Most of Poland’s glorious sporting pursuits have been lost to history. Games like palant, kapela, kulanie kulotka, piercieniówka, and ringo are almost extinct today, existing only in a few remote settlements. Milan Rabszski is on the hunt to find sports that have survived the passage of time and have not been entirely supplanted by those more in keeping with the present.
Games That Once Were
Poland, in its vast history of culture, has invented many games that have grown into global phenomena and have rooted themselves in current-day popular sports.
Palant
As with many other sports, this one has its roots in the Middle Ages. Competitions in the art of “palant” began to be conducted as its popularity grew in the 19th century. The Polish Organization of Palant Ball (Polski Zwizek Piki Palantowej) was established because of the sport’s immense popularity. This group didn’t survive for very long, sadly. It’s now called the Polish Baseball and Softball Federation. Palant is somewhat similar to baseball.
Kapela
In fact, the start of World War II didn’t put an end to this popular folk sport. The goal of the game was to knock over the kapela (a little pyramid constructed from a few stones). Herdsmen were the primary participants in this sport, which went on to achieve international renown.
Kulanie kulotka
Villagers of Bukówiec Górny enjoyed this game as a traditional pastime. The aim of the game was to roll a kulotko (a wooden disc) with a board-shaped wooden stick. The objective was to successfully launch the kulotko past the other team’s goal line.
Pierścieniówka
Poland is the birthplace of this game, which was developed there in 1936. Similar to volleyball, but with a three-holed (piercienie) net. Tossing the ball over the net is not permitted; however, throwing it through such openings is perfectly fine so long as you use both hands.
Ringo
Polish fencer and writer Wodzimierz Strzyewski came up with the concept for this game and gave a demonstration of how to play it while covering the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.
And Then Came the Internet
The video game business has been on a rip in recent years, expanding from a youth-oriented subset to a massive, ever-changing market. Data from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) shows that the video game industry has been more profitable than the music and film industries combined.
In the world of video games, Poland is a powerhouse. Poland ranks seventh in Europe and twenty-third in the world. It’s simple for people to overlook a game’s place of origin, but chances are good that it comes from Poland! The combined market capitalization of Poland’s publicly traded gaming firms exceeds €12 billion. The conditions in Poland are perfect for making games like The Witcher, and The War is Mine, which have received widespread critical praise.
Online Vs. Offline
Given that Poles have a natural propensity for technology, it should not come as a surprise that they favor playing video games online. Polish people spend a significant amount of time and money online due to the abundance of possibilities available for online gaming, gambling, and betting (for example e-Sport http://topkasynoonline.com/esport/). Why wouldn’t they want to do that? They don’t need to look any further for amusement because it’s all right there!
Conclusion
Milan Rabszski is editor-in-chief of his passion project, TopKasynoOnline. This is a Poles for Poles enterprise located in Złota 59, 00-120 Warsaw. You can also phone him at +48 22 595 14 00 or email topkasynoonline@gmail.com.
Listen to his podcasts on Buzzsprout, where he talks about everything gambling-related, including the popular casinos like casino Gdansk, and payment methods in Poland at the time of writing, in December 2022: Blik, Przelewy24, Paysafecard, Bitcoin, Ecopayz.
On the date of issue (December 2022), Note: Unfortunately, gambling is illegal in Poland, so the content in this article is intended only for informational purposes and is available to users outside of Poland.
