Summer 2011 Pentathanerd: Pinewood Lego Monkeyball II – Aerial Boogaloo
Dozens of brave Lego men kissed their Lego wives and kids goodbye to go forth and be launched from the Pinewood Lego Monkeyball II ramp in earlier this afternoon. Points were awarded per the color they landed the closest to.
Mark Seemann from the word filed this report:
“A wild set of entries graced the ramp of the Pinewood Lego Monkeyball ][ : Aerial Boogaloo event. From flying drones to boom arms to simple unaccompanied lego people, teams vied to land on gold for maximum points.
Nausea and Effortless struggled to find purchase on the points field; the Whom? had a clever plan to sneak in a quick landing for the maximum point area just below the end of the ramp, but failed to stick the landing.
The (Revenge of the) InterNerds teamed up to try out a last minute entry, succeeding in the end where others failed by launching a lucky solo lego person straight and true down the center to earn 600 points. For lack of definition, the head judge Kai E awarded both Revenge and InterNerds teams 600 points for their combined effort.
Then came Teh Awsumbs foray into Newtonian physics; a boom arm, counterweighted by a mostly full water bottle, suspended a lego person by a line which, when released from the start gate, swung out over the points field. Kai waited until the swinging slowed enough to judge that the lego person was sufficiently over the gold area, awarding Teh Awsumbs the maximum point value.
Not to be outdone, She! launched their simple vehicle. When it came to rest, a murmer went through the crowd as Justin H asked, “Is that it?” Then came the unique sound of an AR drone firing up, which (eventually) swooped down and magnetically attached to the vehicle, guiding it across the point field and over the gold area, past it, and off the board. Further attempts to regain the field were futile.
In later rounds, She! changed strategies and went with maximum dispersion, casting out the separated pieces of a lego person (or four, rather, as was learned after the event) onto the field. As the rules stated, if the lego person is in more than one area, the maximum point value of the fields is used, which earned She! 1000 points in the last round.
The overall standings after this event are:
4462 – Teh Awsumbs (event place: 1; event points: 1200)
3605 – Revenge (T3; 600)
3604 – The Whom? (5; 500)
3378 – InterNerds (T3; 600)
3294 – She! (2; 1000)
2708 – Nausea (6; 400)
2360 – Effortless (7; 300)
No lego people were harmed in the making of this event. Except for the four that She! used, which are currently in intensive care.”
