FORE !!!!!!     Now there is GOLF in THERE !! 

 by Isalyna

I had received an IM from my friend, Galahad, to come and check out a new thing.  He said there was a chance to win 20,000T in prizes, playing in an 18 Hole Buggy Golf Tournament.  Hmm… how could I pass THAT up?!?!

What is that you may ask?  Well, read on, and you will find out! 

Deep in the lush green Upper Tiki valleys of Caldera East, is a large Funzone called BUGGY ONLY at A & T's at Shoot Ball Court, owned and operated by Artie and Tammi.   As I approached the gate, I saw an amazing site, dozens of decks of all shapes, sizes and colors, all at different levels with ramps attached, all suspended HIGH up in the air!  Below this was the Sumo Buggy Wrestling platform, and below that the paintball court.  There were buggies driving and jumping and flying everywhere, not to mention several that were playing Sumo Buggy, and seeing how many buggies they could bash off the platform.   

I found my friend Galahad, up on the top of the sumo deck, and he introduced me to Artie.  They offered to drive me through the course.  Buggy Golf is a new sport, just started up within the last month.  It combines the use of Quest boxes, and buggy ramp jumping.  Just recently Artie said they had the $40,000T in Christmas prizes Buggy golf event, which lasted 2 weeks.  There were 9 holes of golf to complete.  And NOW, for 2 weeks, starting Thursday, Dec. 16^th, there another 9 holes added to make an 18-hole course!   

As Artie explains in his Rules, for the current contest… here is how it works: 

“You may complete the contest once each day to increase your chances of winning.  There will be a 5000T drawing each week for the Front 9 finishers and the Back 9 finishers.  So if you finish all 18 holes you get 2 chances to win each day.” 

He also said,  “Remember this is also a bumper car zone, so that is one of the hazards. But, don't worry, finishing is more important than your time.” 

Hmmm.. I thought… I could do THIS!  And maybe even win!  I jumped in my lil red buggy, and headed off to the start box.  Here we go!

I put on the turbo, and hit the first jump to the first hole,  soared through the air, my hair blowing in the wind… uh oh… SCREEECH…. Phew!  Landed!  First hole completed.   I am pretty high up, and don’t really want to fall off here!  I examine the map provided to see where hole # 2 is.  Up another ramp, and …Aaaaaaaaaah… off the side I go, and hit the ground far below… Nuts!   Ok, so I just need to make a little adjustment!!!   For the next 24 min, I jump and land, and fall, jump, land, and fall until all the Front 9 holes have been reached!  WOW this is great fun!   The Back Nine, seemed to start off ok .. but as I reached the 16^th hole, I ran into a problem.  I was attempting to land on the big blue platform… however, there were a couple of kind avies, sitting up there, waiting to ambush the next buggy to attempt to land…. I had already been knocked off several times…. Hmmmm… Artie said this could happen!  I had already succumbed to a few sumo buggies below on the deck, but had managed to avoid them this time.  I enlisted the help of my friend AimeeAilene…of course, I had to ask her to stop trying to push me off herself! 

Aimee lined herself up, with me behind and off we went!   Bang ! Screech ! Bang !  ….and off we go… down to the ground…   Ok, now I am determined!!

I race back up to get into position to make the #16 hole, and look, and lo and behold!  That buggy that was blocking us!  Was GONE!  Yippee!!

Guess I scared ‘em off.  HAHA

Now onto the  17^th and 18^th holes… WOW what a challenge…  especially that #18.  It is a little red platform above the #1 hole.  I lost count at my attempts, at zooming, flying, falling…and as I pulled myself around for another try, I pushed the turbo, adjusted my direction, and flew up up, up!… until….   CRUNCH!!   Put on the brakes!  WOOT !!  I MADE IT !!    My time wasn’t the best, but, that doesn’t matter.

Artie and Tammi have been running BUGGY ONLY at A & T's  for about a year and a half now, and have had many other cool contests here, all including jumping.  I was able to catch Artie and Tammi, and ask them more about what goes on here: 

isalyna  What other kinds of events/contests do you have, or even plan to have? 

Artie    “Well our regular ongoing events are Bumper Cars and Sumo Buggy Wrestling

But we also sponsor a number of jumping contests.  We used to do a one hour jumping contest all the time, like how many times you could land on top of the Balloon in 1 hour ... or how many times you could jump your buggy onto a target like a bowl of cottage cheese, a jail, or a slime bowl.  But those were hard to manage and judge with the servers making the judges poof from the game, so we are now doing more laid back contests like GOLF.

We still do impromptu contests for newbies, like the first 3 to land on the Hot Air Balloon get 100T.  Other games that our regular hosts have sponsored are: Buggy Jousting, Buggy Darts, and others forms of King of the Hill as well as Buggy Tag, and Jail Buggy Tag.” 

Tammi   “We also set out the doggie arena the Jinx_tv made and call it ARENA SUMO that is really a blast.  We even Arena sumo with the monsters!” 

Tammi also says,  “Artie is the mastermind in the designs of the place,” Wow, a lot more goes on here at the Shoot Ball court than I thought!  Thank you Artie and Tammi for your time and energy pulling together these contests!  I know I had a blast! 

If you want a chance to win part of 20,000 Tbux, sponsored by Galahad, then get yourself and your buggy over to BUGGY ONLY at A & T's !   If you don’t have a buggy, there are usually lots around to borrow!  Great way to skill up too!   So, keep your eye out for more great events, and contests! 

(Note: you must be a member of THERE in order to win the prizes.  There is also a small entrance fee to play golf, but it is well worth it!) 

Here is a link to see the Map for the New 18-hole Course running currently from Dec 16^th for 2 weeks.

http://sapphire.indstate.edu/~ggettinger/There/b9.htm

To view the zone schedule or VISIT by teleport to the ShootBall Court to try out the course:

http://webapps.prod.there.com/funzone/funzone?op=view&id=90000956

This is a list of the winners for the previous 40,000T Christmas Buggy Golf Tournament.

http://sapphire.indstate.edu/~ggettinger/There/bg9xmas.htm