MV summer series concludes in Epsom

Many thanks to James Fraser, organiser of the final event in the series, who writes…

On Thursday evening winter descended on the Cricketers and 40+ orienteers chose to ignore what their senses were telling them about the balmy summer temperature and plunged themselves into the Arctic.

For the final “bonus” event in the Summer Series I was given the opportunity to host an orienteering event with a difference, and we played “Deep Blue” which involved foraging “fish” from Epsom common, by first entering the water through “ice holes”. The twist was that each journey beneath the ice could only last 10 minutes, effectively giving a series of mini-score challenges, within a 40 or 75 minute window. 

I was truly impressed by the number of people who arrived fully versed in the rules and with an open mind, and it was a delight to send everyone off from the north pole to collect their fish. I have seen double-sided maps before, but this event used the notion of ‘ice holes’ as a mechanism for travelling from one side of the map to the other. A selection of checkpoints on the ‘above the ice’ side gave the opportunity for strategic choices, while ‘below the ice’ were the scoring opportunities with a selection of fish in a range of different values.

I won’t recap the full range of rules here (although I will be more than happy to over a beer, or whatsapp) but the principal strategy choices were:

• a) How to collect fish, without running out of time under the ice. And how much risk to carry on subsequent journeys beneath the ice
• b) How much time to spend solving puzzles at the “seals” that would then bring in passive income, although they needed to be revisited to be collected.
• c) Whether and when to use fish (points) to move up to Level 2 and/or Level 3, which brought higher bounties, but with the investment of the level cost to be paid off.

For anyone still scratching their heads on the Seal puzzles, there were three:

• There were 7 bears in the grid: Black, Brown, Koala, Panda, Polar, Gummy and Teddy
• The letters missing from the alphabet, in order, were ACDEILN – which rearranged give ICELAND
• And, the image showed that there were 9 blocks in the tower.

Some people flew through them, but they were only easy if you could see the answers!

I have looked through the checkpoint data, and it’s impressive to see how many fish were caught, trips under the ice embarked upon and lessons taken. There are a thousand stories in the data, but one individual (who did ask for me to check this after the game) stands out:

After investing in the lesson to take them up to Level 3, and collecting 56.5kg fish from seals and a previous dive, they embarked upon a dive with 22m 13s remaining on their clock they found Ray 4, Eel 5 and Ray 6, worth an addition 28kg of fish. But returned to the ice hole with 12m 12s remaining on their clock. Running out of oxygen by just a single second and letting 74.5kg drift swim back into the sea. What makes this stand-out even more however, is that following this set-back, they scooped up a mammoth 21.5kg of fish from a Seal and returned under the ice with exactly 9 minutes of game time remaining, they collected an addition 28kg of fish, surfaces with 2m 27s remaining, scooped up 20kg of fish from Seal 1 and reached the snow bank with a solitary second left on the clock. Banking 69.5kg of fish, with one second remaining.

I love creating and running these games, because they provide a new challenge – building on the core essence of orienteering, but coupling it with the game play, strategy and cerebral challenge of board games. Looking around the beer garden afterwards I caught snippets of conversations that suggested that everyone had taken on the challenge and, win or lose, come out with a unique story to tell.

The scores at the end of the event were pleasingly tight, with Dan Sullivan pulling in the largest haul (358kg) just ahead of Ben Kyd (336.5kg). On the 40-minute course, Bobby B and children, aka Three Fishy Bears, brought home 65kg, just ahead of Dawn Clifford and Stefan Claus on 63kg. 

Thank you so much to everyone for entering into the spirit and giving it a go, this was a taster of the type of games that my wife and I are creating, and I would love to hear any feedback, questions and suggestions. You can reach me via WhatsApp or email (james.ontwowheels@gmail.com or hello@playmindgames.co.uk), the wisdom of MVOC would be greatly appreciated. For those that enjoyed, there are plenty more games running over the summer and throughout the year, you can find all the details at Https://www.playmindgames.co.uk or mind_gamesUK on social media.

Lastly thank you to Tim, for extending the Summer Series to allow this “bonus” event in, I hope it was enjoyed! 

Indeed, James, it was enjoyed! Full results from the final event:

Player	Course	Final score (with uplift for 40mins course)	Ranking points
Dan Sullivan	75	358	50
Ben Kyd	75	336.5	49
Ben Toogood	75	275.5	48
John Pickup	75	247.5	47
Tim Scarbrough and Ralph S	75	217	46
Samantha Martin	75	215.5	45
Peter Foulkes	75	207.5	44
Paul Todd	75	193.5	43
Ian Peckitt	75	186.5	42
Alex Croft	75	185.5	41
Michael Tsang	75	176	40
Robert McCaffrey	75	170	39
Andy Walter	75	152.5	38
Tom Martin	75	144	37
Steven Carle	75	135	36
Leo and Austin B	40	130	35
Jennifer Walsh	75	127.5	34
Dawn Clifford	40	126	33
Ian Roberts	75	121.5	32
Phil Morgan	75	121	31
Justin Farhall	75	105.5	30
Adrian Croft	75	102.5	29
David Shute, Trish Shute and family	75	101.5	28
Clare Todd	40	87	27
Karen Cadman	75	85.5	26
Ben S	75	84.5	25
Tony Garton	75	83	24
Jennifer Sibley	75	83	24
Liz Seaston	40	80	22
Pete Huzan	75	78.5	21
Rajiv Sharma	40	74	20
Darren Chung	40	72	19
Christine Harper	75	70.5	18
Sarah Massey	75	68.5	17
Summer Hogg	40	68	16
Emilia Allen	40	68	16
Fiona Fairhurst	40	67	14
Dave Stagg	40	64	13
Clare Peckitt	40	64	13
Ian Ditchfield	75	42	11
Katie McAuley	40	40	10
Emily Hogg	40	28	9
Peter Martin	75	25	8
Vicki Garton	40	2	7

A thank you to all those who have taken part across the series – fantastic turnout and a lovely atmosphere at these events with a great mix of ages. We think this the first time in our memory of the summer series having 7 events across 7 weeks, so also a big thanks to the organisers who stepped up to put on the events. Can’t do these series without people volunteering like this. Also, it’s been lovely to see the high attendance and progress from the pupils at St Paul’s school. We look forward to welcoming you to more events soon!

The resulting series winners were:

• a clear win for Jennifer Sibley for the women’s trophy!
• a joint win between Dan Sullivan and Tim Scarbrough for the men’s, both reaching maximum points!

Final series scores:

Name	Surname	1:Claremont	2:Epsom	3:Nower	4:Ashtead	5:Horton	6:Oaks	7:Epsom	Organiser	Best 4	Rank Male	Rank Female
Tim	Scarbrough	50	*	49	50	50	49	46	50	200	1
Dan	Sullivan		50	*	45	49	50	50	50	200	1
Ben	Toogood			47	49	*	47	48	49	193	3
Ian	Roberts	49	45	48			46	32		188	4
Paul	Todd		43			47	48	43		181	5
Ian	Ditchfield		44	44		43	45	11		176	6
Justin	Farhall	47	41	46	36	41		30		175	7
Mike	Brock	42		45	43	42				172	8
Alex	Croft		42	43	40	39		41		166	9
Ben	S	48	48	40				25		161	10
Steven	Carle	41	36	37	41		*	36	41	160	11
Jennifer	Sibley	46	34	25	34		44	24		158		1
Ralph	S	27		42		36	33	46		157	12
Sam	Kenham		46	26		40	42			154	13
David	Float	39	38	29	38					144	14
Alex	Kendall	*	49		46				49	144	14
Robert	McCaffrey			35	*	35		39	35	144	14
Ian	Peckitt			23	28	32	38	42		140	17
Paul	Byers	45		28	37	20				130	18
Philip	Gristwood	37	25	27			40			129	19
Peter	Foulkes			41			41	44		126	20
Christine	Glew	34		21		33	37			125		2
Hugh	S	32	30	33		27				122	21
Sarah	Massey		28	24	31	29	34	17		122		3
Sarah	Scarbrough			39		38	28	16		121		4
Gordon	Parker		40		39		39			118	22
Adrian	Croft		31	32		25		29		117	23
Liz	Seaston	35	32			26		22		115		5
Tony	Garton	31	35		23	22		24		113	24
Michael	Tsang					30	36	40		106	25
Leianne	Upton	36				34	26			96		6
James	Fraser				48			*	48	96	26
John	Pickup				42			47		89	27
Jocelyn	Darvill			31	26	31				88		7
Nigel	Saker	30				21	35			86	28
Mark	Bowden				47	37				84	29
Phil	Morgan	29			0	24		31		84	29
Mike	Elliot				22	28	30			80	30
Alan	Leakey	26	29		24					79	31
Alex	Marr			34	44					78	32
Amelia	T		33					43		76		8
Graham	Denney			36	35					71	33
Leo and Austin	B				29			35		64	34
Diane	Leakey		37		24					61		9
Susan	Login		27				32			59		10
Ashley	Tilling			30	25		missing			55	35
Andrew	Trimble	28	26							54	36
Mirella	Genziani	25					27			52		11
Christine	Harper	33						18		51		12
Tom	Davies			50						50	37
Bill	Alexander				27	23				50	37
Nick	Hooke				30	19				49	39
Ben	Kyd							49		49	39
Mahr	Matthias					48				48	41
Karen	Cadman			22	0			26		48		13
Nick	Cooper		47							47	42
Hoang	Vinh-Phuong					46				46		14
Clelland	Steven					45				45	43
Samantha	Martin							45		45		15
Chris	Adams	44								44	44
Paul	Blagbrough		24	20						44	44
Rosca	Radu					44				44	44
Damien	Hersey						43			43	47
Åsa	Bell	43								43		16
Phoebe	Smith	40								40		17
Richard	Kirk		39							39	48
Cameron	Fox	38								38	49
Dan	Horton			38						38	49
Andy	Walter							38		38	49
Tom	Martin							37		37	52
Jennifer	Walsh							34		34		18
Colin	Jackson				33					33	53
Dawn	Clifford							33		33	53	19
Dexter	M				32					32	55
Hywel	Davies						31			31	56
Judith	Armitt						29			29		20
Trish	Shute							28		28		21
Clare	Todd							27		27		22
Ray	Sullivan						25			25	57
Chrys	Marsh	24								24	58
Pete	Huzan							21		21	59
Rajiv	Sharma							20		20	60
Darren	Chung							19		19	61
Emilia	Allen							16		16		23
Fiona	Fairhurst							14		14		24
Dave	Stagg							13		13	62
Clare	Peckitt							13		13		25
Katie	McAuley							10		10		26
Emily	Hogg							9		9		27
Peter	Martin							8		8	63
Vicki	Garton							7		7		28
Catherine	Kelly				0					0		29
Liz	Horrocks				0					0		30