Tourneytion

Hiya.
My friends just got back from a competition/tournament in another town, though it wasn’t some several day thing, only a mere couple hour one. They didn’t win overall but they did well. Though it still wonders me what the grand prize was…
Just out of a curiosity of a question, who has been to a competition of any sort, let it be Sports, games, cards, shows, looks, stares, scares, books, hardware, race, or whatnot and if so what was the prize grand.
I myself haven’t been too much of a big competition that I can remember, only a few sport ones, that’s about it really. Little ol uneventful me. :D
Well I’m off, for now. :D

I was in the chess tournament back when I was in secondary school. I won by luck but there was no gift for winning so it was a bit disapointing. This summer my friend and I are going to do some DDR tournaments to win a lot of money.

A Magic:The Gathering tournament in 1998, (came 6th, grand prize - more cards), a Laser Quest quads tournament in 2000 (my team came 2nd, grand prize - a bigger trophy than the one I got) a swimming tournament at secondary school (my team won, grand prize - can't remember) and numerous chess tournaments at junior school (came in various places, grand prizes - can't remember). In other words, not much really.

I've been to a few Magic tournaments. I've only won one, and that was just my school's tourney.

I took place in a Magic: the Gathering tournament with 3 other friends...just us. I came in like 2nd and won a giant card that is still on my wall to this day. One of my friends actualy went to a tourney in Seattle and got like 1st or 2nd place. He won $300 and they said he could enter the tourney in California if he wanted to, but he opted against it because he would have to spend all his winnings on the plane ticket alone. :P I also was in a Star Wars CCG tournament and I came in last and still got like 4 packs of cards. The cool thing is that the tourney was free.

Let's see...
Vocational Industrial Clubs of America (VICA) regional Electronics Technology contest, 1999-2000 school year: 1st place
VICA state Electronics Technology contest, 99-2000: Didn't place
VICA state Related Technical Math contest, 99-2000: 5th place
VICA regional Electronics Technology contest, 2000-2001: 1st place
VICA state Electronics Technology contest, 2000-2001: 2nd place
VICA state Related Technical Math contest, 2000-2001: 2nd place
Winston Solar Challenge (solar car race), summer 2001: Our team failed it.
VICA regional Electronics Technology contest, 2001-2002: 1st place
VICA state Electronics Technology contest, 2000-2001: 2nd place
BattleBots IQ Tournament, March 2002: Our team progressed to the elite eight in a double-elimination tournament before being defeated.

Not a one. I'm not the competitive type.

Hey DA, you a chess-monkey? Been looking at colleges yet?

IMJack said:

Hey DA, you a chess-monkey? Been looking at colleges yet?

I'm not quite sure what you mean but I'll take a dive into the pool here. :D
I like to play chess, but I'm still not the best at it.
I am many times considered a monkey yes, but of chess, I dunno. :D
I hope that answers your questions. :D

Well, for being one of the biggest troublemakers in my high school, I won a trip to a ward and was suspended until I was deemed "sane" :D

Which really drove them nuts cause I always got good grades and good class reports (barring a few electives) and was otherwise a good student.

I've never cared much for contests and don't remember being in any. People always tried to get me into things they said I could easily win, which I probably could, but I just never liked the idea. Not sure why.

Actually, my old drill instructor said I was one of the best soldiers in my platoon, but those competitions were involuntary so they don't count :P

Around 1981 I was in a Connect Four tournament. I won and got a box of cookies. Of course, the real prize was bragging rights, heheh.

In 1991, I was in some kind of game tournament, where you had to play a few Nindendo games. First, it started with Super Mario Bros. I had to get 22 coins, then the screen changes to RC Pro Am. After completing the first lap, it changed again to Tetris (too bad it wasn't the Tengen version), where I had to get as many points as possible. I got second place, and got a nice original Game Boy out of it.

In the mid-nineties I was in several boomerang tournaments. This consisted of many events: accuracy (two forms), fast catch, MTA, and distance. In every event, you stand in the center of a bullseye type circle extending to 20 meters (the minimum distance the boomerangs must fly out to before returning). Any boomerang of any design and shape can be used as long as it can fly out that far.

Accuracy (first type) - You throw a boomerang and have it land as close to the center of the bullseye as possible.
Accuracy (second type) - Same as the first type, but you must catch the boomerang as close to the center as possible. If you miss, you lose those points, no matter how close you were.
Fast Catch - Throw and catch a boomerang five times as quickly as possible. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Well, it's not. First of all, specially designed boomerangs are usually used for maximum speed. They fly low and very fast. If you're not paying attention, it can be dangerous.
MTA (Maximum Time Aloft) - This can one of the most fun of all the events (although I like distance the most). It can also be the most aggravating. It's also easily the most difficult. You have to throw a boomerang and have it stay in the air for as long as possible, then catch it as close to the center of the bullseye as possible. The boomerangs used are generally shaped like a '7' and are very thin and light. If thrown right, they soar high into the air, possibly above the trees, park themselves up there, and slowly float down at the mercy of every thermal, eddy, and wind gust in the area. If it was thrown badly or if the boomerang was poorly designed, it might go into a death spiral which would likely be its last.
Distance - This one is my favorite out of all of them. First, in addition to the bullseye, there are three more circles added, one for 30 meters, one for 40, and one for 50. The objective is to throw the boomerang and have it go as far out as possible and catch it as close to the center of the bullseye as possible. Over 50 meters is very difficult, but very satisfying when it goes out to where it becomes a tiny dot in the sky, and have that dot return for you to catch it without ever having to take more than one or two steps.

People from all over the world compete in these tournaments, and some have been known to follow them around like groupies. Although the best I've done in the whole tournament was around 5th place, I won several individual events, particularly both of the accuracy events and distance. I did win the MTA event once, but that was sheer luck on my part. A last minute thermal kept the boomerang in the air long enough to get the highest time.

In 1997 the Quake Team Fortress clan I was in competed in some kind of exhibition. I don't remember all that much about it, but I do remember two maps in particular. It was called titans2 and it was an awful map, although it did give me some ideas for my own map, invade (4a being the last version). Anyway, no one on either side knew anything about the map at all, so we had no idea what to do. However, I played the map a few hours before, and I had only a slight idea of what to do. While everyone was running around trying to kill people, I grabbed the "flag", took it where it needed to go, and just sat there. By standing on a certain spot with the "flag" I gained all the powerups, including invincibility. I also gained points for the whole clan. I was untouchable, and by the time the map ended, we beat the other clan by several hundred points, and to this day, no one knew why, heheh. The other map was ewg, and it was a better map. At least this one made sense. However, it was also a brand new map that no one knew about. Like before, I tested this map to see what it was like, and I discovered a secret room with a Quad Damage (it reappeared after five minutes) and teleporters to deep inside either base. I told the rest of the clan about it and how to get to it, and when it came time to play the other clan, we perplexed, befuddled, overwhelmed, and demolished them. They had no idea about the secret throughout the entire time the map was played, and they had no clue about how we were so easily getting by their defenses.

Lüt said:

Well, for being one of the biggest troublemakers in my high school, I won a trip to a ward and was suspended until I was deemed "sane" :D

Lucky bastard. Every time I tell someone I need psychological help, the answer is always "hah, no you don't!"

Been in too many to list.

We lost in the last game of the season last senior year of playing rugby.

I have two football winners medals but I don't feel like I deserved either because I missed a penalty in both games.

I won a chess cup for biggest winning streak. I won 10 games on the trot in 2001.

I have a Cricket League winners shield.

Etc.

I've played a few (heh) chess tournaments. Quite a few trophies and things. Biggest prize: 6000 French Francs (=1st Val Thorens Open 1988). Most pitiful prize: 30 Roubles (=5th Vosu Open 1989), and it had to be surrendered at USSR customs.

pritch said:

I won a chess cup for biggest winning streak. I won 10 games on the trot in 2001.

Heh, 15 :p. 35 in blitz.

Grazza said:

I've played a few (heh) chess tournaments. Quite a few trophies and things. Biggest prize: 6000 French Francs (=1st Val Thorens Open 1988). Most pitiful prize: 30 Roubles (=5th Vosu Open 1989), and it had to be surrendered at USSR customs.

Heh, 15 :p. 35 in blitz.

You own me, what's your ELO?

Crappy: a bit below 2300 ATM. It peaked around 2365, but that was ages ago.