The Knutepunkt is an annual role-playing game conference held annually in the Nordic countries since 1997. It has been a vital institution in establishing a Nordic role-playing identity, and in establishing the concept of "Nordic larp" as a unique approach. Though the conference started out strictly as a Live action role-playing (larp for short) event, it has since embraced role-playing games in a more general fashion. Today the conference still has an emphasis on larp, but programs devoted to traditional tabletop role-playing as well as newer arrivals such as freeform are common.
A live action role-playing avant-garde movement, which pursues radical experimentation and the recognition of role-playing as a form of art, has been connected to the Knutepunkt conferences. The scope of the Knutepunkt conference has expanded rather rapidly over the last few years with participants showing up from numerous non-Scandinavian countries. Since about 2003 Knutepunkt has seen participants from the United States, Germany, France, Poland, Italy, Russia, Estonia, Belarus, Belgium, the Netherlands, Israel, Czech Republic, United Kingdom and Austria, among others.
Name
Knutepunkt is Norwegian for "meeting point" or "knot point" as it can be directly translated as, and locally the term is translated into Swedish Knutpunkt, Danish Knudepunkt and Finnish Solmukohta. The name of the convention refers to the point where two pieces of rope or string joins in a knot, and varies with the organizing country.
History
The organising country changes each year in this order: Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Knutepunkt 1997 Oslo, Norway Knutpunkt 1998 Stockholm, Sweden Knudepunkt 1999 Copenhagen, Denmark Solmukohta 2000 Helsinki, Finland Knutepunkt 2001 Oslo, Norway Knutpunkt 2002 Stockholm, Sweden Knudepunkt 2003 Copenhagen, Denmark (Feb. 2003) Solmukohta 2004 Espoo, Finland (Feb. 2004) Knutepunkt 2005 Oslo, Norway (Feb. 2005) Knutpunkt 2006 Barnens Ö (Children's Island), Sweden (Apr. 2006) Knudepunkt 2007. Helsinge, Denmark. (Feb. 2007) Solmukohta 2008 Nurmijärvi, Finland (Apr. 2008) Knutepunkt 2009 Haraldvangen, Norway (16-19 Apr. 2009) Knutpunkt 2010 Katrineholm, Sweden (Apr. 2010) Knudepunkt 2011. Helsinge, Denmark. (Feb. 2011) Solmukohta 2012 Nurmijärvi, Finland (Apr. 2012) Knutepunkt 2013 Haraldvangen, Norway (Apr. 2013) Knutpunkt 2014 Halland, Sweden (3-6 Apr 2014) Knudepunkt 2015 Knudepunkt village (Midtfyns gymnasium, Ringe fri- og efterskole, Nordagerskolen, Midtfyns fritidscenter), Denmark (12-15 Feb. 2015) Solmukohta 2016, Finland (9-14 Mar. 2016) Knutepunkt 2017 , Oslo, Norway (23-26 Feb. 2017) Knutpunkt 2018, Lund, Sweden (15-18 Mar. 2018) Knudepunkt 2019 , Vejen, Denmark (8-11 Feb. 2019) Solmukohta 2020, Tampere, Finland (2–5 Apr. 2020) Knutepunkt 2021 , Oslo, Norway (7-20 Oct. 2021)
Publications
Since 2001 the Knutepunkt conferences have been accompanied by books on larp theory, with the exception of the 2002 conference in Stockholm.
