A day out of fun and games in Milton Keynes and Northampton

A minigolf revisit, a Dalek, Bar Billiards and no Laser Tag - a trip to Milton Keynes & Northampton.

On Monday 20th February Emily and I headed off on a trip to Milton Keynes and Northampton.

We’ve been to MK a number of times and on my last visit I had faced-off against fellow Minigolfer Marc ‘The Roller’ Bazeley in the "MK Winter Sporting Challenge". We would have a re-match of sorts in Northampton later in the day.

Before heading to the Centre: MK for some shopping we stopped off at Willen Lake to see if the minigolf course there was open. It wasn’t. We previously played the course in July 2007 when it became the 29th course played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

The Willen Lake Adventure Golf course

Another view of the Willen Lake Minigolf course

Last July we had played a Crazy Golf course at the Centre: MK, unfortunately there was nothing going on in the Middleton Hall area on this occasion (we’d also found some great Gluten Free Meat there in March 2011). But wandering around the shopping centre we did spot a Dalek and an Only Fools & Horses Reliant Regal!?

A Dalek and me at the Centre: MK

The Trotters' three-wheeler

We then headed back on the M1 up to Northampton. It’s somewhere we’ve never, properly, visited before. On the way to the Manchester Miniature Open minigolf competition in 2009 the hire car we were driving had caught fire just outside Northampton Services and we’d received a tow to the rental office in the town, but that’s as far as we’d previously got.

This time though we managed a good walk around the town centre and it was a nice enough place to spend the afternoon.

In the Tourist Information Centre we had spotted a leaflet for the Laser Force arena in the town centre and ahead of meeting up with Northamptonshire’s number one Crazy Golfer Marc ‘The Roller’ Bazeley we decided to scout it out.

First off we looked inside the Sol Central leisure complex, but couldn’t find the laser tag. We did however find an Amusement Arcade that was closed.

The closed Fun Station at Sol Central in Northampton

We eventually found the arena, but unfortunately the Laser Force laser tag at Sol Central is closed on Mondays (except in holidays).

The Laser Tag in Northampton is closed on Mondays

From the posters and adverts outside it looks like a good set-up and we’d like to play there in the future. It’s also got a ‘Machine City’ zone! I wonder what fellow Laser Tagger Oliver ‘The Machine’ Florence knows about this?

Note: The Laser Tag Rankings therefore remain unchanged.

Even more disappointing was the fact that, as with the Peterborough version, they also have a Boom-A-Rang Air Hockey Table!

You can just about see the Boom-A-Rang Crazy Air Squash Table in the background

We met up with ‘The Roller’ who took us on a bit of a mystery tour of the bits of the town centre we’d not yet seen. The undoubted highlight of this was visiting “the third most hated building in Britain” – the town’s Greyfriars Bus Station. While posing for a photo outside it we also got a beep from a passing car!?

Marc and me at the Greyfriars Bus Station in Northampton!

With the Laser Tag closed, a dearth of Miniature Golf in Northampton and the other Laser Maze in the town centre now closed down we headed to the Crown & Anchor pub for the main-event of the day’s contest – Bar Billiards.

We found the table in a corner of the quite spacious Crown & Anchor pub and luckily no one was playing. We did notice that Monday nights were competition nights in the Northants Bar Billiards Association! With league games played between 7.30pm and 10.30pm.

The Bar Billiards table in the Crown & Anchor Pub in Northampton

With Marc having beaten me in the Milton Keynes Winter Sports Challenge, picking up a win in the Pool discipline on his way to ultimate victory (despite having to play half way inside a Hurricane Simulator on a table with an ‘adverse camber’) I was right to be wary of him as an opponent, even if it was his 'debut' playing of the game of Bar Billiards.

Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley has a read of the rules of Bar Billiards

In our first head-to-head match-up, Umpired by Emily, Marc picked up the win with a final score of 190 points. I had notched up a score of 800, but this was lost as I knocked down the dreaded Black Peg on the last ball shoot-out.

I score 100

Almost inevitably in our second game – a triple-threat match including Emily – the balls failed to be released from the table after putting our pound coin in, so we had to get ‘The Man’. However, as this was not a seaside Amusement Arcade (aka 'The Buttons') Emily refused to get #TheMan, so I had to ask at the bar.

The table was promptly fixed and the balls released. As an added bonus we got a chance to see the ‘inner workings’ of a Bar Billiards table as the top section had to be lifted up to get at the ball release mechanism!

In the three-way-dance match I scored a win with a final score of 750 points, with Marc and Emily both knocking down the Black Peg to wipe-out their scores of 400 and 340 respectively.

Marc plays a shot off of a cushion

Emily goes for the 200-hole in the Black Peg Shoot-Out

In the games we seemed to favour the top-left-hand corner of the table and the balls seemed to ‘collect’ here quite often!

One view of 'Jiff Corner'

A nice line of balls 'protecting' the Red ball

Game three was another one-on-one match between me and ‘The Roller’ and was another victory for Marc, this time with a 660 points to zero score-line after I’d wiped-out from 1,050! Marc also picked up his ‘career best’ break with a score of 530 points in one visit to the table, after I had opened with my ‘day best’ of 350 with my first three shots following the start.

Going for a double score with the Red ball

The final game saw Marc pick up his third win on 'home soil' with a score of 1,090 to zero, as I once again knocked down the Black Peg as the ball dropped into the 200-hole. On this occasion the result would not have been affected even if I had potted the last ball cleanly without hitting the peg, as under the watchful eye of the Umpire both players were forced to ‘go for it’ in the last ball shoot-out!

Marc taking on the shot for the 200-hole

Commenting on his Bar Billiards victories Marc ‘The Roller’ Bazeley said “I’ve still got some way to go before I’m mixing it with the Pros, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon nonetheless.”

After the fun of the Bar Billiards we went for another wander around town and headed to (the) Shipmans pub on (the) Drapery for a drink. Unfortunately there were no pub games on offer in this long, thin pub. We did however discuss the game of "Hood Skittles", which is now on our list of Pub Games to play!

To round off our fun day in Northampton we headed to The Church Bar & Restaurant on Bridge Street as we had spotted they offered a Gluten Free menu. The food and surroundings were excellent.

It, and Northampton as a whole, is worth a visit.

A view of The Church Bar & Restaurant

Links:

- Bar Billiards Blog Posts

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Drinking and 'Pub' Games at the 29th Luton Beer & Cider Festival

Dominoes, Table Skittles and Gluten Free Beer at the Luton Beer & Cider Festival.

On Friday 17th February we headed to the 29th Luton Beer & Cider Festival at the High Town Sports & Arts Centre in Luton.

The souvenir glass from the Beer Fest and a hand of my Dominoes

Ahead of the event I’d been informed by the Beds & Mid Herts Coeliac Group that there would be four Gluten Free Beers on offer (in amongst the many beers, ciders and perries)! I'd also spoken to one of the organisers, who is a Coeliac, and found out the beers would be available on the foreign beers stand.

The four GF beers available were from Green's and were the Bottle Conditioned Re-fermented Blonde, Brown and Dark Ales & Greens Discovery. I chose a bottle of the Blonde Beer and would definitely buy it again. It was excellent that the Beer Festival had chosen to include Gluten Free beers on the roster too. I'm a big fan of Cider and Perry, but it's nice to go to a Beer Fest and actually have the choice to buy a Beer if I want to. 

The four Gluten Free Beers available. There were plenty of posters around the venue advertising the beers, along with a factsheet explaining what Coeliac Disease is.

In amongst the drinking me and Emily played some Dominoes in a best-of-3, 5 & 7 series to decide the Luton Drink Club Dominoes Champion.

A Dominoes game in 'action'

The main hall at the Beer Fest housed a vast array of ales and was where the four Gluten Free beers were being sold.

Me with a Gluten Free Ale and another 'third' of strong Cider!

The hall also housed the CAMRA stand where they had two Pub Games available to play – Shove Ha’penny and Table Skittles!

The Table Skittles at the CAMRA stand

The Shove Ha'penny Board

Me lining up a swing on the Table Skittles

An excellent evening with lots of different drinks to try. Roll on the 30th Luton Beer & Cider Festival!

Links:

- South Bedfordshire Branch of CAMRA

Blog Posts:

- Gluten Free Beers and Lagers

- The Weymouth Preliminaries Rock Paper Scissors Contest

Winning a Putter Fingers Mug

Latest minigolf prize goes on display

As a winner of the 'Where's Spike?' online competition run by Crazy Golf business Putter Fingers I received my prize of a Putter Fingers Mug earlier this week.

The Mug has taken up a spot on my trophy shelf, well for a cup of coffee at least...

The Putter Fingers Mug sitting amongst some of my other minigolf winnings

Previous Blog Posts:
- Putter Fingers Crazy Golf Competition for February 2012 - "Where's Spike?"

- Leading the British Open

Putter King Miniature Golf Scavenger Hunt - A Riddle!

Opportunity to unlock a PKSH task early!

The Putter King has released a riddle ahead of the start of the 2nd Annual Putter King Miniature Golf Scavenger Hunt!

The first 20 people to solve the riddle will receive a bonus chance to ‘unlock’ one of the Putter King Miniature Golf Scavenger Hunt tasks ahead of the launch date of the 1st March 2012!

Check out the riddle at "Riddle me this Putter King Scavenger Hunters"

Links:

- The Putter King

- Putter King Scavenger Hunt Section

Previous Blog Post:

- 2nd Annual Putter King Miniature Golf Scavenger Hunt Teaser Video Released!

#PKSH2 on twitter

London, an Old Routemaster Bus, Crazy Golf and Bar Billiards

A blog post about a Bus on a Minigolf course. And Bar Billiards!

Reading the excellent website about London - Londonist - I spotted a story about new uses for old buses - "Recycled Routemasters: New Uses For Old Busses". One of the photos showed an old Routemaster Bus on the 9-hole Crazy Golf course at Rocks Lane Multi Sports Centre in Chiswick, London.

I visited this course in April 2011 when it became the 214th played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

The old Bus at Rocks Lane Multi Sports Centre in Turnham Green, Chiswick

Re-reading my blog post I noticed that the second hole at the course is called 'Bar Billiards'! This dog-leg right-hand hole doesn't look like any Bar Billiards table I've seen before, or played recently, but more like a right-angled Pool/Billiards table!

The 'Bar Billiards' second hole

Blog Links:

- Minigolf and Crazy Golf in and around London

- The Crazy World of Minigolf Tour List

- Crazy Golf in Chiswick, London

- Bar Billiards Blog Posts

- On The Buses Event - 40th Anniversary of the First On The Buses film

- Revisit and Replay of the Windmill Theatre Indoor Adventure Golf Course in Great Yarmouth

Links:

- Londonist

- Londonist - "Recycled Routemasters: New Uses For Old Busses"

- Rocks Lane Multi Sports Centre

Emily's Minigolf Photo is 19th in Minigolfnews.com Minigolf Photo Competition

Marián Havlík from Slovakia wins the online competition

Emily’s photo of me playing the 16th hole in the final of the 2011 WMF World Adventure Golf Masters competition at the Hastings Pirate Adventure Golf course finished in 19th place of the 20 finalists in the Minigolfnews.com Minigolf Photo of the Year Competition vote. The picture garnered a total of 118 points (2.8%).

Prior to the voting the Minigolfnews.com team picked the top 20 images from the 116 photos that had been submitted by 30 photographers at Minigolf courses and events in 2011.

You can view the final rankings here.

Emily's submitted photo: Richard Gottfried playing at the WMF World Adventure Golf Masters tournament in Hastings

Links:

- News Item: Marián Havlík takes Minigolf Photo of the Year

- Photo Poll: Minigolf Photo of the Year 2011 - Full Results

- News Item: Vote now: Minigolf Photo of the Year 2011

Bar Billiards in Baldock & Knebworth

Playing Bar Billiards at two pubs in Hertfordshire.

On Saturday 11th February 2012 me and two friends visited a couple of pubs in Hertfordshire for a few games of Bar Billiards.

Having rung round the pubs in Herts & Beds that are listed on the AEBBA map of Bar Billiards tables earlier in the day I had found out that The Red Lion in Studham, Beds no longer has a table. Nor does the Bedford Arms in Hitchin, having changed to a standard Pool table. We'd also found The Bucks Head pub in Little Wymondley has also removed their Bar Billiards table, but does offer free Dominoes, Cards and Cribbage to customers.

I did find that The Chequers Inn at Knebworth still had a table and I'd heard via twitter that The Orange Tree in Baldock also had one, so off we headed.



The Bar Billiards table at The Orange Tree in Baldock

First up was a visit to The Orange Tree, where we spotted the table positioned in the 'public bar', quite nicely near to a real log fire to keep punters and players warm. After a quick run through of the rules I took on Simon in a game.



The Orange Tree Bar Billiards Rules

To decide who would break we played a hand of Rock Paper Scissors. I lost.



Simon 'Practice' Hall takes a shot

Simon may have won the break, but when the match came to the closing stages the score was 800 to nil, with Simon having wiped out his score by knocking down the dreaded black peg! He did however manage to score 200 points by sinking the last white ball to make the result 800-200.


Lining up a shot

As the table at The Orange Tree was positioned against a wall/under a window it was only possible to play shots at the 200 & 100 holes from the left hand side of the table. Not a major obstacle really. I did like the fact that there were three sizes of cue available to use. As the pub was busy and there was a door behind the baulk line end I opted to use the 'baby' cue which was only about two and a half foot long.

Having had two games at The Orange Tree we decided to head over to Knebworth and The Chequers Inn for a game or two.

When I had phoned ahead earlier in the day the man at the pub had confirmed they still had a table and said that the baize on it had been relaid. The table did look and play nicely indeed, with the balls rolling very smoothly indeed. But unfortunately in the second game a lot of the balls kept getting 'stuck' in the pockets after being potted!? This meant for much of our second 'three-way-dance' match we were not playing with a full deck!

Simon picked up wins at The Chequers Inn. Both games once again went to a shootout on the 200 hole.

Interestingly the table at The Chequers Inn had a different layout to the table in The Orange Tree and was also different to the only other table I'd actually played, at The Strathmore Arms in St Paul's Walden. Both of those tables had three obstacles (one with 'mushrooms' the other with 'pegs'), but the table at The Chequers Inn had four mushrooms, with one guarding the 200 hole, one at the 100 hole (which was not marked as a scoring hole) and the other two were in front of each of the 50 holes. It certainly made the table a lot harder to score points on. The positioning of the table at The Chequers Inn also meant that shots at the 200 hole in the last ball shootout could only be made from the right hand side of the table.



The Bar Billiards table at The Chequers Inn at Knebworth - this one had four spots and four 'mushrooms'! Shooting for the 50s was very difficult

There was a nice old rules sheet/poster on display next to the table at The Chequers Inn. it was originally revised in 1973 and reprinted in 1976 and described "The Game of Bar Billiards - sometimes called Russian Bagatelle, Skittle Billiards or Snookerette etc."

This rule sheet had the rules laid out for playing the game using the 'first arrangement' and 'second arrangement' and it was this second type of rules the table had been set up for, with the previously mentioned four peg/skittle marks. There was also a good section on the sheet on 'How to Promote Interest' in the game.

The nice old Bar Billiards rule sheet at The Chequers Inn

An enjoyable day out at two different pubs, playing a fun and very tricky game. On an incredibly cold day it was nice to be in two very warm pubs.

Related Blog Posts:
- Another new game played – Bar Billiards
- Snow causes blog post in Guildford

Link:
- The All England Bar Billiards Association
- The AEBBA Rules of Bar Billiards

Luton Sports Awards - Deadline Reminder

The deadline to send in nominations for this year's Luton Sports Network 'Luton Sports Awards' is Tuesday 21st February.

Emily and I would really appreciate nominations. Entry forms (with a deadline date of the 21st February) can be downloaded from the link here. A news item in the latest Luton Herald & Post, p.55 also mentions that entries can now be emailed in, but lists the deadline as Monday 13th of February.

Emily & Richard at the 2011 WMF Nations Cup in Stockholm, Sweden

Related Blog Post:
- Nominate Richard & Emily Gottfried for the Luton Sports Awards!

Links:
- Ham & Egger Files Year in Review
- Richard Gottfried Player Profile
- Emily Gottfried Player Profile
- Luton Sports Network homepage
- Luton Sports Awards
- Luton Sports Awards Nomination Form
- British Minigolf Association
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Bad Postcards - a Tyrannosaurus Rex at a 1960's Goofy Golf Miniature Golf Course

Via the Viz comic facebook page I saw a link to the BAD POSTCARDS tumblr page. I decided to have a look at what other 'Bad Postcards' would be on there and noticed that this excellent website of vintage American postcards from 1950 to 1975 featured a minigolf postcard!

In fact the first postcard shown on the site is of a “Tyrannosaurus Rex; King of Prehistoric Giants” at the 'Goofy Golf. Magic World at Panama City Beach, Florida.' The Postcard is postally unused, looks to be in great condition and they guess it is from the 1960's.

An excellent website that's well worth a look. There are some great old 'bad' Postcards on there - including one of a Cigar Smoking Alligator!

Links:

- Bad Postcards
- Reflections of a Bygone Age
- Chimes Publishing & Postcards / Picture Postcard Monthly

Related blog posts:
- Postcard
- Postcards

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

- Fake Crocodiles! Or are they Alligators?

Snow causes blog post in Guildford

My mate, fellow blogger, former minigolf doubles partner and "sometime adversary" Oliver 'The Machine' Florence has blogged about the snowy weather getting in the way of some Guildford-based activities today.

I had been scheduled to visit the town for some Bar Billiards and a walk around the castle, but snow and heavy traffic on the M1 put paid to that idea.

You can check out the excellent blog post at Ollie's brilliant blog at "Snow luck for Gottfried as Guildford curse strikes again".

Other Guildford Blog Posts at The Ham & Egger Files:

- Not course number 75! Guildford Lido

- Actual Minigolf Course 75 - Guildford

- Swedish Felt - A-run in Finland & B-run in Guildford

Links:

- The Minigolfer - Oliver 'The Machine' Florence's blog

- The Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Minigolf Zebra Thefts!?

A very odd minigolf news story!

Our friends over at The Putting Penguin minigolf team spotted a very bizarre minigolf news story about the theft of a fibreglass Zebra from the Tropical Gardens Mini Golf on Patton Avenue in Asheville, North Carolina, USA and shared it via their facebook page. Very crazy indeed.

The Putting Penguin team regularly shares interesting news items about Miniature Golf on their twitter profile.

Back in October 2010 we started up #MinigolfMonday and continue to try to get Minigolf 'trending' on twitter by using the hash tag #Minigolf on our tweets!

Blog Link:

- Let's get Minigolf 'trending' - Twitter, Minigolf and #MinigolfMonday

Putter Fingers Crazy Golf Competition for February 2012 - Where's Spike?

The Putter Fingers Crazy Golf team have launched their third online competition!

Visitors to the Putter Fingers website are being asked to look for Spike, the mascot for Putter Fingers.

To enter the 'Where's Spike?' online competition you’ll need to search the Putter Fingers website (high and low) before Friday 10th of February!

I had a go and found there may be a Red Herring thrown in for good measure!

Link:

- Putter Fingers website
- Putter Fingers Blog Post - Crazy Golf Competition – Where’s Spike?

World of Bun Throwing: A new ‘Royal Bun Throwing Championships’ to be held

Check out my recent Bun Throwing blog post over at The World of Bun Throwing blog:

"A new ‘Royal Bun Throwing Championships’ to be held at Abingdon Vale Cricket Club"

Jungle Rumble Adventure Golf's new blog

I recently noticed that Jungle Rumble Adventure Golf has recently created a blog. You can check it out at "Jungle Rumble THE BLOG"

There are two Jungle Rumble Adventure Golf sites, each containing two 18-hole indoor miniature golf courses. One is in Bristol at the Cabot Circus Shopping Centre. When Emily and I visited the courses back in February 2010 they became the 161st and 162nd played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. We were in Bristol preparing for the British Minigolf Association's BMGA English Open tournament that was taking place at Jungle Rumble.

The other Jungle Rumble Adventure Golf is at the Liverpool ONE Shopping Centre in Liverpool. The courses at this site were the 212th and 213th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour in March 2011. Once again we were visiting the courses ahead of a BMGA Tour event. This time it was the BMGA National Open tournament.

For details of other minigolf blogs (and links to other websites of interest) please check out the 'links' on the right hand side of the Ham & Egger Files web page.

Minigolfnews.com - Minigolf Photo of the Year Competition!

One of Emily’s photos has been selected for the Minigolfnews.com Minigolf Photo of the Year Competition!

The Minigolfnews.com team selected the top 20 snaps from 116 submitted photos taken by 30 photographers at Minigolf events and courses throughout 2011.

Emily took the photo of me playing the 16th hole at the Hastings Pirate Adventure Golf course at the 2011 WMF World Adventure Golf Masters tournament last May.

Richard Gottfried at the 2011 WMF World Adventure Golf Masters tournament in Hastings

You can read the news item and view the photo shortlist at:

"Vote now: Minigolf Photo of the Year 2011"

Minigolf Info - "An Introduction to the British Minigolf Association" & "Starting Out In Minigolf"

Two of the Minigolf Sport Governing Bodies that I play competitive minigolf in have information available online about the sport of Minigolf, the rules of the game and the associations that administrate them.

You can check out the British Minigolf Assocations information flyer 'An Introduction to the British Minigolf Association' which has details about the BMGA, its competitions, benefits of membership and the (Abridged) Rules of Minigolf.

The World Minigolf Sport Federation has a brochure called 'Starting Out In Minigolf' and gives a background to the sport, basic rules and information on the four systems of Minigolf the WMF uses for their competitions.

You can join the BMGA as either a 'Tour Pro', or for free as a 'Standard' member. Full details can be found on the BMGA's Membership Page.


Links:
- The BMGA
- The WMF
- An Introduction to the British Minigolf Association (BMGA)
- Starting Out In Minigolf brochure by the World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF)

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

2nd Annual Putter King Miniature Golf Scavenger Hunt Teaser Video Released!

2nd Annual Putter King Miniature Golf Scavenger Hunt Teaser Video Released!




Links:
- The Putter King
- Early Details of the 2nd Annual Putter King Miniature Golf Scavenger Hunt Released!
- Richard Gottfried runner-up in the 1st Annual Putter King Miniature Golf Scavenger Hunt
- Minigolf Trick Shot Video - Blindfolded Hole-in-One - Putter King Miniature Golf Scavenger Hunt  - filmed at Tea Green Golf Club
- Full Results of the 1st Annual Putter King Miniature Golf Scavenger Hunt 
- Putter King Results News Release
- Photo of Richard Gottfried with the Putter King Mascot
- My Entry for the Putter King Miniature Golf Scavenger Hunt 2011
- Ermington Putters Club - home of 1st Putter King Champion Allan Cox
- The Putting Penguin - home of 3rd placed Pat Sheridan

Olympic Rings at St Pancras - 180 Days to Go to the start of London 2012!

Emily and I have managed to get tickets to watch some of the Handball at the 2012 Olympic Games!

Another new game played – Bar Billiards

At the recent Star City Open weekend in Birmingham my fellow Crazy Golfer and BMGA Tour minigolf rival Brad ‘The Fist’ Shepherd pointed me in the direction of the 1970’s Yorkshire TV show ‘Indoor League’. As a fellow fan of odd and obscure sports he knew I would appreciate the games on offer on the programme, he wasn’t wrong.

Bar Billiards sign at The Strathmore Arms Pub

Indoor League was a show that ran from 1972-1977 on Yorkshire Television/ITV and was presented by Cricket legend Fred Trueman. The games played on the show include Darts (using a Yorkshire board, which has no ‘trebles’!), Skittles, Shove Ha’penny, Table Football and a game that took my fancy – Bar Billiards.

In all my years frequenting pubs I had never played the game and have only ever seen a glimpse of a table before – at The White Horse Pub in Southsea. With Indoor League whetting my appetite for a play of the game I took to the web to search out information on the game and whether there were any tables near to us in Luton...?

First of all I found that there is an ‘All England Bar Billiards Association’ that governs the game and organises tournaments in 18 counties, which are mostly in southern England and Jersey.

A link on the All England Bar Billiards Association (AEBBA) website shows the location of Bar Billiard tables in the UK. Checking this out I saw that the closest ones to us were at The Strathmore Arms pub in St Paul’s Walden (near Hitchin, Herts), The Red Lion at Studham (near Dunstable, Beds), Bedford Arms in Hitchin and at The Bucks Head in Little Wymondley (near Hitchin, Herts). Also on the list and fairly nearby were The White Lion in Hemel Hempstead, The Goat Inn in St Albans, The Chequers Inn in Knebworth, Our Mutual Friend in Stevenage and The Unicorn in Cublington, Bucks. I have also found out via twitter that The Orange Tree in Baldock, Herts does have a table (and also sells Gluten Free food and Beer).

* Location updates (4th &11th Feb and 24th March 2012)
- The Bucks Head in Little Wymondley no longer has a table
- The Red Lion in Studham no longer has a table
- The Bedford Arms in Hitchin has changed to a Pool table
- The Chequers Inn in Knebworth does still have a table - and the baize has been relaid
- The White Lion in Hemel Hempstead no longer has a table

So, on Friday 27th January 2012 we headed to the closest pub on the list – The Strathmore Arms pub in St Paul’s Walden.

The Strathmore Arms pub in St Paul's Walden, near Hitchin, Herts

Though close to Luton, a mere 8 miles, the B Road there is long, winding and quite pot holey – far removed from the hustle and bustle of Luton. It’s not often we venture out to the villages surrounding Luton. We have passed through some of them to reach the Offley Oriental Chinese Restaurant (which serves some great Gluten Free food). We also regularly go to Tea Green Golf Club at Wandon End, but this is very close to the Luton border.

When we arrived at The Strathmore Arms we ordered some drinks and then asked if they had a Bar Billiards table. The obliging barman said they did and pointed us around to a room attached to the main bar area where the table stood. And what a sight it was. The Barman told us it was a “pound a go” and left us to it.

The Bar Billiards table at The Strathmore Arms pub

Having only seen the game played on TV before, Emily and I had a quick glance at the rules on the plate affixed to the table itself, put a quid in the machine and started playing.

Emily plays a shot

After the first practice game we had a deeper read of the rules sheet that was beside the table and realised we had been playing our own version of the game! We then decided to play a best-of-3 games match to decide the Champion.

Emily has a read of the rules

In the first ‘proper’ game I managed to beat Emily with a final score of 400 to nil after Emily knocked the Black Peg down in the final ball shootout. Emily had reached a score of 940 before this was wiped out.

In the second game of the best-of-3 match I once again won to take the overall victory. This time I had a score of 1000, to Emily’s 90. This was a much cleaner match, with very little peg knocking down!

I line up a shot

In our fourth and final game Emily beat me 70-0. I had reached 180 but knocked the Black Peg down to wipe-out. Emily’s opening break was a score of 380 before she played a foul shot to wipe-out the break.

Once we’d finished our games we had a chat to the bar staff and some of the friendly locals. We got some further information about Bar Billiards and that it used to be a very popular game in Hertfordshire (and was one of the originating spots for the game), however there are not that many tables left to play.

As we were so interested in the game a few of the locals asked us if we were on a mission of some sort relating to Bar Billiards. We told them we weren’t (yet), but were on a Crazy World of Minigolf Tour! As I’m like a dog with a bone about new/old/interesting/fun/obscure/odd games and sports and challenges who knows, we may start-up a Crazy World of Bar Billiards Tour!

Another view of the table - plenty of balls still in play!

Emily was also interested in the Pudding Club that is run at The Strathmore Arms and there was a lively discussion going on amongst the staff and regulars over the latest offerings and the current rankings list!

A Dart Board was also set up next to the Bar Billiards table. I may take my ‘arrers next time we visit.

Looking at the Bar Billiards table I noticed that there was a badge affixed to the table we played that was from the “National Bar Billiards Association”. When I got home I had another look on The Online Guide to Traditional Games website and reread about the game and saw that National Bar Billiards Association was a pre-World War II organisation! The game started in the UK in the 1930’s, so the table at The Strathmore Arms could well be one of the first in the UK then!

Speaking with Brad ‘The Fist’ Shepherd and fellow sports and games enthusiast Marc ‘The Roller’ Bazeley I have found out they know of other tables in London, Gravesend and Northampton. ‘The Roller’ also tells me there is a thriving Wellingborough Bar Billiards League and when Emily and I head to Northants for a game then the Crown & Anchor Pub in Northampton is the place to go.

It seems a Bar Billiards ‘side-tournament’ or two is in order.

As Fred Trueman would say “Ahl si thee”

The Rules of Bar Billiards

Links:
- All England Bar Billiards Association
- The Strathmore Arms Pub
- Indoor League at Wikipedia
- Indoor League at UK Game Shows
- Bar Billiards at The Online Guide to Traditional Games
- Bar Billiards at Wikipedia
- Map of Bar Billiards Tables in the UK
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Minigolf Course Visit #210(a!?) - Vienna, Austria (Askoe Wien Wasserpark) - pit-pat "Hindernis Billards" (Obstacle Billiards)!