Finishing on 50 in Mölkky: aiming right and avoiding the drop to 25

Two ways to score each number

The rule fits in one sentence: a single pin is worth its number, several pins are worth their count. It has a consequence you forget at the start of the game and that decides the end: every number from 2 to 12 can be scored in two ways. You need 7? The 7 pin alone, or seven pins at once. You need 2? The 2 pin, or any two pins.

The two targets do not have the same profile. The single pin is precise but risky: there is often another one next to it, and one extra pin falling turns a 7 into a 2. The cluster is safe but imprecise: three pins score 3, but four score 4, and you have to count the standing pins before throwing. Only the 1 has a single target, the 1 pin; that is what makes 49 the worst total in the game, and we come back to it.

As the throws go by, the pins are stood up where they fall and drift apart. Isolated pins appear after two or three throws; that is when the scores climb, and when you start calculating.

The table of remainders, from 1 to 12

Below 50 you no longer count what you have but what is left: 50 minus the total. As long as 12 or more are left, no throw can take you over, since the maximum for one throw is 12. Below that, every single pin bigger than the remainder sends you back to 25.

Two lines are worth remembering. 12 left, total 38: nothing can take you over, and the 12 alone wins. It is the ideal waiting total, the one you try to reach when you are between 26 and 37: on 30, for example, the 8 alone or eight pins lead to 38. 1 left, total 49: only the 1 pin, alone, finishes. Any other single pin and any cluster send you back to 25. You only reach 49 by accident; on 37, aim at the 1 (38) or a small cluster, not the 12.

The shortest route: five throws

The minimum to reach 50 is five throws: the 12 pin alone four times (48), then the 2 alone or two pins. Nobody does it: the 12 stands at the back of the formation, behind the 11 and the 9, and on the first throw it falls in a cluster. In practice a two-player game ends in ten to fifteen throws each, and the winner is rarely the one who scored the biggest throw, but the one who managed the end best.

The usual rhythm of a game: two or three cluster throws for 2, 3 or 4 points, then the isolated pins and throws of 8, 10, 12 that lead towards 35-40, then the finish, throw by throw. Those last three throws decide, and that is where a well-chosen waiting total is worth an extra pin.

The cluster of pins as a safe target

When little is left, the cluster is often the best target. You need 3 and three pins stand close together somewhere: aim at them. Even if you only knock down two, you score 2 (1 left, bad); if four fall, 4, and you are over. Hence the reflex: count the cluster, and only aim at a group if it holds exactly the number you need or fewer. A cluster of two when you need 3 leaves you on 49; a cluster of two when you need 5 leaves you on 47, 3 left, perfectly playable.

Conversely, a single pin with a neighbour ten centimetres away is not a single pin: the rolling Mölkky touches that one too, and the expected 10 becomes a 2. Before aiming at a number, look at what is behind and beside it: the stick’s path after impact counts as much as the impact.

After a drop to 25

Dropping to 25 means losing between 14 and 24 points, and above all two or three throws. But it is not lost: 25 are left, that is three throws at the very least (12, 12 and the 1 pin, or 12, 11 and 2), and the leader, too, still has to finish, with the risks we have just seen. At our tables, a player who drops to 25 still wins one game in four or five, because the leader gets stuck on 45 or 47.

The right reaction is to go back to the big isolated numbers, without calculating before 38, then play the finish properly again. The wrong one is wanting to catch up in one go: there is no 25-point throw.

The three misses, and the chosen miss

A miss costs nothing, except that it counts in the run: three in a row eliminate (or send you to 25, depending on the table). On two misses, the priority changes: you have to score, anything, and the biggest cluster on the pitch is the right target whatever the remainder. A fallen pin resets the run to zero.

Then there is the chosen miss. On 49, with the 1 pin buried in a group, any throw that touches something sends you back to 25; a soft throw that touches nothing keeps 49 and takes a miss. In the park people do it; in a tournament it is frowned upon, and after two misses it is no longer possible. The real cure comes earlier: don’t arrive on 49.

In a team

In teams, the throwing order is fixed at the start and does not change: you do not choose who throws the finish, the turn decides. What you choose is the target, and the team chooses it: the remainder is shared, so are the misses, and the teammate who is waiting counts the cluster while the other gets set. With players of different levels, put the most consistent one second: they are often the one who inherits the short remainders.

In short

1. From 2 to 12, every number can be scored in two ways: the pin with that number, or that many pins. The 1 only with the 1 pin.
2. Up to 38, nothing can take you over. 38 is the ideal waiting total; 49 is the worst.
3. Below 50, work out the remainder before every throw and look at the table: every single pin bigger than the remainder sends you back to 25.
4. Count clusters before aiming at them; a pin with a neighbour is not a single pin.
5. Dropped to 25, you need at least three throws: go back to the big numbers, then play the finish again.
6. On two misses, score anything: the biggest cluster.

Frequently asked questions