Thanks to everyone who entered- it was wonderful to see the entries flooding in, and there was so much creativity at work!

Here’s the list of happy winners:

The grand winner of the tournament set, plus an All Blacks jersey and 3 of our other games:
A O’Connell, Greytown

For the minor prize winners, the judges chose 3 in the following age brackets:

Under 6 Winner: E. Cotter, Taupo
6-12 Winner: B. McKenzie, Pukekohe
13+ Winner: L. Jones, Marton

and then 7 more were randomly selected:

Now we’ve almost recovered, we’re busy working on two things: sorting through the hundreds of colouring competition entries, and putting together a commemorative pack. More details to come here soon, but in the meantime, remember Five Men Standing makes the perfect Christmas gift for the delirious Rugby fan in your life!

  > Go the ABs!

On Friday 7th at 9am there will be a parade of the Greytown Junior Players and an Interschool 7′s tournament following at 9.30am.

On Saturday 8th the Greytown Clubrooms are open at 12 midday to view history of Greytown Rugby and there will be a married v singles game at 2.20pm, a ticketed hangi (at 5pm) with big games screening from 6pm. Finger food & spot prizes and the bar will be open.

On Sunday 9th clubrooms will again be open at 12 midday to view history of Greytown Rugby and there will be a Golden Oldies’ Tournament at 1.30pm, prize giving & raffles at 4pm, ticketed Sunday Roast at 5pm, with big games on the big screen from 6pm.

For more details please contact Neil Morison on 06 304 8667 or on 0272549751, email: nwmorison@gmail.com

Mandatory arty farty black-and-white shot of Minty Hunter, Five Men Standing co-creator

This Saturday 17th of September, from 10.30 am to 1pm, I’ll be at the fabulous Featherston game store All Aboard doing demos of Five Men Standing and other games in our range.

Do drop by and say hi- it’s great meeting fellow gamers! And even if the astonishing prospect of meeting me in person somehow fails to inspire you, be assured that All Aboard is well worth a visit.

Owners Robyn and Graham are fantastic: knowledgeable, friendly and with a captivating passion for games. They’re also great supporters of the local community, running the South Wairarapa Chess Tournament each year and having gaming afternoons and evenings amongst their many other activities.

So get your skates on, grab your wallet, purse or piggy bank, and come and down to see if you can beat me at Five Men Standing. There’s a jelly baby in it for you if you do!

They signed hundreds of autographs in the park, and then headed to the Arts Centre for another 90 minute session of more signing and photos, not stopping until the massive queues had finally dissipated.

All three were funny and approachable, and it was a brilliant return for rugby to grass-roots support. There were swarms of ecstatic kids who won’t forget the day they got to meet their heroes face to face, a very pleased 99 year-old who got some special attention, and proud parents who had photos taken with their babies who’ll be the next generation of supporters.

It was a fantastic day for Carterton, both for rugby fans and for the community in general. The bitter early morning rain was a little daunting for the many supporters who turned up at 6.30 am, but with the arrival of the All Blacks, the skies cleared and spirits lifted and smiles abounded and much fun was had. Hurrah!

And of course, Cory, Victor and Sam were presented with an “invented in Carterton” memento: copies of Five Men Standing. Seriously, it was just a way of saying thanks, and the fact I got to have a photo with them WAS ENTIRELY NOT THE POINT, OKAY? Ahem. (Many thanks to Helen for taking the pic!)

Anyway, they also signed two games for local rugby clubs to use as fundraisers, which again is awesome.

All right, I’ll end here with a few more photos. Roll on RWC 2011, and go the ABs!!

(Click on any of the photos to see them larger.)

[Show as slideshow]

Demoing Five Men Standing to Euan at Made In Wairarapa- photo by Bruce Levy

Last weekend we were at the brilliant Made in Wairarapa expo, demonstrating Five Men Standing and handing out entries to the new colouring competition.

After the turmoil of recent months with earthquakes in the south and ongoing news of global financial calamities, it was inspiring to be part of such a positive, exciting experience, and to be able to see how many people are just getting on with life and creating innovative and intriguing work!

There were photographers and video-makers, creators of gorgeous furniture, printers, designers, boutique beers and luscious cup-cakes, superb olive oils and cheese and chocolate, books, pottery and… well, you get the idea!

And then there we were, having a ball showing people Five Men Standing and playing games and finding out about where visitors had come from and what brought them to the expo. The friendly atmosphere at the show was a credit to the organisers, Pete and Al, and the great musicians they’d organised, and it rubbed off on all involved: everywhere you looked, people were chatting away and having a great time wandering around.

We’d luckily made a quick dash around before the show to local stockists Paper Plus, Almo’s Books and All Aboard, because we had quite a few sales too! Always nice to be able to support your local retailers…

But for me, the biggest thing was the positive reception for the game- visitors quickly understood it, almost everyone jumped in to try their hand, and we came away with a lot of fans, like young Euan in the photo. There were lots of impromptu playoffs at the stand as challenges were laid down, and as per previous demos I’ve done,  interest across the spectrum from young boys and girls as well as adults.

Intriguing too, what happens when you wander away for a moment to grab a drink. This battle between NZ and Oz had been set up, with one of the Samoan team doing stand-in duty as the ref! Lovely when people take your ideas and extend them even further…

(Thanks to Bruce Levy Photography for the images)

We’ve just launched a colouring competition!

More details can be found under the Competitions menu item above.

We will, of course, also be there showing off our web, design and boardgame work, including Five Men Standing. If you pop by and have a play, you’ll score a voucher for $5 off the game itself or $2 off a Country Team Pack.

Hope to catch you there!

You can read it here.