NEWS Funcom Players Meet Oslo My weekend started on a Friday morning when I joined the British Group to fly out to the Funcom Players Oslo Party. We were to meet players that we have played with online for upwards of 2 years. I'd met my fellow British Players before at our "London's Calling" but not the other Scandinavian players. We Brits were met at Oslo Airport by Mazda (who was driving one), Netmusem and Livy who had just jetted in from the far north of Norway. Our Meet was not in a 4 star Hotel as seems the norm in proper backgammon circles. We were on a clean campsite in little log cabins. Nor did we have a Friday evening pre-tournament tournament. We were all to eager to actually meet each other so about 20 of us jammed into a 4 berth log cabin for a party. And party we did. Booze costs a fortune in Norway, but we soon found the way they get round this. Home-made moonshine. It's great for getting tongues wagging, but terrible for the longevity of your braincells. I'm told it was about 4 o'clock when we crashed. Breakfast was headache tables and coffee and "please turn that sunshine down." It was tournament day. Check-in 12.00 o'clock, start 1.00 o'clock the e-mail had said. I think we started about 2.00. The on-campsite conference room had been hired for the event, but we moved tables and chairs onto the balcony and played in the warm high Scandinavian sunshine. A double elimination was the format. In the 1st round of 5 points I was drawn against Bagherah, an artistic funny lady of considerable backgammon experience. 4 -1 I led until she outplayed me and won it 5- 4. Time for a beer. We might all be, compared to other backgammon online website, casual players, but Funcom backgammon does boast some good players and various names had been pipped as probable winners. So it was a surprise when both Drac_Frank and Mazda went out in the first round. My next match (in the consolation) was against Advokaten. We've played before in online Tournos and I was not optimistic. A fierce doubler he is, where as I usually forget about it and play the game out - a legacy of 20 years of non-cube playing. But I won through. In the Main, the atmosphere was getting charged, but not tense - players still had time for conversation, nibbles, drinks and cigarettes. The Jellyfish analyser boys were not doing so so well, even if they knew where they at in the pip count without the aid of online information. So when Bagherah won another round she was happy that an olde time player was still in there with a chance. The age of players ranged from 14 years old to a grandfather - but this only increased the sense of fun we were all having. Knowing somebody online can be a very limiting prospect. But I was amazed at how true to internet all players are. Honesty online proven. We were as we are online. Livy was everywhere and with everybody, Cassie did let herself down and stopped laughing and chatting for 2 minutes, Net was quietly there all the time, Phebe really does have the tender voice of a mouse, Tore is impossibly handsome, Champ_1 exuded confidence and Mipg is as tall as expected. However it must be said that Kee is about as tall (at 14) as The Empire State Building. There was some complication over who should be placed where in the consolation tournament. Bedstefar, who was one of the three organisers of the weekend, did the Hosting even though thegeneral who is the Head T.D. in Funcom was present. Thegeneral had flow over from England so I assume Bedstefar had not wanted to rule him out of playing having travelled over. Another example of the selfless attitude we all play by. When he was running into trouble Bedstetar called upon thegeneral and the problem was sorted within minutes. Cassie had thought she was going to get a bye, but this changed and she was drawn against Mipg. 2 4x6's in the final game scuppered Cassie but it meant she had more time to interview players for her online newspaper funcompress. So I then too played Mipg. 4 - 4 was the score when he rolled 4x6, 4x6 4 x1. That's all part of this game. Meanwhile Mazda and Drac_Frank headed for the final of the consolation. The semi-finals in the main were Bagherah versus Champ_1. Bags won it 7 - 3 and waited for the other semi-final between thegeneral and Netmusem. These two play a lot online and there is very little between them. Net just won. And so to the 9 point final. After a few games somebody enquired what the scores where in the semis. 7 - 3 was shouted from one quarter and 9 - 8 from another. Heads were scratched. How could this be ? Wait, wait ,wait. Surely they should have both been to the same number of points. I'm sure in a serious tournament hell would have erupted at this, but not here. Bags and Champ had thought it was to 7 and thegeneral and Net thought it was to 9. It was to 9 points. So Bags left the final to resume her semi. We just laughed at it all. It didn't take Bags long until she was back in her final seat. Bags has lost out in the first round of the Gothenburg Funcom Players Meet that had happened about 8 months ago and here she was in the final of the Main of Oslo 2001. She was a happy player. And even more so when she took the match. The consolation final happened after most players needed to take a break but was won by Drac_Frank 9- 0. So, from a personal point of view, I lived up to my usual form. 1 loss, 1 win, 1 loss. But I loved it all. On the sat evening we had a barbecue, prize givings and another party. The midnight sun was with us all night except for a couple of hours when it became dusk, so we had good excuse to not go to beds. On the Sunday we played some friendly games, say goodbyes to those leaving and, later, walked the golf course at 11.00 p.m. as golfers player in perfect light. On the Monday we Brits looked around Oslo before heading back to Olde Blighty . Thegeneral had had enough, but Cassie and I headed for The Fox Reformed for another tourno. See Cassie's report for news on that one…. MMM Date this article published = July 2001 News Front Page. Home | Top MikeMadMonk@backpacker-backgammon.com