Tommy C's Blog

I don't blog much on this blog - especially compared to the chess blog I run and help write. Or rather I should say, compared to the award winning chess blog I run and help write. But now I've fixed my camera, that could all change. Could...

If it does, you can expect stuff like this. How I went to the Great British Beer Festival on Saturday, and discovered a game called Shuffleboard that I actually seem to have some talent for - unlike all of the other games in the universe. Luckily Shuffleboard is a compelling spectacle that demands acts of extreme sportsmanship from its athletes. (Meaning that yes, I am an athlete now.) A sport for the 2012 Olympics? Maybe. They're going to be held just up the road from me, and I'll be ready, just in case.

But before that, what is Shuffleboard? Here's my friend Antony having a go, so you can get the idea before I dazzle you with my own accomplishment:

You have a pile of round wooden things: I assume they are called 'shuffles', since it's self-explanatory which part of the sports equipment the 'board' refers to. You have to get these shuffles through the slots in the bridge. For that you get points - and points win prizes.

And here's how Antony did:

Pretty good. I decided to follow Antony's strategy of drinking a lot, but also add a few novel tactics of my own. The first can be seen from this picture of me getting ready to go:
The unused pile of shuffles are stacked off the board, behind the beer glasses, so not in the way: tactic one. I also decided to go for top-spin, and aiming them at the slits hard. Top-spin proved impossible, but nonetheless I did alright, eh:

Winner!

And guess what I won? A million pounds? A yacht? Eternal life? Even better: The Big Book of Beer, which is just stuffed full of brilliant tips on how to get drunk, a central part of my Shuffleboard training plan in the years to come. Next, the crowd carried me off on their shoulders...

I don't know. Is the camera good or bad news for this blog?