UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships 2015

The date and venue for the 2015 edition of the UK Rock Paper Scissors Championship have been announced!

This year the popular sporting contest will be taking place on Saturday 21 November at the Green Man Pub in London.

Facing Neil 'Razor' Ruddock in a warm-up match at the International Rock Paper Scissors Championships in 2012

For more information check out the Wacky Nation website and UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships Facebook page.

Emily and I have competed in a number of RPS contests organised by the team at Wacky Nation. Our best performance was in the International Rock Paper Scissors Team Championships in 2012 when, along with two team-mates from the USA, we represented San Marino and finished fourth!

The 'wildcard' team from San Marino at the 2012 International Rock Paper Scissors Championships in London. From l-r Richard Gottfried, Emily Gottfried, Sophie Barry, Dave Barry

Related blog posts:
- Rock Paper Scissors

Links:
- Wacky Nation
- UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships

UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships 2014

Date announced for the 2014 UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships.

The team at Wacky Nation have announced that this year's UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships will take place on Saturday 4th of October at the Green Man Pub, Central London!

Entries are now open and will see 128 athletes battle it out to be the UK's numero one best Janken player.

Emily and I have competed in a number of Wacky Nation RPS events and have always found the organised chaos to be great fun.

Richard Gottfried (San Marino) takes on his arch-nemesis in RPS Neil 'Razor' Ruddock (Man Lab) in an International Rock Paper Scissors 'friendly' match in 2012

The UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships will take place from 6 til 10pm on Saturday 4th of October you can currently register for early bird tickets to compete in the 8th annual spectacular on the Eventbrite page.

More details can be found on the UK Rock Paper scissors Facebook page and website, and over at the Wacky Nation site.

Rock Paper Scissors Fact - If you come from Woking, Surrey you stand a very good chance of winning the event. Ask Max Deeley if you don't believe me.

The host venue - The Green Man is a very good Wetherspoon pub too.

Links:

- Wacky Nation

- UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships

- RPS-related blog posts on The Ham & Egger Files

Date of the 2013 UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships Announced!

2013 UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships to take place in London on the 23rd of November!

The date for the 2013 UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships has been announced! The big event will be taking place on Saturday 23rd of November.

Taking place at the Knights Templar Pub on Chancery Lane in London, the three hour UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships will see 250 competitors battle it out for the top prize of UK Champ, a trophy and £100 in prize money.

Emily and I have competed in a number of the Wacky Nation organised Rock Paper Scissors tournaments and always found them great fun. In the 2012 International Rock Paper Scissors Championships our team finished fourth, losing to Great Britain in the bronze medal match (we were San Marino).

Taking on football legend Neil 'Razor' Ruddock in a 2012 International Rock Paper Scissors 'friendly' match!

The reigning and defending UK RPS champion is Amy Rowe, who became the first woman to win a title that had previously been dominated by men hailing from Woking!

You can find out more about the 2013 event on the UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships and Wacky Nation websites.

Links:

- Wacky Nation

- 2013 UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships

- Rock Paper Scissors related blog posts

Report from the 2012 International Rock Paper Scissors Championships

Our “Wildcard” team from San Marino finish 4th!

On Thursday 9th August Emily and I headed to the Knight’s Templar Pub on Chancery Lane in London as it was the host venue for the 2012 International Rock Paper Scissors Championships organised by the team at Wacky Nation!

We’ve competed in the 2010 and 2011 UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships and the event is always a great sporting and drinking occasion.

With over 150 athletes in 16 teams representing a range of countries including Lapland, Austria, Japan and Great Britain, Emily and I teamed-up with fellow ‘wildcards’ Dave and Sophie Barry from the USA. As we couldn’t play as a combined "UK-USA" team we decided to represent San Marino!



The team from San Marino!



The Wacky Nation Rock Paper Scissors Championships attract a great deal of media attention and BBC 2’s James May and his Man Lab team had enlisted the help of 2011 UK RPS Champion Max Deeley. For some reason their team also included football hardman Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock!

Prior to the start of the competition I challenged ‘Razor’ to a friendly RPS contested to warm-up. Needless to say I won the one-throw shootout! It was an ill-tempered clash with plenty of foul language, gamesmanship and it almost resulted in a knock-out punch!

Richard Gottfried faces Neil 'Razor' Ruddock in an International Rock Paper Scissors 'friendly' match!

Neil 'Razor' Ruddock wasn't too pleased in losing to me in a Rock Paper Scissors match!

With the main event drawing ever closer the teams were divided into two pools and commenced with a series of Round Robin matches. Our team of Sammarinese players were in a division that also consisted of Lapland A, Austria, Japan, South Sudan and Somalia. Having had a few practice games within our team in order to get our throws right (throwing on two, not three pumps) we set out on our road to the knockout rounds.

Richard Gottfried (left) and a South Sudanese athlete both throw 'Rock'

Matches were played in a ‘first to four points’ format with each player in the team taking it in turns to win a point by competing in a ‘best of three’ Rock Paper Scissors game. Our team managed to rack up win loss record of won four, lost one to have one-foot in the finals. However before any teams could advance from our pool a play-off was required as Austria and Lapland A had also finished with four wins and one loss!

A play-off was required and thankfully our team were able to win both of our matches to advance alongside Lapland A, with the Austrians unfortunately sent home.

Reaching the semi-finals of the International Rock Paper Scissors Championships was the furthest stage of an RPS contest I’ve ever reached having been knocked out in the preliminaries in 2010 and 2011. Dave and Sophie’s play was very impressive and were on fire in their tournament debuts. Emily has reached the higher levels of competition and so had some experience to bring to the team.

The first semi-final saw San Marino take on the Vatican City team in a ‘first to six points’ match. Unfortunately we lost and were therefore unable to go for gold and would have a chance for the bronze in the repechage. Lapland A picked up a victory over Great Britain to reach the final and the veteran team, also known as The Richard Richard Danes Appreciation Society, would face the Vatican City.

Dave Barry (left) faces one of the Vatican City competitors

Before the final the bronze medal play-off was played between San Marino and Great Britain. The opening stages of the match echoed the famous fast goal by footballer Davide Gualtieri of San Marino against England in 1993. Much like that match the scoreline was one-sided and the result meant San Marino didn’t win.

The final match saw Lapland’s ‘A’ team take on the might of the Vatican City’s finest. This contest was played to seven points and with a huge and rowdy crowd watching on it was the Laplanders who won the contest, the gold medals, the huge trophy and the coveted title of International Rock Paper Scissors Champions!

Our team mate Dave Barry wrote about his experience in international sporting competition in his column for The Miami Herald! It’s a great report and do check it out at "Dave Barry: Representing a country is great feeling."

The 2012 UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships will be taking place at the Crosse Keys Pub in London on Saturday 13th October. For more information please visit Wacky Nation.

Links:

- Wacky Nation

- The Miami Herald - "Dave Barry: Representing a country is great feeling."

- 2012 UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships

Related Blog Posts:

- Report from the Sportingbet UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships 2011

- UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships 2010 - Report, Photos and Videos from the Event!

- All Rock Paper Scissors Blog Posts

Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in Pub Beer Gardens

Details of Pub Miniature Golf courses we've found on our travels

On our travels around the UK we've found Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses at a few Pubs along the way. Though not as many as we'd have liked!

Here are the links to the Pub Miniature Golf courses we've visited and played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour to date:

#10 Horse & Harrow Pub, West Hagbourne, Oxfordshire - Crazy Golf - Re-visited 2011

One of the holes at The Horse & Harrow Pub Crazy Golf in 2006

#11 The Green Man Pub, Stanford, Bedfordshire - Crazy Golf

A view of the now long-gone Crazy Golf course at The Green Man Pub

#110 Tudor Rose Inn, Fordingbridge, Hampshire - Miniature Golf - Update: October 2012 - the beer garden has had a makeover and the course is no longer there.

Playing a hole on the very good Miniature Golf course at The Tudor Rose Inn

#168 Maldon Grey Pub, Sudbury, Suffolk - Crazy Golf

A double-humped hole at The Maldon Grey Pub in Sudbury

#249 The Sutton Staithe Hotel, near Stalham, Norfolk - Moosey's Miniature Golf

Playing on the course in the beer garden of The Sutton Staithe Hotel

- The Pitch & Putt Inn - North Shore Holiday Centre, Skegness, Lincolnshire - Pitch & Putt Course (did not play) and a Miniature Golf Course (#233)

- Not played (visit #223 overall) - The Dolphin Pub, Melbourn, Cambridgeshire - Derelict 4-hole Crazy Golf - Re-visit 2011

- Not played (Pub under reconstruction) - Aber Falls Tavern, Abergwyngregyn, Wales - Crazy Golf

- Not played (too early, Pub not open) - The Woolpack Inn, Smeeth, Kent - Crazy Golf

- Not played (no course there any more) - The Bell Pub, Wendens Ambo, Saffron Walden, Essex - Mini Golf

- Not played (hotel guests only) - The Portobello Gold Pub & Hotel, London - Mini Golf on a Roof Terrace

- A visit to the Smallest Pub on the Planet - now has a Mini-Minigolf Course in the 'Games Area' - see "A Miniature Golf course at the Smallest Pub on the Planet"

In June 2011 Uncle Stuart's Brewery at Wroxham Barns in Norfolk brewed a special commemorative beer for the BMGA English Open - it was called the 19th Hole!

In February 2016 we played the Plonk Golf course in the beer garden at the Duke of Edinburgh pub in Brixton, London.

Link to other courses we've visited and played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Looking at the course lists on the excellent MiniatureGolfer.com website there are a few other Pub courses in England too.

Our friends at The Putting Penguin in the USA have also played some Mini-Golf courses in pubs and have set up courses at the Cambridge House Brew Pub in Connecticut!

Other Pub-related Blog Posts on The Ham & Egger Files:

- 2011 UK Thumb Wrestling Championships at The Triangle Tavern in Lowestoft, Suffolk

- 2011 UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships at The Knights Templar Pub on Chancery Lane, London

- 2010 UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships at The Durell Arms Pub in Fulham, London

- Darts in London - The Jolly Anglers Pub in Wood Green, London

- Another new game played – Bar Billiards

Report from the Sportingbet UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships 2011

Sportingbet UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships 2011

On Saturday 22nd October the 2011 Sportingbet UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships took place at The Knights Templar Pub on Chancery Lane, London. Over 200 people took part in the Individual and Team Competitions at the event organised by the team at Wacky Nation, with 128 players battling to become the 2011 UK RPS Champion. For the third year running the winner came from Woking! With the 2011 honours going to Max Deeley.

Photo: From l-r Oliver 'The Machine' Florence, Paul 'The Terminator' Jones, 'Squire' Richard Gottfried, Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley - note Richard & Marc throwing the illegal RPS move of 'Sausage'

Our group of six players had a mixed bag of results in the individual competition, with Oliver 'The Machine' Florence doing the best of the bunch and reaching the Semi-Finals, having had to face-off against, and defeat, team-mate Emily 'Lemony' Gottfried in the third round. The third round loss for Emily was the same stage she exited the 2010 UK RPS Championships. Of note was the fact that both Ollie and Emily received 'Byes' in the first round of the contest as their opponents were in no condition to perform!

Photo: 2011 UK RPS Contender Oliver 'The Machine' Florence shows off his t-shirt prize for reaching the Semi-Finals

The 2011 tournament used a knockout format rather than the round-robin system employed last year, this meant that players were only guaranteed one match and Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd was the first of our group to fall, losing in the first round. I followed soon after with a straight 2-nil defeat. Brad and I were in good company in our losing efforts, as the 2010 UK RPS Champion - Paul Lewis - also fell at the first hurdle.

Photo: Richard shows that three hands are not better than two

Photo: Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd (bottom right) cuts a lonely figure having crashed out in the first round

Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley was the only member of our troupe to be drawn on the rowdier Table One, but despite nerves on his debut won through round one. However, in round two he was drawn to face a giant of a man who almost dislocated 'The Roller's' shoulder in the opening handshake! This obviously impaired Bazeley who unfortunately lost the match and decided to make the long journey back to Wellingborough, but not before he gave a post-match interview.

In the Team contest 16 teams of four players lined-up to be crowned Champions. Our team - The Guild of Rock Paper Scissors - finished in tied 5th/6th place, alongside longtime Dodgeball rivals the WDW, following a win in the first round, but a loss in the Quarter Finals. The team consisted of myself, Emily, Ollie and Paul 'The Terminator' Jones, who didn't enter the individual event but instead spent his time sharking people in Challenge RPS matches.

Photo: The Guild of Rock Paper Scissors (GoRPS) in their lair before the team tournament. From l-r 'Squire' Richard Gottfried, Paul 'The Terminator' Jones, Oliver 'The Machine' Florence, Emily 'Lemony' Gottfried - once again note the players throwing the illegal RPS manouvre of 'Sausage'!

Ahead of the tournament the competition sponsor Sportingbet had a betting special running with a number of different markets priced up. Emily and I managed to recoup some of our spending with a win on the winning hand combination.

Photo: The Guild of Rock Paper Scissors (GoRPS) team. From l-r Paul 'The Terminator' Jones, 'Squire' Richard Gottfried, Emily 'Lemony' Gottfried, Oliver 'The Machine' Florence

You can view a number of videos from the 2011 (and 2010) UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships on my YouTube Channel.

You can also register your interest to compete in the 2012 UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships on the UK RPS website.

Links:
- Wacky Nation Website
- UK RPS Official Website
- The Rules of Rock Paper Scissors
- GoRPS Rock Paper Scissors Championships in Birmingham
- Rock Paper Scissors Tournament at The Crown in Bristol
- The Weymouth Preliminaries Rock Paper Scissors Contest
- RPS-101
- Sportingbet
- UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships 2010 - Report, Photos and Videos from the Event!