No preparation, just play, one game to win!
Thursday evening, March 21, 2024, the time had come: our first spring tournament! With 22 players on 6 tables according to a new formula: each match consists of only one game, and preparation play is strictly prohibited…
The first round involved equal groups: three with 4 players and two with 5 players. After half an hour these 38 matches had been played.
The top two of each group then played in two groups of 5: A1 and A2. The remaining players in two groups of 6: B1 and B2. We needed 45 minutes for these 50 games.
88 matches on 6 tables in 75 minutes: 5.1 minutes per match. Including changing players, and occasionally no play because the schedule had to wait a while.
What I noticed was that no in-play was experienced as very refreshing: it creates enormous momentum. If we were to also do this in the competition, or limit it to 1 minute, and above all abolish the endless coaching, then the entire duo competition would no longer be necessary: everyone would be ready on time. 🙂
After the second round, the cross-finals followed: number 2 from one group against number 1 from the other group. Since they were also only one game, everyone kept watching. In the end, regular Thursday player Stephanos won the B-final against Bas. And in the A-final, regular Thursday player Paul van Sander won. That can not be a coincidence 😉 So Paul is our first Spring Champion!
Nice atmosphere, wonderfully dynamic, nice and fast. And with the food and drinks before and after, it was a great success, or at least I thought so. And I also discovered that a hanging Harry makes a very tasty beer 🙂 On to the autumn tournament!
by: Peter
