Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - update from Wales

A blog post from a wonderful weekend in Wales.

I've just returned from a brilliant weekend away in Wales. Hours and hours of minigolf on some new courses, superb weather and visits to some new seasides added up to a lot of fun.

It's always nice to see a shark obstacle on a minigolf course

I arrived in Wales at 10.40am on Saturday morning and my first stop was in Port Talbot town centre for a wander, a bit of charity shop shopping and some lunch. While there I spotted the outdoor market/car boot sale in a car park and was surprised to be able to add to a number of my collections by finding some retro 80's toys, pin badges and amusement park tokens! The weekend got off to a bright start.

After checking in at the excellent Aberavon Beach Hotel on the seafront I went straight to the Pirate Cove Adventure Golf course to practice for the Welsh Mini Golf Club's Doubles Championship.

The Pirate Cove Adventure Golf course in Aberavon

The 12-hole Pirate Cove Adventure Golf course became the 865th course visited and 516th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. Created by the Natural Play Company, it's a tricky layout and while there are hole-in-one opportunities, they are few and far between!

We warmed up for Sunday's tournament with a singles competition to celebrate National Miniature Golf Day. The in-form David Hartley added to his recent trophy haul by taking the win by one-shot, with Marion Hartley and me tied for second place.

Aberavon beach is such a lovely spot and provides spectacular views - Swansea Bay to the right and the steelworks to the left! It was a very nice place to spend time Putting.

Playing hole 12

Wandering along the prom I noticed an odd-shaped lump in the distance and upon closer inspection found it to be a huge concrete whale, surrounded by some penguins! I've been told that this was once part of another, long-gone, Crazy Golf course! I'd love to know more about Aberavon's Whale Park...

The Whale Park in Aberavon

It was the largest fake whale I've seen on my travels

Sunday's Welsh Mini Golf Club Doubles Championship was a great event to be a part of. The Welsh Mini Golf Club are relative newcomers to the world of minigolf and have put in a lot of effort to create new events, play at different courses and become competitive on the national minigolf tour.

The weather was perfect, with not a cloud in the sky and only a slight sea breeze. This, though would cause a lot of 'classic' minigolfer's sunburn by the end of the day!

I teamed up with my former Midlands Minigolf Club team-mate Seve Kukielka for the event and after a shaky middle patch we qualified from the round-robin group stage as group winners. This meant a semi-final clash with Cardiff's combination of Holly and Stewart aka the team of 'How Hard Can This Be?'. Seve and I - as the 'Natural Disasters' - avoided catastrophe and qualified for the final match against 'Sturgeon's Nightmares', the combination of Planet Hastings' Dave Gomm and the Welsh Mini Golf Club's Simon Brown, who had defeated Cindy Kukielka and Andrew Edmonds in the other semi-final.

Playing hole 11

The final itself was a very close match, with Dave and Simon leading by one-hole heading to the 12th. Simon managed to drain a long second putt to close out the match meaning Seve and I were runners-up. Even so it was a nice event to compete in and the new course was well suited to the doubles format.

The silver medalists with Martyn Williams, captain of the Welsh Mini Golf Club

As I love holidays/minigolf/the Welsh coast I was in no rush to head home on Monday and stopped off at Porthcawl as I'd seen there was a Putting Green in Griffin Park. Unfortunately it wasn't yet open for the season and the groundskeepers were working on a few other areas of the park to get it ready for the summer.

You can make out the shape of the holes at Griffin Park's Putting Green

We have been to Porthcawl before, although only to Trecco Bay Holiday Park where we played Adventure Golf back in 2009. So it was nice to explore a new seaside resort and play in some new amusement arcades.

The Hi-Tide amusement arcade in Porthcawl - can you see Pac-Man?

I'd recently heard from the team at Greenspan Projects that there was a brand new minigolf course at Fontygary Leisure Park in Rhoose and luckily for me that was on my route.

I do like a mining theme

It was great to have a round on the 18-hole Dragon's Quest Adventure Golf course. It looks really nice and has some interesting features, most noticeably the BIG red dragon!

The dragon breathes smoke at times too!

The Adventure Mini Golf course at Fontygary Leisure Park became the 887th visited and 517th played since September 2006.

What a view from the patio at Fontygary Leisure Park

My next stop was somewhere I know well, as my family had many happy holidays in Barry Island back in the 1980's and 1990's.

Barry Island is still recognisable from my time there 30 years ago, even though the holiday camp has been knocked down to make way for housing and a public car park.

They paved paradise

While in Barry Island I revisited a lot of my old haunts including the Quasar and had a nice chat with the owner who told me about it's history. It opened in July 1992, so I must've been one of the first players through the door on our summer holiday that year!

Me with a Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 Series 800 Terminator at Barry Island Quasar

Before I left I had a round on the Smuggler's Cove Adventure Golf course - a course we first played in 2009 - and had one last walk on the beach.

The Smuggler's Cove course at Barry Island was the 121st visited

Big Steve the seagull on Barry Island beach

Rather reluctantly, I left Barry Island for the trip back north to Stockport and re-entered England at 5.38pm.

I might look happy here - well, that is a double Pacer Railbus formation - but it was sad to leave Barry Island on such a lovely sunny day

All in all it was a marvellous weekend and I'm looking forward to my next trip to the Welsh coast already.

MK Winter Sporting Challenge - Minigolf/Adventure Golf, Air Hockey, Quasar Laser Tag & Pool

On Thursday 15th December 2011 me and Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley met up in Milton Keynes for a "Best-of-Three, no wait make it Best-of-Five Games Series" for the title of MK Winter Sporting Challenge Champion! We had planned to play a lot of Quasar Laser Tag at the Tenpin Mega Bowl at MK Leisure Plaza, however there were no spaces in games until 9pm! So with time to spare we headed to the brand new Pirate Island Adventure Golf at the Abbey Hill Golf Centre for a game of Minigolf.

Photo: Not me & Marc having a Pirate Battle on a Minigolf Island!

As I had arrived in MK before Marc, I had managed to get a game in beforehand (making it minigolf course #281 played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour!). Not that my warm-up game helped too much in our challenge match. Under floodlight conditions we hit the 18-hole course and it's excellent Pirate-theming for a match played in very cold conditions.

Photo: Marc Putting on a Double Plateau Hole

Photo: Richard on a Raft attached to a Minigolf Island

To say the match was one-sided in the early stages would be an understatement as Marc, the BMGA British #89, raced ahead over the Front-9 holes.

Video - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley Plays the 10th Hole at Pirate Island Adventure Golf:

Photo: Marc has a testing second Putt on the 18th hole

But by the 17th hole the match was level on both Strokeplay and Matchplay! I stepped up first and hit a two, Marc played his first shot which ended in the rocks, played his second and waited... and it ran just passed the hole and he had to settle for a very unfortunate three. The final scores - Richard 52, Marc 53.

Game One - Winner - 'Squire' Richard Gottfried

Following the Minigolf match we decided to head back to the Mega Bowl to have a warm game of Quasar.

While we were waiting for the 9pm game slot we decided to have a game of the Crazy Golfers Favourite - Air Hockey. Despite leading for most of the (10-minute!) match I lost 8-9 after scoring an own goal in injury time. The game conditions were quite interesting, with just two of us and with no Emily to fetch #TheMan when the Puck went flying off the table there were a lot more throw-ins than usual!

Game Two - Winner - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley

With 9pm approaching we headed to the check-in desk, signed the disclaimer (no running, no swearing, no fighting, no rifle-butts to the face etc.), found out that it would just be a one-on-one match and then waited to be called through to the Briefing Room. While we were waiting to go through Marc had the opportunity to have his photo taken with one of his Minigolf heroes!

Photo: Marc and his Minigolf Hero

Once in the Briefing Room the man said that before we could play we would have to watch "The DVD"! He seemed quite apologetic that we'd have to sit through it, however Marc and I were quite excited as in all the times we've played Laser Tag we've never had a briefing through a TV/DVD! The video was very informative, told us we were playing "Q-2000" and that once the film was over we'd be led to "The Vesting Room"!

The Milton Keynes Quasar Arena was very maze-like, with narrow passages leading to a central hub. With the game beig a solo battle the bases were unfortunately not in play. The game saw each of us trying to track the other down and in the quite big arena you had to take your opportunities and use the element of surprise on your opponent. Marc managed to do this and scored more hits, ending the game with a win for the REDS.

Photo: RED Marc and GREEN Richard

In the Quasar Stats for our game Marc was playing as RED 9 while I was GREEN 12. Marc won with a Hit Ratio of 0.9% after firing 855 shots and scoring 1,600 points! Inconceivably I was shown to have fired 4,003 times in our battle and ended with a Hit Ratio of 0.1% and 1,000 points!?

In the Never Ending Laser Tag War waged between the forces of the REDS, BLUES, GREENS, and YELLOWS players in the Laser Tag Rankings have taken part in Laser Battles in 'laser-war-torn' places including Birmingham, Hemel Hempstead, Bristol, London, Peterborough, Crawley, New Brighton, Cannock, Whitstable, Skegness, Rayleigh and Milton Keynes.

Updated Laser Tag Rankings following the MK Battle:

Click to enlarge image

Game Three - Winner - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley

With the series at two-wins-to-one in Marc's favour we headed to the Pool tables. The table we played on seemed to have a bit of a slope and was also a bit troublesome if you were shooting from one end of it, as you had to open the door to the Hurricane Simulator arcade machine to get any sort of leverage!?

The other Pool table was out of order, but happened to be the one with any chalk in the chained up chalk holder!

In our match Marc won, with me still having three balls left to pot when Marc nailed the black for victory.

Game Four - Winner - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley

After playing Pool we (I) tried to make the series a best-of-seven event, but Super Mario Kart wouldn't accept any of our coins and someone had jammed a pound coin and a ten pence piece in the coin slot of Out Run 3, putting paid to any chance of another win for me.

Overall Champion of the MK Winter Sporting Challenge - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley

Ultimate MK Games Champion Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley said "I knew it was going to be tough, especially after the minigolf. But I always believed in myself and that belief was justified."

Perennial Runner-Up ‘Squire’ Richard Gottfried said “Well done to Marc on his big win at the games. It was well deserved indeed and he was unlucky not to beat me at the Minigolf too! I’m looking forward to some more games of Laser Tag and visits to #TheButtons soon.”

The new Pirate Island Adventure Golf course at Abbey Hill Golf Centre in Two Mile Ash is well worth a visit and we'll be heading back again. Hopefully we'll get to play the Quasar with more people next time too.

Links:
- Pirate Island Adventure Golf at Abbey Hill Golf Centre
- Tenpin - Milton Keynes
- Blog Posts - Air Hockey
- Blog Post - Quasar in Milton Keynes
- Blog Post - A new Mini Golf course in Milton Keynes - Pirate Island Adventure Golf at the Abbey Hill Golf Centre
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Quasar in Great Yarmouth - Still Not Played

On our latest trip to Great Yarmouth we were unable to play the Quasar Laser Tag as the man at The Mint Amusement Arcade was unable to start the game up with only two players.

We also visited Great Yarmouth in June and didn't play then either, having missed the start of the game.

The neon Quasar sign has lost an 'A' since our last visit.

Quasar Elite in Hemel Hempstead - 2 Blues vs 1 Red

Last weekend a fierce Laser Tag Battle took place at the Quasar Elite Centre in Hemel Hempstead, Herts. Luckily for our intrepid party of three we were able to have the run of the four-zone arena to ourselves!

The battle saw a classic Boys Against Girls Match take place, with me and our nephew Kallum (The Blues) taking on Emily (The Reds).

The Blues won!

I was first, with Emily 2nd, and Kallum picking up 'Bronze'!

Very good fun indeed.

Blog post from our last visit to the Quasar Elite in Hemel Hempstead in March 2011 (they've had a paint job on the outside and had new signs put up since then).

Laser Tag Rankings - Update

The Laser Tag Rankings have had a slight change, in that Kallum Harper enters the list at number 11.

In the Ongoing Laser Tag War that rages between the forces of the REDS, BLUES, GREENS, and YELLOWS we've all taken part in Laser Battles in 'laser-war-torn' places including Birmingham, Hemel Hempstead, Bristol, London, Peterborough, Crawley, New Brighton, Cannock, Whitstable and Skegness.

Quasar in Great Yarmouth - Biggest in 'Great Britainshire'!?

On our visit to Great Yarmouth on Sunday 5th June 2011 we visited the 'Biggest Quasar in Great Britainshire' (according to the advert playing outside The Mint amusement arcade).

The 30 minute games are £5 each and are played out over a two-level Laser Tag arena. The games start on the hour, and as we had just bumped into fellow Minigolf tourist Peter Jones and I had spent time chatting to him about the Arnold Palmer course in the town, we missed the start of the next game by seven minutes.

As big fans of Laser Tag in all its forms we'll play there on our next visit.

No Quasar Action at Colchester's Rollerworld

In what seems to be a continuing theme in our 'sporting entertainment' travels we headed to Colchester yesterday afternoon, and on visiting the Quasar Laser Tag centre at Rollerworld we found it didn't open until 7pm on Sundays!

Back in the very early days of my Blogging and when we were first heading off on roadtrips around the UK's seasides we headed to Great Yarmouth & Lowestoft, only to find each and every one of the Minigolf courses to be closed!

Other Ham & Egger Files Blog Posts About Laser Tag

Latest Laser Tag Rankings - Update after Whitstable 'Solo Stun' Battle!

Here is the update to the Laser Tag Rankings (since January 2011 to 10th April 2011):

Click to enlarge ranking list

In the Ongoing Laser Tag War that rages between the forces of the REDS, BLUES, GREENS, and YELLOWS we've all taken part in Laser Battles in 'laser-war-torn' places including Birmingham, Hemel Hempstead, Bristol, London, Peterborough, Crawley, New Brighton, Cannock and Whitstable.

The Latest Laser Tag Battle - Lazer Rush in Whitstable

The Laser Tag War continues to rage between the forces of the REDS, BLUES, GREENS, and YELLOWS.

The latest battle took place at the Lazer Rush centre in Whitstable, Kent, on Sunday 10th April, with me, Emily and Oliver Florence fighting in a 'Solo Stun' game amongst eleven players in the two-level arena.

In the all-against-all battle I was runner-up to an eleven-year-old kid, Emily was 3rd, and Ollie was 4th. On a Grand National weekend we would have been a good punt with an each-way bet!

Of our group of 3 'Rebels', Ollie had the best Accuracy Rating with 57%, Emily had 51% and with my scattergun/machinegun approach (and 478 shots fired!) I was ranked last on Accuracy with 21%

For the Record, I was a (quite ORANGEY) RED, while Ollie and Emily wore GREEN.

Our Laser Tag Battles have now taken place 'laser-war-torn' places including Birmingham, Hemel Hempstead, Bristol, London, Peterborough, Crawley, New Brighton, Cannock and Whitstable.

Website of Lazer Rush.

Quasar in Milton Keynes

On our trundle around Beds and Bucks yesterday we headed to Milton Keynes as I was sure there was a Laser Tag there.

I thought there was one at the Xscape centre, but we found I was wrong, there is however a Quasar Laser Tag at the Tenpin Bowling Centre at the MK Leisure Plaza.


We were going to have a game, but with a battle having just begun and the next one exclusively for a kids birthday party we would have had to wait for a while to play. We have decided to head back in the near future.


Looking at the scoreboard at the centre, the war-raging at the MK Quasar was a classic struggle between the REDS and the GREENS.

With no new battle between us taking place in Milton Keynes the Laser Tag Rankings remain the same.