I had a lovely day out in Rhyl, North Wales yesterday. Once the torrential rain had cleared it was a pleasant afternoon for a wander.
Rhyl beach
I met up with my friend and minigolf partner Peter 'The Crazy Aced Assassin' Jones. While we didn't get to play any minigolf we did have a couple of games of Air Hockey. Peter is renowned in the minigolf world for his skills on the Air Hockey table and he comprehensively defeated me two-nil in games, with wins of 7-3 and 21-3!
Air Hockey in Rhyl
I've never known a game go beyond nine-points, so how we got to play a match for 24-points I'll never know. I was 18-nil down before I got a point on the board. Still, at least I drew the last six-points of the game.
The Air Hockey I lost 21-3 on had the paddles secured to the table!
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!
In addition to the main LaserForce Laser Tag, the Laser Games Arena in Peterborough had a fine selection of Arcade Machines - including a fantastic and quite rare Boom-A-Rang 'Crazy Air Squash' Air Hockey Table!
On this visit to the City, we felt it only right to contest the 'Peterborough Boom-A-Rang Air Squash Championships'!
The first match saw 'Squire' Richard Gottfried (whipping boy of The Undisputed International Worlds Crazy Air Squash Championships, and perennial Air Hockey underdog) facing off against Emily '9 Lives' Gottfried. The score - an unexpected 9-2 victory to the 'Squire'!
The Grand Final saw Richard face-off against Rebecca 'The Fen Tigress' Evison. The match started slowly, with both players trading Goals, but it soon became clear that the home-town favourite had the fans on her side, and eventually ran out a 9-5 winner, and become the new Peterborough Boom-A-Rang Air Squash Champion!
Back in October 2008 Minigolfers Richard Gottfried and Steve Gow battled it out in a game of Crazy Air Squash at The Deluxe Amusement Arcade in Hastings, East Sussex, which in turn was a kind-of-rematch from their original Air Hockey battle at Wroxham Barns, Norfolk.
With the previous matches being a draw and one win to Steve, the battle to become the UK (and arguably the world's) number one Air Hockey & Variants Champion drew the attention of two new challengers (and fellow Minigolfers) - Scott Lancley and Kevin Moseley.
In a new format, the four would battle it out at the Family Amusements on Hastings' Sea Front following the first day's play in the BMGA British Championships.
In the first match reigning and defending Crazy Air Squash Champion Steve Gow beat Richard Gottfried 8-4.
In the other first round match Scott Lancley beat Kevin Moseley 5-3 to take him through to the final.
Both matches saw plenty of off 'field' action with the puck being lost at least five times.
In the final, Steve Gow lost his crown to newcomer Scott Lancley in an exciting, high scoring and very close match, with the final score standing at 8-7.
In the 3rd/4th place play-off match Kevin Moseley beat Richard Gottfried 5-4.
Rankings
1. Scott Lancley
2. Steve Gow
3. Kevin Moseley
4. Richard Gottfried
Photos from the event:
Steve Gow and Richard Gottfried ahead of their Crazy Air Squash match.
Heads of Tails - pre-match coin toss to see who hits the puck first.
Scott Lancley and Kevin Moseley battle it out in their first round encounter.
Richard Gottfried and Kevin Moseley following their 3rd/4th place play-off match.
The final score in the final between defending Crazy Air Squash Champion Steve Gow and new challenger Scott Lancley. Scott Lancley receives the 'prestigious' trophy.
Following the four-player tournament, play took place at the original Crazy Air Squash table in The Deluxe Amusement Arcade as the originators of the sport battled to find out the winner in the ongoing Gow/Gottfried competition.
In a high scoring and 103 second time-limited match it was Gottfried who took the win 9-5. Gow/Gottfried Air Hockey Competition Results to date: Wroxham Barns (Aug 08) - Draw Hastings (Oct 08) - SG Win Hastings (July 09) - RG Win
Following the Air Hockey battle at Wroxham Barns (see link below), Richard Gottfried and Steve Gow once again took to the Amusement Arcade, this time for an Air Hockey variant - Crazy Air Squash.
The Undisputed International Worlds Crazy Air Squash Championships took place at 'The Buttons' on Saturday 18th September 2010, with six contenders hoping to be crowned the Global Champion of the 'almost sport' of Crazy Air Squash and take with them the prized silver salver!
The Contenders were: Scott Lancley (GBR) Steve Gow (GBR) Richard Gottfried (GBR) Emily Gottfried (GBR) Oliver Florence (GBR) Gerhard Zimmermann (GER)
Match 1 Oliver Florence beat Emily Gottfried 9-7
Match 2 Gerhard Zimmermann beat Richard Gottfried 9-0
Match 3 Scott Lancley beat Steve Gow 8-5
Final* Scott Lancley beat Gerhard Zimmermann 5-4
Final* Scott Lancley beat Oliver Florence (just before kicking-out time) - score unknown!?
* The players with the largest winning margins from the preliminary round matches qualified for the finals
Final Rankings: 1st Scott Lancley 2nd Gerhard Zimmermann 2nd Oliver Florence 4th Steve Gow 5th Emily Gottfried 6th Richard Gottfried
Crazy Air Squash Hall of Shame: 2010 - Richard Gottfried - a 9-nil drubbing (with 9 'own goals') in the Undisputed International Worlds Crazy Air Squash Championships
We were visiting friends in Peterborough today and found out there was a LaserForce Laser Tag Live Action Laser Games Arena in the City.
In the last month we (I!) seem to have become addicted to playing these futuristic warfare games! They're quick and easy to play, and great fun at a good price.
In this edition of the eternal struggle between the RED and GREEN Laser Tag teams, the GREENS were triumphant. Our team, the REDS, scored 33,653 to their 40,455.
I was the RED team's 'Top Gun' with a score of 8703, which was good enough for third place overall. Our friend Rebecca 'The Fen Tigress' Evison was third in our team on 3801, while Emily '9 Lives' Gottfried was fourth in the RED team with 3753.
The LaserForce in Peterborough was set over two levels and had some great theming. There were also eight bases/targets for players to hit, as well as a 'friend or foe' non-player-character in the battlezone known as 'The Navigator'! There is also a LaserForce in Leicester which we'll have to check out next time we're there.
Other Ham & Egger File Blog Posts about Laser Tag Games:
The Laser Games Arena also had a fine selection of Arcade Machines - including a fantastic and quite rare Boom-A-Rang 'Crazy Air Squash' Air Hockey Table!
On Thursday 15th December 2011 me and Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley met up in Milton Keynes for a "Best-of-Three, no wait make it Best-of-Five Games Series" for the title of MK Winter Sporting Challenge Champion! We had planned to play a lot of Quasar Laser Tag at the Tenpin Mega Bowl at MK Leisure Plaza, however there were no spaces in games until 9pm! So with time to spare we headed to the brand new Pirate Island Adventure Golf at the Abbey Hill Golf Centre for a game of Minigolf.
Photo: Not me & Marc having a Pirate Battle on a Minigolf Island!
As I had arrived in MK before Marc, I had managed to get a game in beforehand (making it minigolf course #281 played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour!). Not that my warm-up game helped too much in our challenge match. Under floodlight conditions we hit the 18-hole course and it's excellent Pirate-theming for a match played in very cold conditions.
Photo: Marc Putting on a Double Plateau Hole
Photo: Richard on a Raft attached to a Minigolf Island
To say the match was one-sided in the early stages would be an understatement as Marc, the BMGA British #89, raced ahead over the Front-9 holes.
Video - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley Plays the 10th Hole at Pirate Island Adventure Golf:
Photo: Marc has a testing second Putt on the 18th hole
But by the 17th hole the match was level on both Strokeplay and Matchplay! I stepped up first and hit a two, Marc played his first shot which ended in the rocks, played his second and waited... and it ran just passed the hole and he had to settle for a very unfortunate three. The final scores - Richard 52, Marc 53.
Game One - Winner - 'Squire' Richard Gottfried
Following the Minigolf match we decided to head back to the Mega Bowl to have a warm game of Quasar.
While we were waiting for the 9pm game slot we decided to have a game of the Crazy Golfers Favourite - Air Hockey. Despite leading for most of the (10-minute!) match I lost 8-9 after scoring an own goal in injury time. The game conditions were quite interesting, with just two of us and with no Emily to fetch #TheMan when the Puck went flying off the table there were a lot more throw-ins than usual!
Game Two - Winner - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley
With 9pm approaching we headed to the check-in desk, signed the disclaimer (no running, no swearing, no fighting, no rifle-butts to the face etc.), found out that it would just be a one-on-one match and then waited to be called through to the Briefing Room. While we were waiting to go through Marc had the opportunity to have his photo taken with one of his Minigolf heroes!
Photo: Marc and his Minigolf Hero
Once in the Briefing Room the man said that before we could play we would have to watch "The DVD"! He seemed quite apologetic that we'd have to sit through it, however Marc and I were quite excited as in all the times we've played Laser Tag we've never had a briefing through a TV/DVD! The video was very informative, told us we were playing "Q-2000" and that once the film was over we'd be led to "The Vesting Room"!
The Milton Keynes Quasar Arena was very maze-like, with narrow passages leading to a central hub. With the game beig a solo battle the bases were unfortunately not in play. The game saw each of us trying to track the other down and in the quite big arena you had to take your opportunities and use the element of surprise on your opponent. Marc managed to do this and scored more hits, ending the game with a win for the REDS.
Photo: RED Marc and GREEN Richard
In the Quasar Stats for our game Marc was playing as RED 9 while I was GREEN 12. Marc won with a Hit Ratio of 0.9% after firing 855 shots and scoring 1,600 points! Inconceivably I was shown to have fired 4,003 times in our battle and ended with a Hit Ratio of 0.1% and 1,000 points!?
In the Never Ending Laser Tag War waged between the forces of the REDS, BLUES, GREENS, and YELLOWS players in the Laser Tag Rankings have taken part in Laser Battles in 'laser-war-torn' places including Birmingham, Hemel Hempstead, Bristol, London, Peterborough, Crawley, New Brighton, Cannock, Whitstable, Skegness, Rayleigh and Milton Keynes.
Updated Laser Tag Rankings following the MK Battle:
Click to enlarge image
Game Three - Winner - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley
With the series at two-wins-to-one in Marc's favour we headed to the Pool tables. The table we played on seemed to have a bit of a slope and was also a bit troublesome if you were shooting from one end of it, as you had to open the door to the Hurricane Simulator arcade machine to get any sort of leverage!?
The other Pool table was out of order, but happened to be the one with any chalk in the chained up chalk holder!
In our match Marc won, with me still having three balls left to pot when Marc nailed the black for victory.
Game Four - Winner - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley
After playing Pool we (I) tried to make the series a best-of-seven event, but Super Mario Kart wouldn't accept any of our coins and someone had jammed a pound coin and a ten pence piece in the coin slot of Out Run 3, putting paid to any chance of another win for me.
Overall Champion of the MK Winter Sporting Challenge - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley
Ultimate MK Games Champion Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley said "I knew it was going to be tough, especially after the minigolf. But I always believed in myself and that belief was justified."
Perennial Runner-Up ‘Squire’ Richard Gottfried said “Well done to Marc on his big win at the games. It was well deserved indeed and he was unlucky not to beat me at the Minigolf too! I’m looking forward to some more games of Laser Tag and visits to #TheButtons soon.”
The new Pirate Island Adventure Golf course at Abbey Hill Golf Centre in Two Mile Ash is well worth a visit and we'll be heading back again. Hopefully we'll get to play the Quasar with more people next time too.
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