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

The Crazy Air Squash in Hastings Amusements is Gone...

...a sad bit of news indeed.

The two Crazy Air Squash Tables have been replaced by two Penalty Shoot-Out Game Machines.

It's also likely that, in Hastings at least, Scott Lancley will be The Undisputed International Worlds Crazy Air Squash Champion forevermore!

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Arcade Games at Star City – Air Hockey, Pool & Ping Pong

Following the first minigolf event of the BMGA Tour season at the Star City Open in Birmingham on Sunday 22nd January, a group of players headed to the amusement arcade attached to the Bowling Alley in the Star City Complex for an Air Hockey Tourney.

Among the competitors in action at the Las Vegas of the West Midlands were reigning Worlds Air Hockey Champion Peter ‘The Puckmaster’ Jones, James ‘Ruthers’ Rutherford, Seth ‘Wandsworth’ Thomas, 'Squire' Richard Gottfried & Oliver ‘The Machine’ Florence.

The first game to be played was on the closest table to the door and after a draw of sorts was organised by Emily ‘Lemony’ Gottfried play commenced with a match-up between perennial Air Hockey loser, ‘Squire’ Richard Gottfried, and the Welsh Worlds Air Hockey champ and side-tournament specialist Peter ‘The Dragon’ Jones.

Peter Jones (far side) faces-off against Richard Gottfried in the longest match ever!

Unbeknownst to the players the match would create something of a record result, as the machine was a bit broken! The final result saw 31 goals scored as the match seemed to be never ending. Normally the first player who scores 7 goals is the winner and the machine keeps the puck from being returned. However in the battle between Gottfried & Jones, Richard managed to get the upset win, with a slim victory of 16-15.

With the match going on for so long Richard retired from the rest of the contest due to exhaustion and went to have a nice sit down. This meant that Peter ‘The Crazy Aced Assassin’ Jones was back in the contest and would face Seth ‘Tooting’ Thomas in the ‘first’ round.

Before that contest could take place a new table needed to be found for the match between Ruthers and The Machine. Play then commenced after Ollie had put a deposit down for half an hour’s play on the Ping Pong table. In the Air Hockey match Ollie took control and defeated Ruthers 7-5 meaning The Machine would head to the final to face either Thomas or Jones. The defeated Ruthers consoled himself by heading to the Table Tennis table to take on and beat all-comers (except Seth, who was just too good). One notable result was the ‘Squire’ (ranked 50th alongside Brad ‘The Fist’ Shepherd in the 2010 World Series of Pong) coming out of retirement for one more match. He was swiftly beaten 11-6 by Ruthers.

Ping Ponger Ruthers awaiting new challengers

In the highly anticipated match-up between Worlds Champ Peter ‘Toy Truck’ Jones and the sporting polymath that is Seth ‘Clockwork Orange’ Thomas the result was an unexpected win to Thomas, who managed to take down the champ and win 7-3 to line up a contest against The Machine in the Grand Final.

The Machine warms-up for the Air Hockey final with a bit of Table Tennis

Having seen the photos of the Air Hockey matches online, and on being told he had wrongly assumed that Peter 'Indoor League' Jones had been dishing out lessons, Finnish player Pasi ‘Bruiser’ Aho commented “He's just giving you that false feeling of confidence and will strike back when it matters.”

With the first Air Hockey table used in the competition set to ‘Long Play’ the players couldn’t imagine that the event would befall some other controversy, but that is exactly what happened in the big final match-up. With Seth Thomas easing to a 6-2 lead against Oliver Florence what happened next could of been taken straight from a round of ‘What happened next?’ on TV game show A Question of Sport. As Ollie hit a goal to bring his score up to 3 goals, the puck got stuck in the goal mouth and couldn’t be retrieved, nor did it register on the scoreboard!

Seth Thomas and Oliver Florence face-off in the Air Hockey Final

Luckily Emily ‘I’ll get #TheMan’ Gottfried was on hand and went and got the man to come and have a look at the machine (the table, not Ollie). With much wrenching and fiddling the technician was unable to get the puck out, so instead turned off the table and gave the players their pound back.

Pucking Hell! The Air Hockey Puck gets stuck in the goal

This caused a dilemma as the result of the match was still undecided. To decide the ultimate winner of the Star City Air Hockey Contest, Seth and Ollie decided to play one game of Ping Pong as a decider!

The result of the Air Hockey Tournament is decided on a Ping Pong Table

In the end there seemed to be only one possible result as Seth took an early and commanding lead, as he had done on the Air Hockey, and finished the match by smashing in a result of 11-2 and leaving The Machine with the runner-up spot.

Following the final of the Air Pong competition Seth declared that “the fun isn’t over if I’ve still got money left” and proceeded to challenge players to games of Pool. First up was Richard who, apart from the break and potting one ball, spent the game speaking with Peter 'PJ#2' Jones on the sidelines.

Richard Gottfried enjoys a nice sit down on his way to a Pool defeat at the hands of Seth Thomas

With the Hurricane Simulator ‘Out of Order’ a doubles Pool match was proposed, with the line-up of England (Ollie & Seth) to take on the ‘Wales’ team of Peter and Richard. England won.

And that wrapped up the fun and games at The Buttons of Star City. For a change no Laser Tag was played. The next big arcade event will no doubt be a £2 Tat Challenge at the amusement arcades of Worthing, West Sussex in April.

Links:
- 2011 Worlds Crazy Air Hockey Championships in Hastings
- Crazy Minigolfers Play Air Hockey Tournament in Hastings
- The Undisputed International Worlds Crazy Air Squash Championships

'LaserForce' Laser Tag in Peterborough

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:

Laser Tag in Birmingham and London

Laser Quest in Bristol - The Minigolfers Challenge

Harry's Buttons in Bristol and a Closed-Down Quasar!

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!


Back in August 2010 we contested The Undisputed International Worlds Crazy Air Squash Championships on a similar Air Hockey Table in Hastings. This time we played the Peterborough Boom A Rang Air Squash Championships - full report to follow...

Crazy Air Squash

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.


This time out Steve Gow won 9-6.



http://hamandeggerfiles.blogspot.com/2008/08/air-hockey-minigolf-professionals.html

My first Air Hockey win since the Undisputed International Worlds Crazy Air Squash Championships

On Sunday 24th October I managed to win my first Air Hockey match since the debacle that was my performance in the Undisputed International Worlds Crazy Air Squash Championships in Hastings on the 18th September 2010.

In the match at Namco Station in Luton, I defeated Suffolk's Luke Tubby 7 goals to 5.



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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
2. Algeria
3. Andorra
4. Argentina
5. Armenia
6. Australia
7. Austria
8. Bahrain
9. Bangladesh
10. Belarus
11. Belgium
12. Bermuda
13. Bosnia and Herzegovina
14. Brazil
15. Brunei
16. Bulgaria
17. Burundi
18. Canada
19. Chile
20. China
21. Colombia
22. Costa Rica
23. Croatia
24. Cyprus
25. Czech Republic
26. Denmark
27. Dominican Republic
28. Ecuador
29. Egypt
30. Estonia
31. Ethiopia
32. Finland
33. France
34. Gabon
35. Georgia
36. Germany
37. Ghana
38. Greece
39. Guatemala
40. Guernsey
41. Hong Kong
42. Hungary
43. Iceland
44. India
45. Indonesia
46. Iraq
47. Ireland
48. Isle of Man
49. Israel
50. Italy
51. Jamaica
52. Japan
53. Jersey
54. Jordan
55. Kuwait
56. Laos
57. Latvia
58. Libya
59. Lithuania
60. Macau
61. Macedonia [FYROM]
62. Malaysia
63. Malta
64. Martinique
65. Mauritius
66. Mexico
67. Moldova
68. Mongolia
69. Montenegro
70. Morocco
71. Myanmar (Burma)
72. Namibia
73. Nepal
74. Netherlands
75. New Zealand
76. Nigeria
77. Norway
78. Pakistan
79. Panama
80. Peru
81. Philippines
82. Poland
83. Portugal
84. Puerto Rico
85. Qatar
86. Réunion
87. Romania
88. Russia
89. Samoa
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
102. Tanzania
103. Thailand
104. Tunisia
105. Turkey
106. Ukraine
107. United Arab Emirates
108. Uruguay
109. USA
110. Uzbekistan
111. Venezuela
112. Vietnam

 

Here's to the next quarter of a million hits to the blog.

 

Related Blog Posts:
- The Ham & Egger Files – An Introduction
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Behold...

2010 - Ham & Egger Files - The Year in Review

2010 has been a fun year for both me and Emily, with eleven top ten finishes on the British Minigolf Association (BMGA) Tour between us, stacks of crazy golf courses visited on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour, plenty of competition on the Irregular Mini Golf Tour, and a few other wierd and wacky events played in too!

Below is a month by month run down of the highs (and lows) of 2010 as documented here on the Ham & Egger Files.

January
- Teed-off in the first minigolf competition of the season on the 1st of January with the 'Luton Invitational Minigolf Tournament' at Woodside Animal Farm, Slip End Village near Luton
- Got to use my Sledge for the first time in 2010
- Tried (and failed) to play Crazy Golf in the snow at Tea Green
- Went to 'an Ireland'
- Lost the Scrap Iron Cup in a minigolf contest to Dudley's Owen 'Jackpot' Johnson
- 8th place finish in the BMGA National Open at Star City, Birmingham
- Set a new course record, and personal best on an 18-hole minigolf course, with my score of 28(-8) on the Lost Hut Trail course at the BMGA National Open
- Played the 159th course on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour, at Sandwell Valley Park in West Bromwich

February
- Played the new 'seaside' Shooting Shack in Luton
- Helped out Tim 'Ace Man' Davies with the http://www.miniaturegolfer.com/ '2009 UK Crazy Golf Price Survey'
- 160th course played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. The UK's first full-size Swedish Felt course in Hither Green, Lewisham
- The Irregular Mini Golf Tour announces The Race to Play Near Rye (East Sussex) parody minigolf tournament
- The Ham & Egger Files wins 'Best Blog' Award at the Miniature Golfer Awards for 2009
- 24th place finish in the BMGA English Open at the Jungle Rumble courses in Bristol

March- Runner-up in the Spring Classic minigolf competition at Hither Green
- Played a Swedish Felt Minigolf Course in Vienna, Austria
- Emily and I move up in the WMF World Ranking Lists

April
- We take a minigolfing tour around East (& West) Anglia
- Play 14 rounds of Minigolf at Tea Green Golf in Luton
- Runner-up in the St George's Day Classic minigolf competition
- 4th place finish in the Midland Open minigolf tournament in Stratford-upon-Avon
- Won the Aces Championship at the Midland Open
- 3rd place finish (with Kevin Moseley) at the BMGA British Doubles Championships, Emily (and Welsh Ladies Number One, Cindy Kuielka) finish 4th

May
- Run some Minigolf Coaching Sessions at the Tea Green Golf Fun Day
- A milestone of 220 Minigolf course visits on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour is hit
- Runner-up (with Leo Kukielka) in the Codonas Classic in Aberdeen
- 8th place finish in my 50th BMGA Tour Appearance at the BMGA Scottish Open in Aberdeen. Emily finishes in 21st place
- Three years and eight months update on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

June
- Win the SB Classic Minigolf Doubles Contest (with Christopher Gottfried) at Tea Green Golf, Luton
- Emily is third (with Doubles Partner Brad Shepherd) in the Lost World Classic in Hemsby. Richard and partner Owen Johnson finish in tied 8th place
- Tied for 11th place in the BMGA British Championships at Wroxham Barns, Norfolk
- Visit and play four minigolf courses while in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

July
- 9th place finish in the Splash Point Strokeplay Competition at the new Splash Point Mini Golf course in Worthing
- Runner-up in the BMGA British Championships in Worthing
- Tim 'Ace Man' Davies and I launch the Virtual Crazy Golf Museum
- Runner-up in the Midlands Invitational Minigolf Tournament in Dorridge
- Play the 183rd course on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour, this one was in Ipswich
- Went to New England!?
- Move up to a new minigolf career best position of 7th in the BMGA Order of Merit Rankings

August
- The World Finger Jousting Federation celebrates its fifth Anniversary
- Emily and I visit Northern Ireland to face off against the Bangor MGC in the first-ever "Northern Ireland Belfast Bangor Antrim & Larne Invitational Tournament (NIBBAL-IT)". We lose to Mark Swain and Craig McCallister
- The trip to Northern Ireland means we have now played minigolf in each of the Home Nations
- I win the first-ever GMGC Club Tournament at Hither Green
- Emily and I help UrbanCrazy launch a brand new minigolf course in a garden in East Finchley, London
- We play a unique minigolf course in Hyde Park, London
- I finish 3rd and Emily is 6th in the 2010 Cwmbran Darts Classic
- I finish 5th and Emily is 6th in the 2010 Cystadleuaeth Minigolff Cymraeg (Welsh Minigolf Tournament)
- We spend 45 minutes on Barry Island, Wales
- We visit Huntingdon Races. Emily has a flutter and wins, we play a Crazy Golf course, and attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the longest Conga!

September
- We embark on an almost fruitless minigolfing roadtrip
- 12th place finish in the Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club Open
- 9th place finish in the GMGC Club Tournament in Hither Green
- We visit and play the landmark 199th and 200th courses on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour, at Castleford's Xscape Centre
- 3rd place finish for me, and 6th spot for Emily in the Newcastle Open minigolf competition
- The north-east minigolf tour proves more fruitful than the tour to the south-east earlier in the month
- Tied for 11th place in the BMGA Players Championships in Hastings
- Finished 28th in the BMGA British Open
- Emily and I compete in the first-ever "Undisputed International Worlds Crazy Air Squash Championships"
- The "Minigolf Welly Boot Swamp Ball Incident in Hastings" occurs
- I tie for 6th place in the GMGC Club Tournament in Hither Green
- The Crazy World of Minigolf Tour turns four years old!

October
- We re-visit Poole Park in Dorset and play the new 12-hole Crazy Golf course (#203)
- I finish 7th in the Weymouth Open minigolf tournament at Lodmoor Country Park, Weymouth
- I finish 4th in the London Invitational Minigolf Tournament in East Finchley, London
- Emily and I are invited to compete in the “www.miniaturegolfer.com ‘Ten Best' Crazy Golf Championship” in Hastings. I finish in tied 4th place, Emily is tied for 10th
- I finish in 17th place in the Castle Golf World Crazy Golf Championships - for the third year running!
- I am now ranked 26th of 260 players in the Castle Golf World Crazy Golf Rankings for 2003-2010, Emily is 55th

November
- Blogged 68 Times in November 2010!
- Emily and I compete in the 4th UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships in Fulham. Emily gets to Round 3, while I crash out in Round 2
- 8th place finish in the Kent Open minigolf tournament in Sidcup
- I win the Kent Open Team Competition alongside Michael Smith and James Davies, at World of Golf Sidcup
- WMF World Minigolf Rankings Update (Nov 10):
-- Richard - 413th of 413 places / 431 players
-- Emily - 138th of 138 places / 158 players

December
- Played in the 'World Series of Pong' Ping Pong Tournament in Tooting, London alongside Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd
- Played in the Minigolfers BIG Sim Golf Challenge Christmas 'Do' event at Urban Golf in London. Me and Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd are runners-up in the Doubles Event
- Finish in tied 5th place in the Christmas Minigolf 9-Hole Putting Green Sudden Death Challenge
- Completed my fourth year on the BMGA Tour, with a 12th place finish in the inaugural Green Open at Hither Green, Lewisham
- End of Season BMGA Tour Rankings:
-- Richard - 11th of 98 players in the BMGA Order of Merit Rankings for 2009-2010 - a new career high end-of-season ranking
-- Emily - 41st of 98 players in the BMGA Order of Merit Rankings for 2009-2010
--- Richard - 7th of 160 players in the BMGA Season Only Rankings for 2010 - a new career high end-of-season ranking
--- Emily - 100th/101st (tied) of 160 players in the BMGA Season Only Rankings for 2010
- Visited Eastrop Park in Basingstoke, the Crazy Golf course there has been removed and replaced by and Adventure Playground
- Visited an unplayable Swedish Felt B-Run Minigolf course on a Pier in Southsea
- Re-visited the first course played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - Portsmouth's Treasure Island Adventure Golf - it was closed
- Played the 210th minigolf course on our tour at the O2 in London on the 30th December 2010 - Emily and I contest the Irregular Mini Golf Tour Millennium Classic - it's a draw!
- End of Year Green Mini Golf Club Rankings:
-- Richard - 16th of 37 players having played four of the 18 weekly club tournaments

In 2010 we played a total of 52 courses on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. We also visited a further 44 courses that we couldn't play for a variety of reasons, and re-visited and played many previously played courses!

A peek ahead at 2011?
Who knows what will happen, or where we'll be going on our various minigolf, crazy golf and other strange sporting adventures in 2011 - what is known is that a lot of fun will be had on the way!

2009 - A Year in Review

Behold...the sports and games we've played so far

Minigolf* and Finger Jousting isn't all that he can do, behold the great Richard Gottfried - a gift from me to you...

Adventure Golf

Air Hockey
Archery
Archery Tag

Arm Champs II Arm Wrestling
Bagatelle
Bar Billiards

Brussels Sprout Competitive Eating
Bun Throwing
Christmas Tree Throwing
Conga Dancing

Crazy Air Squash
Crazy Golf
Crazy Golf Pool

Dodgeball
Egg Throwing
FootGolf
FootPool
Football Pool

Guinness World Records
Laser Tag
London Skittles
Pétanque

Picnicking

(Ping) Pong
Pit-Pat
PongCrazy

Pirate Flyer Laser Monorails

Rock Paper Scissors
Shooting Shacks
Shuffleboard

'Tat' Challenges
Thumb Wrestling
World of Grip
Worm Charming

What's next?

Keep following The Ham & Egger Files to find out!

Richard Gottfried - Out Standing In His Field

* check out the post Types and Variants of Miniature Golf visited and played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour for details of other versions of the game

'The £2 Tat Challenge' at 'The Buttons' in Hastings

On Saturday 30th October 2010 a group of Amusements loving Crazy Golfers headed to 'The Buttons' following the end of the first day's play in the 2010 Castle Golf World Crazy Golf Championships to take part in the first-ever '£2 Tat Challenge'.


This amusements challenge contest saw members of various Minigolf Clubs competing to win the most amount of 2p falls prizes with a stake of £2. The brains behind the event were Scott ‘Donkey Gringo’ Lancley (the International Worlds Crazy Air Squash Champion) and Emily ‘Coach’ Gottfried.

13 players took part and the final 'Order of Merit' is below, with 'Johnson' Paul Johnson taking the victory (and the prize of 'All the Tat') with a haul of nine pieces of tat won with only £2 worth of 2p's!!!

1. Paul Johnson = 9 pieces of tat
2. Keith Kellard = 5
3. Phil Exall = 4
3. Steve Gow = 4
3. Pasi Aho = 4
3. Brad Shepherd = 4
7. Richard Gottfried = 2
8. Peter Jones = 1
8. Scott Lancley = 1
8. Kevin Moseley = 1
8. Owen Johnson = 1
12. Alex Exall = 0 pieces of tat at all
12. Marc Chapman = 0

Photos from the event (in no particular order).

The prizes are handed over next to the hallowed Air Hockey table.

Emily Gottfried shows off the 'Bag of Tat'.

Richard 'Scrap Iron' Gottfried showing off his winnings.

Phil 'Blakey' Exall looking pleased with his haul.

Pasi 'Bruiser' Aho with his four prizes - a trip to Hastings made worthwhile.

Steve 'Grand Prix' Gow and his prizes.

Kevin 'Lost in Hastings' Moseley looking mildly unimpressed.

Brad 'The Scourge of the Clergy' Shepherd and his handful of prizes.

Marc 'Oliver' Chapman and his 'begging bowl'.

Creator of the Challenge Scott 'Donkey Gringo' Lancley with his sole prize.

Owen 'Don't call me Irwin' Johnson won less than the Jackpot.

'Johnson' Paul Johnson with all nine of his tat-prizes.

Peter 'The M*****P*****' Jones and his toy car.

Keith 'Spare us ten pence Guv' Kellard looking pleased with his silver medal haul of tat.

The '£2 Tat Challenge' was an open invitation event and featured in the Unofficial Booklet of the 2010 World Crazy Golf Championships.

After the success of the first edition, the £2 Tat Challenge looks set to become a regular feature!!!