Skate Hockey Air Hockey at Harbour Park in Littlehampton

While in Littlehampton last week we visited Harbour Park, home to the Sharksville Adventure Golf course, and while having a look around the other amusements we spotted a very interesting Air Hockey table - Skate Hockey!

The 'half-pipe' Skate Hockey air hockey table at Littlehampton's Harbour Park

Sadly we didn't have time for a game on this occasion.

I'm sure our fellow minigolfers could get very competitive with the game!

Air Hockey-related blog posts on The Ham & Egger Files.

Chris 'Who' Harding wins the 2013 Worlds Crazy Air Hockey Championship!

Report, photos and video from the 2013 Worlds Crazy Air Hockey Championship in Hastings.

A packed house

When Crazy Golfers are not Crazy Golfing they can often be found lurking and loitering in the warmth of an Amusement Arcade.

In a tradition stretching back to 2010 minigolfers have enjoyed playing the game of Air Hockey and the 2013 championship promised lots of action and excitement. It certainly didn't disappoint.

With reigning and previous Worlds Crazy Air Hockey Champions competing, including 2012 winner - Finnish Bruiser Pasty Aho - and the man/myth/legend Peter '5 Star' Jones returning to both Minigolf and Air Hockey action in Hastings.

With a densely packed, competitive and eager field of 30 athletes lined-up it was down to the very busy Buttons Committee to do the draw to see who would face-off in the contest to win the £1 sterling prize money, and most importantly the title of "Best Air Hockey Playing Crazy Golfer in Hastings at the End of October".

International Air Hockey action

After what seemed like hours of play, especially as the tournament was preceded by the Worlds Tat Challenge, the final came down to a battle between two English competitors as Martin Greenhead faced off with Chris Harding.

Video of the final.

Full results:

(All players ENG, unless otherwise stated)
First round
1. Jouni Valkjarvi (FIN) defeated Ruth Burke 7-1
2. Dave Donnelly (IRE) lost to Mark Wood 4-1
3. Ted McIver (SCO) beat James Rutherford 7-5
4. Chris Harding  whitewashed John Moore 7-0
5. Keith Kellard bested Marc Chapman 7-4
6. Scott Lancley defeated Daniel Cottam 7-4
7. Adam Kelly received a bye
8. Pasi Aho (FIN) beat Will Donnelly 5-0
9. Alex Exall defeated Chris Wood 6-4
10. Steve Sturdy received a bye
11. Matt Dodd beat Helen Dodd 6-4
12. Steve Lovell won against Brian Smith 6-5
13. Terry Exall bested Jonathan Mather 5-4
14. Paul Johnson Paul Johnson Johnson lost to Peter Jones 7-3
15. Neil Cottam beat Ollie Greenhead 6-4
16. Martin Greenhead won against Christian ‘Anthony Pope’ Fuchs (GER) 7-4

Second round
1. Mark Wood bested Jouni Valkjarvi 7-3
2. Ted McIver lost to Chris Harding 7-4
3. Keith Kellard defeated Scott Lancley 5-4
4. Adam Kelly lost to Pasi Aho 7-1
5. Alex Exall beat Steve Sturdy 7-3
6. Matt Dodd defeated Steve Lovell 6-4
7. Terry Exall won against Peter Jones 6-4
8. Martin Greenhead bested Neil Cottam 7-4

Quarter finals
1. Chris Harding beat Mark Wood
2. Keith Kellard won against Pasi Aho 7-3
3. Alex Exall defeated Matt Dodd 7-6
4. Terry Exall lost to Martin Greenhead 7-5

Semi finals
1. Chris Harding beat Keith Kellard 4-1
2. Martin Greenhead defeated Alex Exall 7-2

Grand final
- Chris Harding defeated Martin Greenhead 7-4

In the most thrilling and most controversial match former Worlds Champion Peter Jones faced Terry Exall.

Peter 'The Puckmaster' Jones vs. Terry 'The Master Pucker' Exall in a fiery match-up

The match finished with a win to Exall, and utter disgust from Jones who threw his paddle across the table and into the path of Terry who recoiled in fear, only to be saved by the net!

In the immediate aftermath of the hot-blooded match Jones was heard to say the table robbed him of the win claiming "You can get better Air Hockey tables from Argos. The air flow on the table in that match was terrible."

Terry, ever gracious in victory, merely said at the the end of the competition "I didn't care about winning the whole thing, as long as I didn't lose to Peter Jones."

The event was a true one and is unlikely to be repeated.

Until next year that is when it'll take place at the same sort of time in the same place. Unless Peter Jones'ses'es behaviour has seen us all banned from the Old Town Buttons.

Until next time. Peace.

Worlds Crazy Air Hockey Championships Hall of Fame:

2013 Chris Harding (ENG)

2012 Pasi Aho (FIN)

2011 Peter Jones (WAL)

2010 Kevin Moseley (ENG)

World Adventure Air Hockey Hall of Fame:

2013 Pasi Aho (FIN/GER)

The Undisputed International Worlds Crazy Air Squash Championships Hall of Fame:

2010* Scott Lancley (ENG)

* Note: the Air Squash tables were removed soon after, meaning the tournament became a 'normal' Air Hockey event.

Related blog posts:

- Air Hockey blog posts

Report from the 2013 World £2 Tat Challenge in Hastings

Rookie Player Wins World Title on his Debut in Hastings!

As has become tradition, following the first day’s play of the World Crazy Golf Championships an open-call went out to all of the players to participate in the World £2 Tat Challenge.

For the second year in a row a total of 30-players heeded the call and headed over to the hallowed venue that is what Wembley is to football, Twickenham is to Rugby Union, The Crucible is to Snooker (and indeed what Hastings Seafront is to Crazy Golf) – the Old Town Amusement Arcade!

The winner and losers from the 2013 World £2 Tat Challenge

With players changing their £2 stake into 2 penny pence pieces the rules briefing was given by Messrs Lancley and Gottfried before the call to arms was given.

2013 also saw the Buttons Committee make a radical change to the rules – with a 20-minute time-limit imposed! This meant that the play would be even more fast paced than usual and that bit more risky for the more canny ratty competitors who will often wait until their opponents are out of tuppenny bits to make their move and clean-up.

Scott 'Donkey Gringo' Lancley enforcing the rules

The frenetic competition took some of the newcomers by surprise and with some of the veterans sticking to tried and tested methods that weren’t quite right for the new format the results were very interesting indeed.

With time ticking down the players entered their scores with official referee Emily ‘Lemony’ Gottfried to record for the ages.

Taking an early tie in the clubhouse was the reigning and defending champion ‘Squire’ Richard Gottfried on five bits, with the lead shared by debutees Chris Hillman and Helen Dodd, along with Tat Veteran Trevor Exall and second time competitor Chris Wood.

Fast-paced action from the ratters, tatters and sharks - Steve Sturdy looks particularly confused/angry at being robbed of a prize by the looks of it!

Former World Tat Challenge Champions Paul ‘Johnson Paul Johnson’ Johnson then scored seven pieces to scoop the lead.

This group was soon trumped by William Edwards who amassed a total of eight pieces. With a few players left to declare at the end of the twenty-minute contest the contestants awaited the result. Sly old fox Terry ‘Cockney Tel’ Exall approached the ref with quite a haul, but 2013 was not to be his year, as he had managed to score an impressive, but not quite good enough unlucky seven pieces of tat to tie for second place.

Lemony and Donkey Gringo count up the final rankings

That meant that the new and undisputed 2013 World £2 Tat Challenge Champion was William ‘Insert Nickname’ Edwards who was elated to be crowned champion, receive the entire bag of goodies and the respect of his fellow competitors.

The 2013 World £2 Tat Challenge Champion - William 'Sideshow Bob' Edwards

Over the weekend William scored a remarkably unique Grand Slam of victories – winning the World Title in the Tat Challenge and finishing last of all the competitors (that managed to finish the six qualifying rounds) in the World Crazy Golf Championships!

While a grand total of 91 pieces of tat was won by the 30 players, there were two-player who ‘did a Chappers-Smith’ and drew a blank – these were Christian ‘Anthony Pope’ Fuchs and Steve ‘Teen Wolf’ Lovell who remarked he “should of put his mask and wolf hands in the prize pot.”

Top international player was Finland’s Pasi ‘Bruiser’ Aho from Germany who scored three, just edging out Spain’s Núria Meléndez Orriols who recorded two. ‘The Fox’ Christian Fuchs got the international ‘bronze’ after scoring nil.

Rank Player Country Tat Won

1 William Edwards ENG 8

2 Paul Johnson ENG 7

2 Terry Exall ENG 7

4 Richard Gottfried ENG 5

4 Trevor Exall ENG 5

4 Chris Wood ENG 5

4 Chris Hillman ENG 5

4 Helen Dodd ENG 5

9 Adam Kelly ENG 4

9 Keith Kellard ENG 4

11 Pasi Aho FIN 3

11 Steve Sturdy ENG 3

11 Kate Kelly ENG 3

11 John Moore ENG 3

11 Matt Dodd ENG 3

11 Ollie Greenhead ENG 3

11 Ruth Burke ENG 3

18 Will Donnelly ENG 2

18 Martin Greenhead ENG 2

18 Mark Wood ENG 2

18 Elizabeth Edwards ENG 2

18 Núria Meléndez Orriols SPA 2

23 Marc Chapman ENG 1

23 Steve Gow ENG 1

23 Brian Smith ENG 1

23 Gillian Edwards ENG 1

23 Neil Cottam ENG 1

23 Daniel Cottam ENG 1

29 Christian Fuchs GER 0

29 Steve Lovell  ENG 0

£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)

#7 - Richard Gottfried and Mike Small - a tie with 32 pieces of Tat each

#8 - William Edwards - 8 pieces of Tat (World Title)

£2 Tat Challenge Order of Merit Ranking List:

The £2 Tat Challenge Order of Merit Ranking List

Related Blog Posts:

- 2013 World Adventure Tat and Air Hockey Challenges!

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

- Tat Challenge blog posts

Back blogging...

A crazily busy month both in and out of Minigolf!

The last month has been very busy what with moving house from sunny Luton to sunny Leagrave.

Still, this hasn’t stopped us from our Minigolf adventures and I will be writing some new blog posts detailing a couple of new Miniature Golf course visits on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour, plus reports and photos from the third WMF World Adventure Golf Masters Tournament in Hastings (along with the off course Bar Billiards, Tat and Air Hockey shenanigans) and updates on our rankings in the WMF and the BMGA.

2013 World Adventure Tat and Air Hockey Challenges!

Report from the off-course shenanigans in Hastings.

When in the Miniature Golf mecca that is Hastings, East Sussex it is almost guaranteed that after a hard days practice or competition on the seafront courses you'll find a bunch* of Crazy Golfers spending their time in one of the amusement arcades (or 'The Buttons' as a wise man once termed them, Christian Fuchs wasn't it). 

Pasi 'Bruiser' Aho was keen to get in some early practice

At the 2013 WMF World Adventure Golf Masters tournament it was no different as sixteen Minigolfers adventured into the Old Town Buttons for the 2013 World Adventure £2 Tat Challenge and Air Hockey Championships!

New Buttons Committee Member Johnny Waffles

With a truly international field competitors from Great Britain faced Swedes, a Finn who resides in Germany and an Englishman from the United Arab Emirates lined up for the seventh ranking Tat Challenge tournament.

Sweden's Bjorn Dinau approaches the field of play

With a number of debutees in the tourney it was left to new Buttons Committee member John 'YI' Moore to gather the players ready for the big event and also explain the rules of the contest, with some help from Richard Gottfried.

Thrilling action

In a truly enthralling contest there were a number of players racking up a nice haul of tat, while others fared less well, including veteran players including Emily Gottfried and Will Donnelly.

Will Donnelly had a bad day at the office

A shocking result came from former Worlds number one player James Rutherford who limped out of the contest with a meagre two bits of tat.

Even a double fire approach from James 'Ruthers' Rutherford was not enough to help him this time

Young gun Adam 'AK47' Kelly was heading for last place, but by tactically not declaring his score of zero until he'd done a bit of ratting enabled him to move up the leaderboard to lucky seventh.

Newcomer Craig Small is watched by veteran competitors Richard Gottfried and Adam Kelly

With a strong score of 32 (second only in the all-time list to James Rutherford's massive score of 40 in 2012) Richard Gottfried declared.

A smug Richard Gottfried on course for the win?

With Mike Small, Craig Small, John Moore and Torgny Kjellstrom the final players left with any two-pees in the contest it looked like the win was all but secured.

A mighty haul is shown to adjudicator John Moore

However, in an extraordinary debut from the Dubai-based player Mike Small managed to keep on winning tat and replenish his tuppenny bit ammo stockpile. With the crowd gathering and excitement building Small eventually ran out of money and his big haul counted.

The crowd are in awe of Mike Small's tatting

Astonishingly he also scored 32!

The crowd waiting to see the (tup)pennies and tat fall...

Deciding against a play-off, or even the traditional argument decider of Rock Paper Scissors the players agreed that the contest would be a draw.

Here are your winners - Mike Small (l), big bag of tat (m) and Richard Gottfried (r)

Each competitor in the event was allowed to choose one piece of tat as a memento from the 151 pieces the group had won, before the big bag of it was given away to other players in the arcade who had been watching in equal measures of amazement and confusion as the group of players had been in action!

The £2 Tat Challenge Order of Merit has been updated following the contest and now sees 54 players from seven countries ranked!

The next Tat Challenge takes places in Hastings in October and will be the WORLDS title match!

World Adventure Air Hockey 2013

In the World Adventure Air Hockey contest fourteen players faced-off to take the crown. With Sweden's Filiph Svensson and Torgny Kjellstrom receiving byes in the first round the results were:

- Chris Wood lost to Will Donnelly 5-6

- Ruthers beat Mark Wood 5-4

- Big Al Moore lost to Peter Eisenschmitt 2-7

- Pastie Aho beat Craig Small 7-1

- Mike Small beat AK47 3-2

- Paulli lost to Bjorn 6-7

In the quarter finals:

- Filiph bested Will D 7-4

- Ruthers beat Peter E 4-4

- Pasi defeated Mike Small 6-1

- Bjorn beat Torgny 7-3

In the semi finals:

- Filiph beat Ruthers 6-5

- Pasi beat Bjorn 3-2

Pasi and Filiph in Air Hockey action

In the grand final Pasi (the reigning World Crazy Air Hockey Champion) was bested by Filiph 4-3. Watch the video of the final moments of the match-up.

* Not sure what the collective term is for a group of Crazy Golfers is. Suggestions on a Postcard 

Related Blog Posts:

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

- Tat Challenge blog posts

- Air Hockey blog posts

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

A Quarter of a Million visits to The Ham & Egger Files!

Today The Ham & Egger Files received its 250,000th visitor!

 

From my first blog post in December 2006 until the end of December 2011 the site received 100,000 hits and in the last nine and bit months it's received a further 150,000 visits!  People that like "Ham" and/or "Eggs" must be sorely disappointed to find a blog predominantly about Minigolf upon their visit.

 

Thank you to everyone who has visited, read, commented and linked to content on the site. It’s very much appreciated.

 

Some of the most searched for terms from visitors to The Ham & Egger Files are 'minigolf', 'crazy golf', 'crazy golf London, 'laser quest' and 'mini golf London'. From 1,527 blog posts the most visited with 21,053 hits is the 'Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in and around London' blog post.

 

In addition to details of our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour, The Ham & Egger Files also contains posts about a number of different things including Air Hockey, Amusement Arcades, Arm Champs II Arcade Games Arm Wrestling, Brussels Sprout Competitive Eating, Bun Throwing, Christmas Tree Throwing, Conga Dancing, Crazy Air Squash, Crazy Golf, Crystal Maze Games, Darts, Dodgeball, Egg Throwing, Fake Alligators/Crocodiles, Gluten Free Food & Places to Eat, Guinness World Records, Lazer (Laser) Tag, Picnicking, Piers, (Ping) Pong, Pirate Flyer Laser Monorails, Rock Paper Scissors, Shooting Shacks, 'Tat' Challenges, Tea Rooms, Thumb Wrestling, Town Criers and Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm-Flailing Tube Men!

 

The most views of the site have come from the UK, some 171,530 hits. In second place with 38,705 is the USA, while there have been 3,935 visits from Germany and 3,649 from Russia. Visitors from Canada, France, Ireland, Australia, Netherlands and South Korea make up the rest of the all-time top ten page views by country.

 

The blog has now received hits from over a quarter of a million people from 112 countries! Quite what the person from Réunion, a French Island in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, was looking for I don’t exactly now. Here’s a list of the 112 countries that The Ham & Egger Files has been visited from:
 

1. Afghanistan
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3. Andorra
4. Argentina
5. Armenia
6. Australia
7. Austria
8. Bahrain
9. Bangladesh
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14. Brazil
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18. Canada
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26. Denmark
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28. Ecuador
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32. Finland
33. France
34. Gabon
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37. Ghana
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60. Macau
61. Macedonia [FYROM]
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64. Martinique
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66. Mexico
67. Moldova
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70. Morocco
71. Myanmar (Burma)
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74. Netherlands
75. New Zealand
76. Nigeria
77. Norway
78. Pakistan
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80. Peru
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82. Poland
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85. Qatar
86. Réunion
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88. Russia
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90. Saudi Arabia
91. Serbia
92. Singapore
93. Slovakia
94. Slovenia
95. South Africa
96. South Korea
97. Spain
98. Sri Lanka
99. Sweden
100. Switzerland
101. Taiwan
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Results of a three town 'Octathlon' sporting challenge series

Sporting rivals compete in contests in Letchworth, Baldock & Stevenage

On Thursday 7th June I competed in a series of sport and games challenges against Dodgeball and Minigolf adversary “Rowdy” Russell Fenner. The ‘Octathlon’ event comprised of eight contests in three towns.

The contest ended up as an Octathlon, rather than a Biathlon, Duathlon, Triathlon, Pentathlon, Hexathlon, Heptathlon or Decathlon of events due to a mixture of us being unable to agree on a set number of contests to play and not actually planning the event further than setting what the first event would be!

The action began at the Letchworth Par-3 Golf Centre with a 9-hole round of Pitch & Putt. Both of us have previously played the course “a few years ago” so it was as level a playing field as it could be.

“Rowdy” Russell won the honour of teeing-off first with a preliminary round win in a game of Rock Paper Scissors. He promptly shanked the ball off the tee and landed in the heavy rough.

'Rowdy' Russell Fenner looks for a missing Golf ball

Choosing to play the Golf round early was a wise decision as the weather was fairly mild at tee-off, but took a turn for the worse later in the day. The round on the tough but fair Letchworth layout saw Russell score a 45(+18) while I scored a 38(+11) to take the opening win of the contest.

Following what would be the only true outdoor event of the Octathlon we headed inside for a game of Pool.

With Russell previously having the edge in Pool matches against me he won the Rock Paper Scissors game and let me have the break. The match was the closest we’ve had against each other, and after ‘Rowdy’ miss-cued on his first shot I thought I’d pick up a win. However, Russell won the contest to tie the Octathlon at one win apiece.

Playing Pool at Letchworth Par-3 Golf Centre

Next up, Darts. Not Russell’s strongpoint, but with one high double figure score of 78 punctuating a run of dismal throws he did manage to get down to a double. The round of Darts was played in a 301-straight-in, double-out format and saw me once again take the lead in the series with an escape of the ‘madhouse’ by hitting double-1.

The scoreboard from the Darts match at Letchworth Par-3 Golf Centre

With the games in Letchworth completed we headed down the road to  The Orange Tree Inn  in nearby Baldock for a game or Bar Billiards. Walking into the public bar at the Orange Tree there was a bit of a shock as the table was nowhere to be seen! Luckily after asking the barman we found the table had been moved into the other bar. It’s in a great position now with space to play shots from both sides. There is also a great old painting of the Orange Tree Pub hanging over the table.

Russell aiming for the 200-hole on the Orange Tree's Bar Billiards table

As Russell had never played Bar Billiards before we had a friendly warm-up contest. The match saw some steady, if a little low, scoring before the sudden-death shoot-out. With the score at 500 to 340 Russell needed to hit the 200-hole to win and after a few missed shots he nailed it to take the win in his debut game.

The Octathlon round kicked off after a short interval and the game was played in front of an audience of a man eating his lunch. It must have been the added pressure of having a spectator present that led to some of the most dismal Bar Billiards ever played. The man “having played a bit in his time” offered a few tips, but to no avail to either of us. The contest once again went to a sudden-death play-off, however Russell was in an almost unwinnable position and as I didn’t topple the black mushroom it stayed that way as I picked up a win 640 to 550, despite Russell once again nailing the 200-shot.

The new position of the Orange Tree's Bar Billiards table

The morning session of gaming action finished with a 3-1 scoreline and was punctuated by a sportsman’s lunch of Fish & Chips at the excellent Cox’s of Letchworth. Adequately fuelled for the final stretch of competition the two rivals headed down the A1(M) to Stevenage and the Hollywood Bowl to play a game of Tenpin Bowling.

Unfortunately due to it being half-term all of the bowling lanes were fully booked for the next two hours, so the next series of sporting endeavours, would have to be amusement arcade games-based.

First up in the arcade games was Air Hockey and a decisive 7-1 win to Russell to make the Octathlon series 3-2.

A 7-1 Air Hockey win for Russell in Stevenage 

The next contest was a battle at the Basketball Hoops shoot-out ticket game. Russell once again won the Rock Paper Scissors contest to see who would go first and ‘put me into bat’. I opened with a few good baskets before failing to score much more. My total to beat was a meagre 17. Russell stepped up and nailed 19 to take the contest to three wins apiece.

The seventh game and last of the three amusement arcade events was the Sideshow Shooting Gallery ticket-game. Winning the Rock Paper Scissors I let Russell play first to set a target score. Missing just one shot he ended with a good total of 190 points. This wasn’t enough though as I hit each of my targets and scored a perfect 200 and make the Octathlon 4-3 in my favour.

Sideshow Shootout in Stevenage

With time ticking on and the weather getting worse there were no other sports or games options in the area and so the final contest would be a best-of-5 Rock Paper Scissors match.

Rock Paper Scissors was a running-theme of the Octathlon due to both players’ history in the game, having competed against each other in the team contest at the 2011 Sportingbet UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships in London.

Throughout the day Russell had won most of the RPS ‘honours’ games and managed to keep his nerve to win the Rock Paper Scissors contest to tie the Octathlon at 4-4. Far from being a decision making tool, in this instance Rock Paper Scissors had merely been an (un)decider in the Octathlon event!

Another multi-sport contest is scheduled to take place between the pair of us later in the summer...

 

Related Blog Posts:

- Minigolf at Watford TopGolf - Major Course Improvements & Match vs. 'Rowdy' Russell Fenner

- Minigolf Challenge Match at TopGolf Watford

- Report from the Sportingbet UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships 2011

- From the Archives - Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - Course Visit #38 Letchworth Garden City - Putting Course

- Gluten Free Fish & Chips in Letchworth Garden City

Links:

- Letchworth Par-3 Golf Centre

- The Orange Tree Inn

- Cox’s of Letchworth

- Hollywood Bowl Stevenage

- Octathlon