool
A cube of blue chalk with a paper wrapper on all sides but one; a rounded indentation appears at the top where a cue would be chalked
Carom billiards
Other games
Resources
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