Report from the 2015 Worlds £2 Tat Challenge in Hastings

Results from the off-course shenanigans at the amusements in Hastings.

What the sport is all about

Since 2010 Crazy Mini Golfers from around the world have descended on the amusement arcades of Hastings to compete in 'Tat Challenge' tournaments.

One of the machines not in use this year

2015 would be no different at 23 competitors lined-up to fight for the honour and prizes that come with being the World Tat Challenge Champion.

The competitors receive some last minute instructions from The Buttons Committee

Following the first day's play of the World Crazy Golf Championships the group headed over the road to the Old Town Amusement Arcade for 20-minutes of non-stop tu-penny pushers gaming to see who could land the largest haul of prizes. There had been some doubt as to whether the event would take place, as in the lead-up to the contest on Saturday there had been reports that the Old Town Buttons had closed down and the site was up for sale!

Afternoon of the Living Dead - a shocking sight indeed

Fortunately the Old Town ones were open and buzzing on the big day itself. Rendering the recce to the buttons next to The Deluxe pointless. Speculation that an alternative venue would be 'Keith's' buttons down by The Stade were also dismissed as hogwash. Especially when the rumour included something about the use of ten pence pieces. A ridiculous notion.

Tatters Buttonsing

The 2015 champion was Helen Dodd with a total of seven bits of tat, leaving her closest rivals trailing in her wake with a mere four bits. The defending champion Kate 'Mrs' Kelly was unable to hold onto the crown as she slipped to a disappointing last place after drawing a blank.

The Champ Helen Dodd shows off her winnings as a character looks on

The modern era of the sport has quite possibly seen advances in technology that favour 'the house' as the days of one person winning an event with 40 pieces of tat (as veteran James Rutherford rocketed into his pocket during the great summer of sport in 2012).

Sussex's finest

With a total prize bag of 51 tats Helen declared that the toys and stuff would be put to good use as the 'second best Crazy Golfer in the Dodd household' (Emily Dodd) would be given them when Helen and Matt arrived back home.

Results of the 2015 Worlds £2 Tat Challenge (all competitors GB & NI except where stated)
1 - Helen 'Lucky 7' Dodd = 7
2 - John 'Forgot his Waffles' Moore = 4
2 - Richard 'Seen Better Days' Gottfried = 4
2 - Steve 'Stay Puft' Le Velle = 4
5 - 'Peter Peter Ice Cream Eater' Jones = 3
5 - Martin 'Alien' Greenhead = 3
5 - Ollie 'Little Alient' Greenhead = 3
5 - Steve 'The Treasure Hunter' Sturdy = 3
9 - Will 'Donnelaney' Donnelly = 2
9 - Tony 'Better than Kate this year' Kelly = 2
9 - 'The Portuguese Man o' War' Nuno Cunha (POR) = 2
9 - 'Big' Stevie Gow = 2
9 - Ed 'Dressed for the weather conditions for a change' Haynes = 2
9 - Chris 'Tusk' Wood = 2
9 - Adam 'On Par with Pa' Kelly = 2
9 - David 'Local Competitor' Hartley = 2
17 - Marion 'Local Athlete' Hartley = 1
17 - Mark 'Character' Wood = 1
17 - Matt 'Not top' Dodd = 1
17 - Steven 'Bonnie' Langford = 1
21 - Kathryn 'Debutee' Haynes = 0
21 - Ed 'Friend of Le Velle' Pope = 0
21 - Kate 'Oh dear what happened this year' Kelly = 0

To date ten official Tat Challenge competitions have been played with 800 bits of tat won for a total of £382.

Hands like lightning! Peter Jones in action

Local competitor Marion Hartley made her debut this year

The former People's Champion 'Big' Stevie Gow in action, with Johnny Waffles eyeing up some 'rattin' opportunities

Not winning this year

Keith Kellard stalks the floors for some loose change while David Hartley is in the zone. Kellard would eventually find over £2 in dropped money while everyone else competed

An Essex-based character playing the Buttons

Ed Haynes uncharacteristically wearing a jacket

£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)

#7 - Richard Gottfried and Mike Small - a tie with 32 pieces of Tat each

#8 - William Edwards - 8 pieces of Tat (World Title)
#9 - Kate Kelly - 10 pieces of Tat (World Title)
#10 - Helen Dodd - 7 pieces of Tat (World Title)

Related Blog Posts:

- Report from the 2013 World £2 Tat Challenge in Hastings
- Report from the 2013 World £2 Tat Challenge in Hastings

- Tat Challenge blog posts

Like the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour on Facebook, check out our YouTube channel and follow me and Emily on Twitter. You can also sign-up to receive our newsletter.

Report from the 2014 Worlds Tat Challenge in Hastings

Results of the World Tat Challenge Amusement Arcade Tournament in Hastings.

Much like the World Crazy Golf Championships the 2014 World £2 Tat Challenge would not see an appearance by the defending champion, and with many new entrants mixing it up with the veterans of The Buttons the competition was set to be quite thrilling.

Why are they so happy? They didn't win.

As usual the players - all 33 of them - were ably led by The Buttons Committee straight from the first day's play of the World Crazy Golf Championships to the Old Town Amusement Arcade where they received the instructions and rules. Not for the first time a few of the more eager competitors had jumped the gun and already changed up their gold into coppers. This included Paul 'Johnson Paul Johnson' Johnson - a real veteran and the first-ever World Tat Champion - who had made a rookie error and only changed up a quids worth!?

A newcomer and a veteran at the 2014 World Tat Challenge in Hastings

With the countdown counted down the athletes were off and running and the battle for the tat was underway.

Paul Preston may be good at quizzes, but he's not much good at tat challenges

With some players scouting out the arcades in the preceding days (most notably the Greenheads and Lovell) the predictions were that the winning haul would be low and those halcyon days of winning as much as 40 bits o' stuff were long gone.

One of the most notable events of the competition was that after eighteen minutes of the twenty minute time-limit John 'Big Al' Moore still had about £4 left in change and hurriedly tried to win some more tat, but to no avail.

A bull and a donkey

Helen Dodd plays the buttons as Adam Kelly wins nothing

Peter Jones eyes up Steve Sturdy's machine, ready for a sharking perhaps

Mark Wood in action

Playing as a Stormtrooper proved difficult for Steve Ragless as he couldn't bend down to pick up any change or prizes!

A guilty looking John Moore!

It's just not Cricket. No, it's Brian Smith. Short-changed perhaps...

Fast hands Squire

Marion Homer took a two on her debut and drew a blank

Owen and The Johnson amid a flurry of tatting

This is what 90 pieces of tat looks like

2014 World Tat Champion Kate Kelly with her bag of winnings

With the challengers for the title declaring their winnings to Emily Gottfried there were rumblings of a tie, with the pace set at seven pieces of tat, but this was slightly blown out of the water by the ten pieces of tat that Kate 'Mrs Kelly' Kelly had managed to win from the 2p pushers to see her declared the winner.

Results of the 2014 World Tat Challenge

Results list from the 2014 World Tat Challenge (click to enlarge)

To date nine Tat Challenge competitions have been played with 799 bits of tat won for a total of £336. This year saw one less piece of tat won overall with 90 prizes won.

The Tat Challenge Order of Merit Rankings List

Tat Challenge Order of Merit Rankings List (click to enlarge)

£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)

#7 - Richard Gottfried and Mike Small - a tie with 32 pieces of Tat each

#8 - William Edwards - 8 pieces of Tat (World Title)
#9 - Kate Kelly - 10 pieces of Tat (World Title)

Related Blog Posts:

- Report from the 2013 World £2 Tat Challenge in Hastings

- Tat Challenge blog posts

Report from the 2013 World £2 Tat Challenge in Hastings

Rookie Player Wins World Title on his Debut in Hastings!

As has become tradition, following the first day’s play of the World Crazy Golf Championships an open-call went out to all of the players to participate in the World £2 Tat Challenge.

For the second year in a row a total of 30-players heeded the call and headed over to the hallowed venue that is what Wembley is to football, Twickenham is to Rugby Union, The Crucible is to Snooker (and indeed what Hastings Seafront is to Crazy Golf) – the Old Town Amusement Arcade!

The winner and losers from the 2013 World £2 Tat Challenge

With players changing their £2 stake into 2 penny pence pieces the rules briefing was given by Messrs Lancley and Gottfried before the call to arms was given.

2013 also saw the Buttons Committee make a radical change to the rules – with a 20-minute time-limit imposed! This meant that the play would be even more fast paced than usual and that bit more risky for the more canny ratty competitors who will often wait until their opponents are out of tuppenny bits to make their move and clean-up.

Scott 'Donkey Gringo' Lancley enforcing the rules

The frenetic competition took some of the newcomers by surprise and with some of the veterans sticking to tried and tested methods that weren’t quite right for the new format the results were very interesting indeed.

With time ticking down the players entered their scores with official referee Emily ‘Lemony’ Gottfried to record for the ages.

Taking an early tie in the clubhouse was the reigning and defending champion ‘Squire’ Richard Gottfried on five bits, with the lead shared by debutees Chris Hillman and Helen Dodd, along with Tat Veteran Trevor Exall and second time competitor Chris Wood.

Fast-paced action from the ratters, tatters and sharks - Steve Sturdy looks particularly confused/angry at being robbed of a prize by the looks of it!

Former World Tat Challenge Champions Paul ‘Johnson Paul Johnson’ Johnson then scored seven pieces to scoop the lead.

This group was soon trumped by William Edwards who amassed a total of eight pieces. With a few players left to declare at the end of the twenty-minute contest the contestants awaited the result. Sly old fox Terry ‘Cockney Tel’ Exall approached the ref with quite a haul, but 2013 was not to be his year, as he had managed to score an impressive, but not quite good enough unlucky seven pieces of tat to tie for second place.

Lemony and Donkey Gringo count up the final rankings

That meant that the new and undisputed 2013 World £2 Tat Challenge Champion was William ‘Insert Nickname’ Edwards who was elated to be crowned champion, receive the entire bag of goodies and the respect of his fellow competitors.

The 2013 World £2 Tat Challenge Champion - William 'Sideshow Bob' Edwards

Over the weekend William scored a remarkably unique Grand Slam of victories – winning the World Title in the Tat Challenge and finishing last of all the competitors (that managed to finish the six qualifying rounds) in the World Crazy Golf Championships!

While a grand total of 91 pieces of tat was won by the 30 players, there were two-player who ‘did a Chappers-Smith’ and drew a blank – these were Christian ‘Anthony Pope’ Fuchs and Steve ‘Teen Wolf’ Lovell who remarked he “should of put his mask and wolf hands in the prize pot.”

Top international player was Finland’s Pasi ‘Bruiser’ Aho from Germany who scored three, just edging out Spain’s Núria Meléndez Orriols who recorded two. ‘The Fox’ Christian Fuchs got the international ‘bronze’ after scoring nil.

Rank Player Country Tat Won

1 William Edwards ENG 8

2 Paul Johnson ENG 7

2 Terry Exall ENG 7

4 Richard Gottfried ENG 5

4 Trevor Exall ENG 5

4 Chris Wood ENG 5

4 Chris Hillman ENG 5

4 Helen Dodd ENG 5

9 Adam Kelly ENG 4

9 Keith Kellard ENG 4

11 Pasi Aho FIN 3

11 Steve Sturdy ENG 3

11 Kate Kelly ENG 3

11 John Moore ENG 3

11 Matt Dodd ENG 3

11 Ollie Greenhead ENG 3

11 Ruth Burke ENG 3

18 Will Donnelly ENG 2

18 Martin Greenhead ENG 2

18 Mark Wood ENG 2

18 Elizabeth Edwards ENG 2

18 Núria Meléndez Orriols SPA 2

23 Marc Chapman ENG 1

23 Steve Gow ENG 1

23 Brian Smith ENG 1

23 Gillian Edwards ENG 1

23 Neil Cottam ENG 1

23 Daniel Cottam ENG 1

29 Christian Fuchs GER 0

29 Steve Lovell  ENG 0

£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)

#7 - Richard Gottfried and Mike Small - a tie with 32 pieces of Tat each

#8 - William Edwards - 8 pieces of Tat (World Title)

£2 Tat Challenge Order of Merit Ranking List:

The £2 Tat Challenge Order of Merit Ranking List

Related Blog Posts:

- 2013 World Adventure Tat and Air Hockey Challenges!

- Report and Results from the off-course Shenanigan Competitions in Hastings

- Tat Challenge blog posts

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