Happy 40th birthday Pac-Man

Pac-Man was first released in North American on this day in 1980.

The 22nd May is considered to be Pac-Man's 'official' birthday as the game was first released in Japan on that date.

I like to celebrate the brilliant video game character as often as possible!

Happy 40th birthday Pac-Man

Pac-Man was first released in Japan on this day in 1980.

A small selection of my Pac-Man collection

I like to celebrate the brilliant video game character as often as possible!

Playing Pac-Man in Morecambe last summer

Related blog posts:
- Pac-Man

Happy 39th 'birthday' to Pac Man

Pac Man was first released in North American on this day in 1980.

A small selection of the Pac-Man stuff in my ever-growing collection

The 22nd May is considered to be Pac Man's 'official' birthday.

Waka waka waka

Back in the 1980's you could get Pac-Man breakfast cereal. I saw this old box at the Cereal Killer Cafe in Birmingham

But hey, why not celebrate the brilliant video game character as often as possible!

I've been playing Pac-Man arcade games for years

It'll soon be time to dig out my Pac-Man Christmas jumper for the festive season

A Pac-Man Smash air hockey table at Namco Funscape at the Trafford Centre

We've seen Pac-Man pop-up in a number of official and unofficial spots on our travels.

Credit Cruncher in Bristol

Pac-Man graffiti on the wall at Ghetto Golf in Liverpool

Munch Mart in Ipswich

Munchies in Nottingham

Munch in Burnley

Scof in Preston

Level in Preston

 

Pac-Man graffiti in Luton

 

The very nice official Pac-Man pin badge arcade cabinet set

Pac-Man ghost sticker in Düsseldorf, Germany

Angry Birds Adventure Golf at intu Metrocentre in Gateshead

New Angry Birds Adventure Golf opening at the intu Metrocentre in Gateshead this Autumn.

While we were in Newcastle and Gateshead for the World Transplant Games we called in to the intu Metrocentre in Gateshead as it'll soon be home to the first of the new Angry Birds Adventure Golf courses.

Just a few months too early to play

The Angry Birds Adventure Golf centre in Gateshead will have 18-hole two courses.

Some of the advertising for the course

The team at Rovio Entertainment, owners of the Angry Birds brand, are teaming up with Namco Funscape to create the new minigolf courses. Five locations are planned to open over the next three years.

We really enjoying our visit to the intu Metrocentre and are looking forward to returning to play the Angry Birds Adventure Golf

36-holes of Adventure Golf are being built behind this hoarding

For more info check out the Angry Birds Adventure Golf website.

Related blog posts:
- New Angry Birds Adventure Golf courses opening in the UK
- Angry Birds

Links:
- Angry Birds Adventure Golf
- Rovio Entertainment
- Namco Funscape
- intu Metrocentre

New Angry Birds Adventure Golf courses opening in the UK

New indoor Adventure Golf attractions to open with an Angry Birds theme.

A series of new indoor Adventure Golf courses with an Angry Birds theme are set to open in the UK.

The team at Rovio Entertainment, owners of the Angry Birds brand, are teaming up with Namco Funscape to create the new minigolf courses. Five locations are planned to open over the next three years.

We've bowled at Namco a fair bit over the years and in September 2017 we played Namco's first Adventure Golf course at Namco Funscape in Tamworth.

Namco's Adventure Minigolf course 

Namco's Adventure Golf course in Tamworth is half indoors, half outdoors

That course has a medieval-theme linking in with local history. It became the 774th visited and 460th played overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Playing at Namco's Adventure Golf course in Tamworth

We're now up to 859 courses visited and with new minigolf venues opening up all the time our quest to visit them all keeps on getting extended!

Related blog posts:
- Namco
- Castle Adventure Golf at Namco Funscape in Tamworth

Links:
- Rovio Entertainment
- Namco Funscape

Castle Adventure Golf at Namco Funscape in Tamworth

Playing the new Medieval-themed Adventure Golf course at Namco Funscape in Tamworth.

The Adventure Golf course has some incredible theming

On Sunday 10th September the Castle Adventure Golf course at Namco Funscape in Tamworth became the 774th visited and 460th played overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Head through the portcullis to the Castle Adventure Golf course

In our match up on the Castle Adventure Golf course I picked up the victory with a score of 55 to Emily's 62.

Putting my way to the win

We normally regard each hole on a course as a par-2 - so an 18-hole layout would be a par-36 course. In the case of Castle Adventure Golf the course par of 69 for the 18-holes is far more realistic a target as it's a very tricky course indeed.

Emily on hole 2

The 18-hole layout is certainly not the easiest course we've played! A lot of the holes are very bumpy and uphill, with extra plateaus too. That said, each of the holes is unique and the theming is some of the best we've seen on our travels.

My brother Christopher owns a suit of armour and would love the course. I was half expecting the knight to move!

A tricky circular forge hole

This hole was excellently executed

Hanging around on the Tamworth Adventure Golf course

A Ham and Egger in his element

Interestingly the course is half indoors and half outdoors - not something we've seen all that often either. Some of the outdoor holes were also under shelter too.

One of the outdoor - but under cover - holes

The last hole before heading back inside to play the 17th and 18th

Another tough hole

Under siege!

Emily wasn't on target for a lot of the round!

The 13th - one of two holes I aced

Holes 17 and 18 take you back inside

There are two routes to the hole (in a bucket) on the 18th

Visit the Tamworth Namco Funscape website for more information, opening times and prices.

Links:
- Castle Adventure Golf at Namco Funscape in Tamworth
- Namco Funscape

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Indoor Adventure Golf
- Tamworth
- Namco

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Happy National Video Game Day!

Happy National Video Game Day 2017.

We were recently in Tamworth - to play the new Castle Adventure Golf course at Namco Funscape - and noticed this giant piece of video game graffiti on a legal graffiti wall on an underpass!

New Adventure Golf course in Tamworth

New medieval-themed Crazy Golf course now open at Namco Funscape in Tamworth.

There's a new 18-hole Minigolf course Namco Funscape in Tamworth. The medieval-themed layout has 9 indoor holes and 9 outdoors - a combination you don't normally see on a course.

Castle Adventure Golf is open seven days a week. Check out the Namco Funscape Tamworth website for more info.

We're big fans of tenpin bowling and have visited a number of Namco Funscape centres. We've won a few bowling tournaments at the Luton venue over the years too.

On our last visit to Tamworth we played the town's outdoor course at the Castle Grounds. That Crazy Golf course was the 356th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

It's great there's another course in the town now. We're looking forward to a return visit.

Winning the Mayor of Luton’s Charity Tenpin Bowling Challenge

Report from the new Mayor of Luton’s Charity Tenpin Bowling Competition at Namco.

The Mayor of Luton Tenpin Bowling Championship Trophy!

On Thursday 27th September 2012 the Ham & Eggers Tenpin Bowling Team turned out for the second of this year's Charity Tenpin Bowling Challenge tournaments for the Mayor of Luton's charities. The competition took place at Luton's Namco Funscape in the Galaxy Centre and the team beat seven others to be crowned the champions.

The Ham & Eggers Tenpin Bowling Team - Back Row from l-r: Christopher Gottfried, Emily Gottfried, James Cunliffe. Front Row: Richard Gottfried, Simon Hall. Not pictured Laura Wood.

In March the Ham & Eggers Tenpin Bowling Team had competed in the last Mayor's competition in March 2012 and finished in third-place. Over the years the team has competed in a number of Tenpin Bowling tournaments in Luton and Dunstable and were the 2009 Macmillan Cancer Support Annual Bowling Challenge Champions.

 

Ham & Eggers Team – Player Results:
1. James Cunliffe - 145 + 115 = 260 - Top player overall on the night
2. Laura Wood - 144 + 100 = 244
3. Simon Hall - 118 + 117 = 235
4. Richard Gottfried - 115 + 111 = 226
5. Christopher Gottfried - 123 + 100 = 223
6. Emily Gottfried - 109 + 85 = 194

 

The team scored a total of 1,382 points over the two rounds.

 

Two of the Ham & Eggers Tenpin Bowling Team were able to attend the trophy presentation by the Mayoress on the 30th October and also played a one-on-one challenge game which saw Simon 'Practice' Hall beat Richard 'Classics' Gottfried 108 to 96 having scored a Turkey in the tenth frame!
 

On the night the team also had a couple of wins in the Raffle! The evening of bowling and the raffle raised a total of £448 for the Mayor of Luton’s charities.

One of the Raffle Prizes fails at Tenpin Bowling

The Ham & Eggers are looking forward to the next charity tenpin bowling event whenever that may be.

 

Ham & Eggers Tenpin Bowling Team Honours Board:
2012 - Mayor of Luton’s Charity Tenpin Bowling Challenge (2) - 1st
2012 - Mayor of Luton’s Charity Tenpin Bowling Challenge - 3rd
2010 - Macmillan Cancer Support Annual Bowling Challenge - 3rd
2009 - Macmillan Cancer Support Annual Bowling Challenge - 1st
2008 - Macmillan Cancer Support Annual Bowling Challenge - 3rd
2007 - Macmillan Cancer Support Annual Bowling Challenge - 6th

 

Other Tenpin Bowling Honours:
2011 - Namco Business Bowling Grand Final - 3rd (as EcoStyle)
2011 - Namco Business Bowling Heat Three - 2nd (as EcoStyle)
2011 - Namco Business Bowling Heat Two - 4th (as EcoStyle-CEuk)

 

Other Results:
2009 - Ham & Eggers play in the F.U.N. Charity Tenpin Bowling Competition
2009 - Tenpin Bowling - the '$1million' Challenge