Chad Valley Miniature Golf

Playing a 1960's Miniature Golf set.

My fellow minigolf enthusiast Paul 'Johnson Paul Johnson' Johnson recently acquired a 1960's Miniature Golf set made by Chad Valley and he kindly donated it to The Crazy Golf Museum.

The 9-hole Chad Valley 'Miniature golf' course was designed for indoor and outdoor play and includes two putters, balls, flags and tin plate holes

While at the Four Ashes Golf Centre in Dorridge last weekend we had to give the game a go.

Paul Johnson lines up a putt on a plateau hole

Putting using the Chad Valley miniature golf putters was very tricky

Chad Valley was founded in 1860 and the range of toys and games is now exclusively available at Argos.

Links:
- The Crazy Golf Museum
- Miniature Golf and Crazy Golf toys and games at The Crazy Golf Museum

Related blog posts:

- The Crazy Golf Museum

Novelty Automation arcade in London

A visit to London's Novelty Automation arcade.

We recently visited the excellent Novelty Automation amusement arcade near Holborn in London.

A nice relaxing break

We had great fun playing the mad arcade games. My favourite was definitely My Nuke - a personal nuclear reactor!

Playing on my own personal nuclear reactor

After 'successfully' playing the My Nuke game I received a piece of edible nuclear waster

The arcade is full of home-made games machines built by enthusiasts. And very well built they are too. Games include Test Your Nerve, Pet or Meat?, Chiropodist, Is it art?, The Expressive Photobooth, Divorce, Money Laundering, Cycle Pong, Alien Probe, Microbreak, Instant Eclipse and Autofrisk.

Getting an Autofrisk!

They have some great merchandise for sale too. I picked up some nice badges and a keyring.

Emily visited the Chiropodist

You can find Novelty Automation at 1a Princeton Street, London, WC1R 4AX and it's a five minute walk from Holborn Tube Station.

Cycle Pong was out of order. We'll give this two player game a play next time

It's open Wednesday to Saturday and admission is free. Each of the games costs between £1 and £3 to play - each is token operated.

The Alien Probe is a game of precision. And surprise

And what marvelous tokens they are too.

Brilliant tokens

I'm looking forward to returning.

A reason to return

If you're ever visiting the East Anglian coast then I suggest you also visit Southwold Pier as it's home to the original Under the Pier Show.

I was far better at Test Your Nerve in London than in Southwold

There's also a FREE TOKEN offer running at the moment - check out the Novelty Automation website for more info!

 I won at DIVORCE

Links:
- Novelty Automation website
- Novelty Automation on Twitter
- The Under the Pier Show website

Related blog posts:
- Novelty Automation amusement arcade in London
- Under the Pier Show - Southwold
- Southwold
- Amusement Arcades
- Ephemera

Some new minigolf kit from Fun-Sports

Updating my putter for the 2015 minigolf sport season.

A new putter rubber and a fancy looking ball 'picker upper' ready to add to my Fun-Sports Minigolf Sport Putter ready for the new season

Link:
- Fun-Sports website
- Fun-Sports on Facebook

Related blog posts:
- Crazy about Mini Golf Balls
- UK Mini Golf Competitions in 2015
- “Mr October” on a Minigolf Calendar!
- New (Minigolf) Balls Please
- What's in a Minigolf Kitbag?

Crazy about Mini Golf Balls

A blog about golf balls.

Practicing for the Blackpool Pleasure Beach Open - one of them went in. Eventually

As an avid collector of ephemera and souvenirs from the world of miniature golf I was interested to recently receive a follow on Twitter from Martyn Vallance @Logo_Golf_Balls.

Martyn is crazy about golf balls and has a collection of over 70,000!

Before I mentioned it, Martyn didn't realise there were quite so many specialist balls used in the sport of minigolf (not many people do unless they dip their toe into the sporty side of crazy golf).

Over 10,000 minigolf sport balls have been produced in the last 70 years!

With a Metro Golf Centre Mini Golf branded golf ball on a visit to play the 9-hole course in Barnet in 2010

Each minigolf sport ball has special qualities that allow for a variety of shots to be played on the range of different courses and obstacles - the balls range from 'dead' where there is no bounce, through to super bouncy balls for multiple rebounds.

A selection of minigolf sport balls I took to a recent tournament weekend in Hastings

Together with my fellow curator of the Virtual Crazy Golf Museum, Tim 'Ace Man' Davies, we've built up quite a collection of stuff from all types of minigolf, from scorecards, pencils, leaflets and postcard, to pin badges, tokens, jigsaw puzzles and games. Tim has even found a sugar cube from a minigolf course!

We've also got a lot of balls between us. Check out the 'Other Miniature Golf Ephemera' page on the Crazy Golf Museum website for more info and pics.

A set of four golf balls from the KISS Glow-in-the-Dark Indoor Minigolf course in Las Vegas

I've also had a look through my collection and dug out the following 'normal' golf balls that are branded with minigolf-specific info and/or are tournament approved balls. I've also picked out a selection of my favourite minigolf sport balls.

The other side of a KISS by Monster Mini Golf ball

A World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF) approved competition ball

The other side of a special WMF branded ball given to delegates at the WMF Media Workshop in Vienna, Austria in 2010

A British Minigolf Association golf ball used at the 2013 World Crazy Golf Championships in Hastings

The other side of the World Crazy Golf Championship ball

A ball from the Japanese Putter King minigolf franchise and app

The other side of the Putter King minigolf ball

The official ball of the World Crazy Golf Championship 2014

A ball from the mini-golf course that was in Devonshire Square, London in 2009

A ball given to people who played the Lyle & Scott 'Wooly Golf' course in Covent Garden, London in 2012

The official ball of the 2008 Nations Cup minigolf tournament in Tampere, Finland - the event was me and Emily's debut for the Great Britain team 

The official ball of the 2011 World Adventure Golf Masters competition held in Hastings. The ball was made by 3D-Minigolf

The Finnish Heavy Gentlemen 100 Year Anniversary ball by 3D-Minigolf

The Minigolfnews.com ball #5 by Ravensburg

A Tim 'Ace Man' Davies Legends ball by M&G

A NIFO 2 minigolf sport ball - a great ball to use on many minigolf lanes (holes). Made by NIFO

A Fun-Sports 2 ball - there are a number of Fun-Sports balls and they're a good entry level type of ball to use

In 2009 I won the Blackpool Pleasure Beach Open minigolf competition held on the 12-hole Adventure Golf course in the seaside resort. The trophy I was presented for winning the tournament was a magnificent and BIG golf ball mounted on a wooden plinth

Check out the @Logo_Golf_Balls to keep up-to-date with Martyn's collection as it continues to grow, as well as The Crazy Golf Museum for all things mini and crazy golf-related.

Links:
- @Logo_Golf_Balls
- The Crazy Golf Museum
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Related blog posts:
- New (Minigolf) Balls Please
- What's in a Minigolf Kitbag?
- Some new minigolf kit from Fun-Sports
- Ephemera
- Merchandise

Zombies!!! 13: DEFCON Z board game

Backing a Kickstarter campaign for the latest addition to the Zombies!!! board game series.

Earlier this year I spotted that the team at Twilight Creations were launching a Kickstarter campaign for the latest addition to the post-apocalyptic survival horror game series and knew I had to chip in to the funding.

I'm a big fan of games, horror and zombies and while playing many of the editions and expansions of the Zombies!!! and Humans!!! games I'd noticed that the ruined cityscapes and environments in the Zombies!!! universe were lacking something that many towns and cities have.

You guessed it - a miniature golf course!

I was one of fifteen Tile Designers who backed the project and so now 'Squires Minigolf' is a playable part of the game!

The ruined, derelict and overrun Squires Minigolf course in the new Zombies!!! board game

Zombies!!! 13: DEFCON Z sees the military, the CDC and others begin the fightback against the zombie menace and takes place in the years after the original outbreak caused the end of the world as we know it!

Zombies!!! 13: DEFCON Z box front

The Zombies!!! games are very high quality - with great artwork on the event cards and game board tiles. There are also quite a few different types of zombie figures to kill (or avoid) in the game's universe - including humans, clowns, military enhanced zombies and zombie zoo animals!

Zombies!!! 13: DEFCON Z box reverse

Zombies!!! 13: DEFCON Z is a standalone expansion can be played in combination with Zombies!!! or in its own right. The set includes 25 map tiles (including the Minigolf course), 50 event cards, heart, bullet and new 'infection' tokens, dice, new player figures and 100 Zombies in four new poses.

What you get in the box - all ready to play!

The cast of characters - Zombies and Survivors

Check out the Twilight Creations website for more details and stockists of the Zombies!!! games and expansions, as well as other board and card games they make.

Back in 2011 we played in a Zombie Apocalypse outdoor laser tag event in Hastings. We were told that our group were the worst to ever play and so in the event of a Zombie Apocalypse we can all now rest easy in the knowledge that we would make better Zombies than survivors.

This year World Zombie Day is scheduled for Saturday 11 October!

Links:
- Twilight Creations website
- Twilight Creations on Facebook
- Zombies!!! 13: DEFCON Z Kickstarter page

KISS Monster Mini Golf in Las Vegas

A visit to the KISS Glow-in-the-Dark Indoor Minigolf course in Las Vegas, USA.

The entrance to KISS Monster Mini Golf in Las Vegas

Back in 2011 we heard about the unique KISS Rock n’ Roll-themed attraction that would be opening in fabulous Las Vegas in 2012 and on Emily's recent trip to the city she went along for a round. She tells me it was amazing.

And by the look of the great photos she took it certainly does!

The tee-off area for hole 1 at the 18-hole KISS Monster Mini Golf course 

The course is in a nice wide-open space and filled with some BIG minigolf obstacles

Emily putting into The Demon's mouth at KISS Monster Mini Golf

Janie about to putt in the nicely themed course

A view of the KISS Monster Mini Golf course

This hole had a sneaky shortcut to the cup

During your round the course's own DJ gives your group a shout-out!

Playing the right shot on this hole makes 'KISS' perform on stage!

Emily lining up a putt at KISS Monster Mini Golf

It's always great to wear white clothes when playing indoor black light minigolf courses

One of the BIG minigolf obstacles on the KISS Monster Mini Golf course

This hole had a small volcano obstacle on it

The fiery volcano

Indoor black light courses do look great with their contrast of colours

Playing against her international tournament rival Janie Peace, Emily won in a very close contest with a score of 46 to Janie's 48.

In addition to the 18-hole blacklight Mini Golf course the venue has an amusement arcade, Wedding Chapel, KISS Cafe, KISS Gallery and the largest KISS Gift Shop in the World!

KISS Monster Mini Golf is much more than just a minigolf course!

You can get married at the KISS Monster Mini Golf course's own KISS-themed Wedding Chapel!

The huge fish tank made for the course by the team from Fish Tank Kings

There looks to be an air hockey table in the large amusement arcade at the course

Emily got me some great merch from the KISS Gift Shop - including a t-shirt and four minigolf balls.

The HUGE KISS Gift Shop

The course can be found at 4503 Paradise Road (near to the Hard Rock Hotel) and is open seven days a week from 10am until midnight. For more information and prices check out the KISS Monster Mini Golf website.

KISS Monster Mini Golf looks great and has some HUGE obstacles and decorations around the course. I've enjoyed playing the indoor black light courses we've visited over the years. In the UK you can find two in Castleford and our friend Jam tells us there's one in Paignton too. I can't wait to play at the KISS course.

Monster Mini Golf create themed indoor glow-in-the-dark 18-hole minigolf courses. Each location is unique and custome designed and there are around 30 Monster Mini Golf courses in the USA and Canada. You can find out more about the courses, franchising and locations on the Monster Mini Golf website.

The course was the 580th visited on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and the 346th played.

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Las Vegas
- New Indoor Minigolf Course Opening in Las Vegas - KISS Minigolf by Monster Mini Golf

Links:
- Monster Mini Golf website
- KISS Monster Mini Golf website
- Monster Mini Golf on Twitter
- KISS Monster Mini Golf on Twitter
- Monster Mini Golf - KISS, Las Vegas on Facebook
- Las Vegas 'tagged' Blog Posts on The Ham & Egger Files
- Merchandise