Report and Results from the off-course Shenanigan Competitions in Hastings

Gottfried wins World £2 Tat Challenge & Aho wins Worlds Crazy Air Hockey Championship.

Following the first day’s play of the 2012 ‘Castle Golf’ World Crazy Golf Championship in Hastings a group of the players headed to the Old Town Amusement Arcade in Hastings, East Sussex to take part in the now traditional World £2 Tat Challenge and Worlds Crazy Air Hockey Championship.

Both events were publicised in the unofficial booklet of the World Crazy Golf Championship and saw an international group of participants compete.

World £2 Tat Challenge

First-up was the World £2 Tat Challenge and 30 players took part. Earlier in the month James ‘Ruthers’ Rutherford had set the Tatting world on fire with his big win in the Crazy £2 Tat Challenge Open in Hastings which saw him win a grand total of 40 pieces of Tat!!! This saw him rocket to the top of the £2 Tat Challenge Order of Merit ranking list.

With the players from England, Germany, Finland and the USA having changed up their £2 stake money into 2ps they were given a quick rules briefing before the order was given and the players set loose on the buttons and their crack at becoming World Tat Challenge Champion.



The Tatters, Ratters and Sharks at the 2012 £2 Tat Challenge in Hastings



Fourteen players in the field of 30 were veterans of the 2011 contest in which a total of 127 pieces of tat were won and were awarded to the winner, Polly, who had scored eleven 2p pusher prizes with her £2.

The 2010 World £2 Tat Challenge champion, the man they call “Johnson Paul Johnson” Paul ‘Johnson Paul Johnson’ Johnson, was making his third consecutive appearance and was hoping to find the form that won him the inaugural title.

The hot blooded contest saw many of the novice players making classic rookie errors such as feeding coins too slowly, or too fast, with a few playing at a medium pace. Costly mistakes indeed. Other errors from the players saw them going after big piece of tat thinking it’s all about the quality, not the quantity. This play is known in some quarters as “the Denis Exall gambit” and has never worked.



Action



An early club house lead was taking by Will ‘Robbed’ Donnelly with an impressive eleven pieces of tat. He must of been dreaming of heading home with the grand prize, as the same quantity in the previous year’s event would of seen him crowned world champion. However 2012 was not to be the year of the young pretender.

With players pots of two penny pence pieces running dry the tournament saw players new and old resorting to the age old seaside amusement arcade practice of ‘ratting’. Brad ‘Roland Rat’ Shepherd and newcomer Craig ‘David’ Patterson were two such players who were out, then in, then out, then back in the game a number of times.

Irwin ‘Don’t call me Owen’ Johnson was another player that seemed to be endlessly back in the game after running out of cash. In fact event half an hour after the final whistle was blown and the semi-final in the Worlds Crazy Air Hockey was underway the Dudley youngster was still finding two pees to play. However with a grand total of just four bits o’ tat he’d be playing til 2013 before he neared a winning total.



More action



The strongest overseas challenge for the title came from Finland and Pasi ‘Bruiser’ Aho. He eventually finished in the Bronze medal spot with a total of 17 pieces of tat, ahead of debuting player Mrs Kelly who had a good haul of 14 pieces. A fine effort, but not enough for the win this time.

In tied 15th place Top Chris (Overseas Category) Christian ‘Anthony Pope’ Fuchs from Germany managed to win three pieces, including a rubber duck for ‘The Fox’ to take back home with him. The USA’s ‘Hacksaw’ Jon Drexler managed to avoid drawing a blank on his debut, but was languishing in tied 25th place with a solitary piece of tat.



Tat Challenger Marc 'The Force' Chapman and his (in)action figure



Former £2 Tat Challenge Champion Alan ‘Not so Stormin’ Norman (ranked 3rd in the £2 Tat Challenge Order of Merit ) and 2010 Worlds Crazy Air Hockey Champion Kevin ‘Lost in the pub’ Moseley finished in tied 29th place after both players failed to win anything at all!? Quite how this happened is anyone’s guess. Perhaps they wisely decided to save their two quid stake money for something else and just said they didn’t win.

With Richard ‘Jaws’ Gottfried and James ‘Sharkey’ Rutherford almost all square with around 20 pieces of tat going into the home straight the other players joined the crowd to watch two of the masters of the game in action. The battle was back and forth until Gottfried ran out of money and with no 2ps seen dropping to rat he had to hold his breath and wait for the final outcome sitting on a club house lead of 23 bits of tat.



The Clubhouse Lead

Hot on the heels of his win earlier in the month Rutherford seemed to be powering to success and had a never-ending pot of money. Unfortunately it and his luck ran dry as his pockets sat at the 21 pieces mark, meaning that Richard Gottfried took the win and the 166 pieces of tat haul that was won by the competitors!

Richard Gottfried and his big bag of winnings



2012 World Tat Challenge Results

Rank Player Country Tat Won
1 Richard Gottfried ENG 23
2 James Rutherford ENG 21
3 Pasi Aho FIN 17
4 Mrs Kelly ENG 14
5 Will Donnelly ENG 11
6 Scott Lancley ENG 10
7 Anna Green ENG 8
8 Steve Gow ENG 7
9 Trevor Exall ENG 6
10 Adam Kelly ENG 5
11 Keith Kellard ENG 4
11 Oliver Florence ENG 4
11 Gareth Holmes ENG 4
11 Owen Johnson ENG 4
15 Chris Jones ENG 3
15 Denis Exall ENG 3
15 Christian Fuchs GER 3
15 Craig Patterson ENG 3
19 Brad Shepherd ENG 2
19 Emily Gottfried  ENG 2
19 Marc Chapman ENG 2
19 Paul Johnson ENG 2
19 John Moore ENG 2
19 Tony Kelly ENG 2
25 Sharon ENG 1
25 David Donnelly ENG 1
25 Jon Drexler USA 1
25 Steve Sturdy ENG 1
29 Kevin Moseley ENG 0
29 Alan Norman ENG 0

Following the 2012 Worlds there is no change at the very top of the tat challenge tree as James 'Ratters' Rutherford maintains his lead with a total of 81 pieces of tat won from his five outings (an impressive 16.2 pieces per event). In second place is Richard 'Shark King' Gottfried with a total of 63 bit.

Pasi 'Pastie Jarno' Aho leaps up from 7th to 3rd with a total of 29 pieces of tat from three events. Alan 'Stormin' Norman drops from tied 3rd to 5th, with Emily 'Lemony' Gottfried moving down one from tied 3rd to 4th. The highest new entry is Mrs Kelly with an impressive debut haul of 14 bits of tat to take a share of 7th place alongside Seth 'AWOL' Thomas who was MIA. Brad 'Ratman' Shepherd and Keith 'PP' Kellard round out the top ten places with the pair tied in 9th spot.

The £2 Tat Challenge Order of Merit Rankings List

£2 Tat Challenge Hall of Fame:
#1 - Paul Johnson - 9 pieces of Tat (World Title)
#2 - Richard Gottfried - 10 pieces of Tat
#3 - Alan Norman - 6 pieces of Tat +1
#4 - Polly - 11 pieces of Tat (World Title)
#5 - James Rutherford - 40 pieces of Tat
#6 - Richard Gottfried - 23 pieces of Tat (World Title)

Note: Will Donnelly failed to submit his eleven bits of tat to the prize fund and has been issued with a public warning for disorderly conduct by the Buttons Committee.

Worlds Crazy Air Hockey Championship

With no real let up between competitions the bracket for the Worlds Crazy Air Hockey Championship was drawn up by Buttons Committee Executive Members Scott Lancley and Emily Gottfried.

The straight knockout event saw 16 players go head-to-head in first to seven, or until the time-limit expired matches. With three Air Hockey tables available the action came thick and fast.

In round one results:
- Johnny Waffles lost to Denis Exall 4-5
- Will ‘Robbed’ Donnelly was robbed in his match to Scott ‘Donkey Gringo’ Lancley 1-4

- Sharon beat Adam ‘Machine Gun’ Kelly in extra-time after a 2-2 draw
- Jon ‘Drex’ Drexler beat Owen ‘Do You Know’ Johnson – score unknown

- Johnson Paul Johnson bested Steve Sturdy 7-1

- Brad ‘The Fist’ Shepherd punched his way to victory with a 7-3 win over 2010 Champeen Kevin ‘Max’ Moseley
- Christian Fuchs was outfoxed by Craig ‘David’ Patterson in the battle of the newcomers, losing 4-6
- Marc Chapman wasn’t forceful enough in his losing effort to Pasty Arno 1-5

A random draw was held before the quarter finals commenced. The matches saw:
- Johnson Paul Johnson lose to The Fist 5-7

- Denis 'Simly the Best' Exall beat Sharon 6-0 in a Squire-bashing level of action

- Drex lost to Pasty 2-7 in an international incident

- Scott beat Craig 5-4

There was little pause in the action before the semi-final matches got underway. Margate’s Scott Lancley was drawn against the dangerous Finn Pasi Aho. The contest ended in a 4-4 draw. Eschewing the usual sudden-death extra-time golden-goal play-off, or a game of Rock Paper Scissors the pair settled the result with a coin toss. Pasi won.

In the second semi-final Denis ‘Last Exall Standing’ Exall beat Brad ‘The Fist’ Shepherd 7-5 to set-up an England-Finland grand final for the title of Worlds Crazy Air Hockey Champion of 2012!

The crowds gather to watch the spectacle that is the grand final of the Worlds Crazy Air Hockey Championship in Hastings

With the international player champing at the bit since his arrival in Hastings he took the lead and Denis assumed the same position that faced his brother Phil in the legendary final of 2011. Denis put up a valiant effort, but it wasn’t to be for him on this occasion as Pasi Aho scored a seventh and final goal to win the match, the title and the £1 prize money with a 7-3 scoreline.



The end of the final



Pasi Aho adopting the now customary Peter Jones Champions pose

Worlds Crazy Air Hockey Championships Hall of Fame:
2012 Pasi Aho (FIN)
2011 Peter Jones (WAL)
2010 Kevin Moseley (ENG) 



Pasi Aho receives his winnings from Lemony

Related Blog Posts:

Tat Challenges

- Report from the 2012 Crazy £2 Tat Challenge Open in Hastings
- 2011 Worlds £2 Tat Challenge at the Old Town Amusements in Hastings
- £2 Tat Challenges at 'The Buttons' in Hastings - May 2011
- 'The £2 Tat Challenge' at 'The Buttons' in Hastings - October 2010
Air Hockey

- Arcade Games at Star City – Air Hockey, Pool & Ping Pong

- 2011 Worlds Crazy Air Hockey Championships in Hastings

- Crazy Minigolfers Play Air Hockey Tournament in Hastings
- The Undisputed International Worlds Crazy Air Squash Championships

Report from the 2012 Crazy £2 Tat Challenge Open in Hastings

James Rutherford rockets to victory in the first £2 Tat Challenge of the year!

James 'The Man' Rutherford with the magnificent haul of treasures from the contest

On Friday 12th of October a group of Crazy Minigolfers headed to the Old Town Amusement Arcade for a £2 Tat Challenge Contest.

The players were in town to practice ahead of that weekend’s 12th annual Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club Open tournament, but due to the adverse weather conditions an executive decision was made to head to The Buttons for a Tat Challenge.

'Action' from the Crazy £2 Tat Challenge Open

Arriving just in Hastings just in time James ‘Mr James’ Rutherford joined the gang to play in the first Tat Challenge of the 2012 season. The competition would act as a warm-up for the 2012 World £2 Tat Challenge that is now a part an unofficial part of the Castle Golf World Crazy Golf Championships weekend.

John 'Thighs' Moore with his winnings

Heading into the Crazy £2 Tat Challenge Open James ‘Mr Rutherford’ Rutherford declared that he would win the contest. His opponents scoffed at this remark, little knowing that he had spent the previous weekend in Hastings ‘mapping the buttons’!

Owen Johnson didn't quite hit the jackpot with his two bits o' tat

Michael ‘The Champ’ Smith and John Moore ‘John’ made their debuts in a £2 Tat Challenge and after a quick briefing on the rules were let loose with their pots of two penny pence pieces.

'The Man They Call Johnson' Paul Johnson with his three bits of tat

The contest was an all-England clash with the field also including the inaugural Worlds £2 Tat Challenge Champion Mr Paul ‘Johnson Paul Johnson’ Johnson, Emily ‘Lemony’ Gottfried, Owen ‘Don’t call me Irwin’ Johnson and the Tat Challenge Order of Merit Number One ‘Squire’ Richard Gottfried.

'Squire' Richard Gottfried seems pleased with his 13 pieces of tat, including the Chappers Action Figure

With a new array of prizes on offer in the 2p pushers the avid tatters were in their element trying to win as big a haul as possible and take the prize of ‘all the tat’. However a clear lead was built up early on by ‘The Rocket’ James Rutherford who managed to somehow keep his pot of 2ps constantly full and his pockets filling up with Thumb Wrestling characters as his prize.

Michael 'Zero' Smith leaves the £2 Tat Challenge empty handed

Prior to the Crazy £2 Tat Challenge Open the largest winning score had been 11 pieces of tat by Polly at the 2012 Worlds £2 Tat Challenge, with other victories totalling 10, 9 and 7 pieces of tat won. In fact in the first three Tat Challenges the total tat won by all competitors was 36, 31 and 39 pieces. These figures were blown out of the water as James ‘Ruth’ Rutherford won 40 pieces all by himself!!!

The nearest challenger and still a way off Ruthers’ lead was Richard ‘Second Best’ Gottfried with 13 pieces. John ‘YI’ Moore and Emily ‘Lemons’ Gottfried tied for third-place with five pieces apiece and had no money left for a play-off. Paul ‘The Johnson’ Johnson managed to win 3 bits, while Owen ‘Irwin’ Johnson didn’t hit the jackpot with only a couple of pieces. In last spot was Michael ‘No Tat’ Smith with zero pieces of tat. Rather reminiscent of his minigolf team-mate, rival and fellow tatter Marc ‘Chappers’ Chapman’s debut at the 2010 Worlds when he also came away with nothing for his £2 stake. On a related Marc ‘The Force’ Note, one of the prizes won appeared to be a life-like action figure of the renowned Minigolfer and Tat Challenger!



The Marc 'The Force' Chapman Action Figure alongside what appears to be the San Marino Goalkeeper



2012 Crazy £2 Tat Challenge Open - 12/10/12

Rank Player Country Tat Won
1 James Rutherford ENG 40
2 Richard Gottfried ENG 13
3 John Moore ENG 5
3 Emily Gottfried  ENG 5
5 Paul Johnson ENG 3
6 Owen Johnson ENG 2
7 Michael Smith ENG 0

With his massive haul of tat the pressure will surely be on all of the other competitors to up their game at the next £2 Tat Challenge! 40 pieces with £2 of 2ps is an extraordinary amount to win, whether this record will be beaten remains to be seen.

James '40' Rutherford with his bag o' tat

Following the Crazy £2 Tat Challenge Open James ‘Ruthers’ Rutherford has moved up to the top spot, with ‘Squire’ dropping down to number two. Emily moves up from 8th place to join Alan ‘Stormin’ Norman in tied third place.

The £2 Tat Challenge Order of Merit as at 12/10/12

£2 Tat Challenge Hall of Fame:

#1 - Paul Johnson - 9 pieces of Tat

#2 - Richard Gottfried - 10 pieces of Tat

#3 - Alan Norman - 6 pieces of Tat +1

#4 - Polly - 11 pieces of Tat

#5 - James Rutherford - 40 pieces of Tat

Related Blog Posts:
- 2011 Worlds £2 Tat Challenge at the Old Town Amusements in Hastings
- £2 Tat Challenges at 'The Buttons' in Hastings - May 2011
- 'The £2 Tat Challenge' at 'The Buttons' in Hastings - October 2010

2011 Worlds £2 Tat Challenge at the Old Town Amusements in Hastings

Results of the 2011 'Worlds £2 Tat Challenge' at the Old Town Amusements in Hastings

Following the completion of the first day's play in the 2011 Castle Golf World Crazy Golf Championships a group of Seaside Amusements fans made the now traditional and ceremonial walk to The Old Town Amusement Arcade to compete in the second-annual '£2 Tat Challenge'.

Photo: Vice-Chairman of the PTA Scott Lancley runs through the rules of the £2 Tat Challenge 

This Amusements Challenge Tournament saw a total of 26 participants compete for the title on Saturday 29th October 2011. The field was double that of the 2010 event when ‘Johnson’ Paul Johnson took the win with a haul of nine pieces of tat. This year the title was not to be Paul Johnson’s again, as the man now known as Paul ‘Johnson Paul Johnson’ Johnson only managed to win one bit of tat with his stake money.

Photo: Defending champion Paul 'Johnson Paul Johnson' Johnson crashes out of the 2011 £2 Tat Challenge with just one piece of tat. Note Jam Trubridge continuing to play-on in his debut Tat Challenge 

The brains behind the £2 Tat Challenge are Scott ‘Donkey Gringo’ Lancley (the International Worlds Crazy Air Squash Champion) and Emily ‘Lemony’ Gottfried. The rules of the £2 Tat Challenge are simple – the aim is to win the most amount of 2p falls prizes with a stake of £2. The overall winner then gets to bag up all of the tat as their prize!

The 2011 Honours went to newcomer and junior Polly who managed to bag a grand total of eleven pieces of tat with her £2!

Photo: New Worlds £2 Tat Challenge Champion Polly receives her prize of all the tat. Last year's Champion Paul 'Johnson Paul Johnson' Johnson manages to get in on the photo 

In total 127 pieces of tat were won this year with the players spending £52 in total to compete. In the 2010 event the thirteen players won 36 pieces of tat between them.

Photo: The motley crew of Tatters, Ratters and Sharks assemble for the obligatory Group Photo at the 2011 Worlds £2 Tat Challenge Competition

The Full Rankings for the 2011 £2 Tat Challenge can be seen below:

Rank Player Country Tat Won
1 Polly ENG 11
2 Richard Gottfried ENG 10
2 Stu Bowker ENG 10
4 Chris Harding ENG 9
4 James Rutherford ENG 9
6 Pasi Aho FIN 8
7 Alex Exall ENG 7
7 Chris Jones ENG 7
9 Phil Exall ENG 5
9 Terry Exall ENG 5
9 Emily Gottfried ENG 5
12 Anna Green ENG 4
12 Jam Trubridge ENG 4
12 Jes ENG 4
12 Keith Kellard ENG 4
12 Seth Thomas ENG 4
12 Trevor Exall ENG 4
18 Brad Shepherd ENG 3
18 Leo Kukielka ENG 3
18 Marc Chapman ENG 3
18 Peter Jones WAL 3
22 Denis Exall ENG 2
23 Adam Kelly ENG 1
23 Paul Johnson ENG 1
23 Scott Lancley ENG 1
26 Albert ENG 0

Photos from the event:

Photo: Two Crazy Golf World Champions and an Exall line-up at the 2p pusher for a crack at Worlds Tat Challenge Glory. From l-r Keith Kellard, Terry Exall and Chris Harding

Photo: From l-r Jam Trubridge and Seth 'Wandsworth' Thomas tackle The Buttons

Photo: Peter 'Toy Jeep' Jones having a rare old time at the amusements

Photo: From l-r Tat Challenge Rookie Trevor Exall and last year's loser Marc Chapman wait for the prize to drop. Chapman managed to win three pieces of tat this year, beating his total haul of zero last year

Photo: Denis 'I'll bring the bell' Exall pumps the 2p pusher full of money. His tactic and motto was simple - "It's quality of the prizes, not quantity that counts." Not in this game it's not Den ;-)

Photo: From l-r Anna Green, Adam 'ASBO' Kelly and Scott Lancley tackle The Pushers

Photo: Brad Shepherd, Terry Exall, Alex Exall and Phil Exall take a gander at Chris Harding's last push for the win

Photo: The mighty haul of 127 pieces of Tat won by the 26 players!!!

Photo: From l-r Chris Harding and James Rutherford collect a prize each for finishing in tied third place. Peter Jones finished in tied 18th place and just happens to be in the photo

Photo: From l-r Richard 'The Town Crier' Gottfried and Stu 'Stewy' Bowker take their prize each for finishing as tied runners-up. Stu chose the quality prize that Denis Exall had won

Photo: Squire the Town Crier invites one and all to join in the fun at the 2011 Worlds £2 Tat Challenge

The '£2 Tat Challenge' was an open invitation competition and featured in the Unofficial Booklet of the 2011 World Crazy Golf Championships.

Anticipation for the 2012 event is growing already!

Following the inaugural £2 Tat Challenge in Hastings last October there were also two tat Challenges in May 2011 which saw Richard Gottfried and Alan Norman crowned as interim champions. Controversially Alan subsequently exchanged 37 pieces of Tat from the overall winner’s swag-bag that he won for one Pingu Teddy Bear that he promptly called 'Penny'!?

£2 Tat Challenge Hall of Fame
#1 - Paul Johnson - 9 pieces of Tat
#2 - Richard Gottfried - 10 pieces of Tat
#3 - Alan Norman - 6 pieces of Tat +1
#4 - Polly - 11 pieces of Tat

Links:
- £2 Tat Challenges at 'The Buttons' in Hastings - May 2011
- 'The £2 Tat Challenge' at 'The Buttons' in Hastings - October 2010

£2 Tat Challenges at 'The Buttons' in Hastings - May 2011

There were two "£2 Tat Challenges" at 'The Buttons' in Hastings over the World Adventure Golf Masters weekend, with minigolfers tearing themselves away from practice at the Adventure Golf course to try their hand at the challenge of winning the most amount of prizes from the 2p falls machines!

In the afternoon session on Friday the 13th May Richard Gottfried walked away the winner, while in the evening session, also on the 13th, Alan Norman stormed to victory in a sudden play-off after three players tied with six pieces of Tat won!

Afternoon Results:
Richard 'Tat Mon' Gottfried - 10 pieces of Tat won
Seth 'Buttons' Thomas - 8
Alan 'Penny' Norman - 8
James 'Ruthers' Rutherford - 5
Brad 'The Claw' Shepherd - 4*
Emily 'Lemony' Gottfried - DNP
Oliver 'Slot Machine' Florence - DNP
Michael 'Richard Skeggs' Skaggs - DNP
* Brad was Disqualified after he 'lorst' his Tat!

Evening Results:
Alan 'Penny' Norman - 6 pieces of Tat won - +1 won in the 50p sudden-death play-off**
Nick 'Slow and Steady Wins The Race' Sandqvist - 6
James 'Ruthers' Rutherford - 6
Richard 'Tat Mon' Gottfried - 5
Emily 'Lemony' Gottfried - 5
Oliver 'Slot Machine' Florence - 4
Brad 'The Claw' Shepherd - 4
Seth 'Buttons' Thomas - 2
Michael 'Richard Skeggs' Skaggs - DNP
** After the event, Alan exchanged 37 pieces of Tat from the overall winner's swag-bag that he won for one Pingu Teddy Bear that he promptly called 'Penny'!?

£2 Tat Challenge Hall of Fame
#1 - Paul Johnson - 9 pieces of Tat
#2 - Richard Gottfried - 10 pieces of Tat
#3 - Alan Norman - 6 pieces of Tat +1

Photos from the afternoon session.
Note: No photo exists for Seth Thomas and his prizes!?

Photos from the evening session.

The "£2 Tat Challenge" amusements contest was created by Scott ‘Donkey Gringo’ Lancley (the International Worlds Crazy Air Squash Champion) and Emily ‘Coach’ Gottfried, with the very first edition of the event taking place in October 2010 during the World Crazy Golf Championships weekend in Hastings.

A "£2 Tat Challenge" Order of Merit is being formulated! Suggestions on its calculation welcome...?

Other Amusements Photos:

Non-participant Michael Skaggs goes for a ride

Alan Norman braves serious injury by taking on Brad Shepherd at Air Hockey - a risky business indeed, especially in Hastings!

Ruthers and some Meerkats