MINDBOGGLING!

MindSports 2014

The New Zealand Festival of Mind Sports opened on Friday 28 February and ran through until Sunday 2 March. I was invited by none other than gold grandmaster of bridge, Richard Solomon. He issued one of those invitations that bowls one over … I have looked everywhere for a partner, can’t find one anywhere, are you by any chance free? I arrived in Thames to find any number of games available to try. I met a somewhat harassed Allan Barclay, promoter of the games, at the Thames Bridge Club. He explained he had just earned his first points in the MiniPentamind. These had come through being thrashed by an Olympian draughts player three times. Allan ventured, “I thought I was going quite well, then my entire middle section was wiped out.” He was clearly still recovering from the experience but delighted to have earned 3 pts from his first event. I nervously perused the programme hoping Richard would only want to play bridge. What 5 events would I be able to undertake without complete shame and embarrassment? “Can you play chess?” I enquired of Richard. To my relief he looked suitably horrified at the idea – “Barely. As a child.” I confessed I might also know how to move the pieces (although castling still remains a mystery). Scrabble - not keen to show my ignorance of Outer Mongolian goat breeds that provides the 200 point out with your Z on a Triple letter word. Suspect they don’t play Mucky Scrabble with an extra 10 points for each word with a sexual connotation. So had better look for something else. I looked down the list for anything I might reasonably make up my Pentamind with. (A sort of brain Pentathlon) So much on offer! Mahjong – now there’s a mystery. Often thought I might take that up when feeling particularly blue at my efforts at the bridge table. War Games, apparently historical or fantasy, but hadn’t come prepared with figurines. Dungeons & Dragons (never got into that and don’t the games last a week?) and Magic: The Gathering (no idea – must investigate further, can probably dress up as a witch if needs be). The Festival was hosting NZ’s first Sudoku Championship on Sunday. Wonder if they give you the Easy ones? Probably not. Backgammon – now you are talking. I’m lucky at throwing 6s, count me in! Blackjack – watch me go bust and lose all my chips in a record time. Snooker – too high risk, don’t want to ruin a good piece of baize. Pub Quiz Night – excellent – any amount of useless knowledge stored up there. Recall time may not quite match the time allowed to answer the question but I’m up for that. Then I saw them … Ludo and Snakes & Ladders. Excellent! If only Tiddlywinks was there too. I had found my level. Sadly I noticed it was only for children. Perhaps I should try a new game, there was one called Squabbles to do with crosswords. Might have to look into that. So instead I played to my strength, saw there was a prize for best hat, and immediately stole my husband’s newly acquired boater from the Art Deco weekend, adorned them and plonked one on Richard’s head. When I first knew Richard he was quite conservative about these things. Having now dressed him up in ridiculous costumes for the sake of bridge I find him much more docile and he adopts a, “It’s Jane, she’s brought a funny hat for me to wear, it’s pointless to argue, I’ll go with the flow” attitude. And he looked rather dapper I thought, as you can see from our photo. Hats off to Allan Barclay though, the Mastermind behind the whole event. Convincing the Council to invest and as ever his bonhomie setting the right mood for everyone involved. Allan’s hope is that the event will grow over the years and from the fun Richard and I had I’m certainly up for a weekend away next year to give it a try. Mark it in your diaries and hope to see you there!