18 July 2012 ~ Washers Tournament

Listening to:  Phil Lesh & Friends ~ Ripple (5-16-2008, Warfield, SF)

No "Neumann" family get together would be complete without a round (or ten) of Washers.

Washers is a game, similar to horseshoes, that involves two teams of two players that take turns tossing metal washers (usually around 2 inches in diameter) towards the washer box. In order to score, one must place a washer into the box, into the pvc pipe that is within the box, or within one beer can length of the box.

The boxes are 10 paces distance from each other.

It was guys (my brothers Newt and "V") against the girls (Zip & LuLu). We ended up playing best of 5. It was only the darkness and fact we ran out of beer that prevented us from continuing to play.

The guys won the first 2 rounds, so they got the "thumbs up" picture.

One bonus is that if anyone gets a washer in the pvc hole a member of the other team must slam a beer or do a shot, which happened a few times. The shots we chose to do were Raspberry-Chocolate Wine and at one point everyone did a round.

That did the gals some good and we won the next 2 rounds. They were close games. At one point brother V says to me when they were about to win: "Just throw down your washers LuLu. You cannot make 2 in the box to stop us from winning." With a flip of my hair, and sheer determination, I refused to succumb to his trash talk, and put both of my washers in the box. Zip then won the match for us on the next throw!

Thanks to Jennie for taking the action and team photos.

Researching the game tonight, I found out there is a version played right here in Hong Kong!

In the Sai Kung area a variant of the game known as Hong Kong "Holeyboard" has become popular amongst local expatriates.  It is usually played on the roof terrace of a participant's home and a unique set of rules (and boxes) have evolved over the years. Each player, or team must stand on a three holed "Holeyboard" placed ten feet apart. Each player is given three washers each. The closest hole is one point, the middle hole three and the furthest hole five, with three landing on the board scoring one. The game is to also to 21. If a player's washer bounces back and is within the player's grasp, the player may attempt to reach the washer while standing on the board. If the player successfully picks up the washer, he gets to throw it again. A "cycle" is the highest accolade in Holeyboard, it is when a player manages to hit each of the three holes with their three washers. This results in an instant win and is rewarded by the player being able to sign his name on the back of the Holeyboard. (But I suspect drinking is involved somehow as well.)

So, now I might need to have a Workday Washer event on my terrace. How fun!