ec2-3-239-90-61.compute-1.amazonaws.com | ToothyWiki | RecentChanges | Login | Webcomic ChurchillCollege's RandomSports society is the leading non-competitive sports society in Cambridge, where we have lots of fun playing insane games, sliding around getting mucky, not keeping score, and of course eating biscuits.
Meets: Saturdays, 4pm-6pm (summer) 3pm-too dark to see (winter) Founder and first president: Amy Horton Presidents (2004-2005): Andrew McArdle?, Chris Hack Presidents (2005-2006): Anthony Errington
Games We Play
Random Rounders
Equipment: Six cones (pitcher, batter and four bases), tennis ball, rounders bat.
As in traditional Rounders, there are two teams that take it in turns to field or bat. Batters endeavour to hit the ball as far as possible, then run to each of the bases (the wodgers), attempting to get home. If they are caught or run-out, then they are... well, out. Unless the ball is a no-ball (too high/low/wide/close to body etc), the batter has to run regardless of whether they hit it or not. There are two main differences in Random Rounders: when a batsman is out, (s)he aids the fielding side until it is his/her team's turn to field. And of course, there is the First Go rule, enshrined in the RandomSports constitution: if it is your first turn at the plate, and you are got out, then you are not got out.
The most lethal Random Rounders pitcher of the current era is Paul Varley (PaulPower, ie me), whose unpredictable pitching has led to many batters either missing the ball completely or giving away their wickets through sheer surprise.
Croccer
Equipment: Four cones, a frisbee, a football of some kind.
Equipment: One (or two, if we're feeling daring) football(s), six markers/wodgers.
The epitome of anarchy. The three goals are laid out in an equilateral triangle shape, and the object is to try and score in either of the other two team's goals. 3WF generally requires at least 12 people, and as the game has no definite end, it typically takes on the role of "last game" status.
Sacrifice
Equipment: Five cones (four for the box, one penalty marker, a handy line, a ball (optional - for added insanity).
Or "Cops and Robbers". Or "Scientists and Primates". Or "Aztecs and Slaves". Or "Alan's Shoes and Ants". The first rule of this game is to think up what to call it this week... anyway, once we have team names, we get the teams. Three or four people are picked or volunteer to be the, for simplicity's sake, Cops. Their job is to guard the box. Everybody else is a Robber.
At the start of the game, one of the Robbers is in the box: they are the Sacrifice. The object for the other Robbers is to free their comrade(s) and get everyone behind the Safe Line (the handy line, see above). The object for the Cops is to get everyone inside the box. Robbers inside the box may be freed by being tigged by a fellow Robber. Robbers are caught by being tigged by a Cop, and they must go to the Box. If a Robber is behind the Safe Line, he cannot be tigged.
Finally, there are two other rules. Robbers inside the box may hold hands and form a chain that can stretch outside the box. If a chain is tigged, then everyone in the chain is freed. Also, any Cop crossing the Box must run to the Penalty Marker (a tree or goalpost if there is one, a cone if not) and back.
Equipment: Six cones, a baseball bat, and some balls.
{Filler}
Ultimate Frisbee
Equipment: Four cones, a frisbee or aerobie, a random tree (optional)
Not to be confused with the UltimateFrisbee Society, this is our own Randomised variant. There are two teams, each with a goal line indicated by a pair of cones. The frisbee is passed from player to player on the same team, and you can't travel while holding the frisbee. The object is to catch the frisbee behind the opposition goal line. If the frisbee falls to the ground at any point, play passes to the opposition team. There are lots of other rules, which you'll discover if you come along. This game varies from proper Ultimate Frisbee in two main ways: 1) the pitch has no side lines. Although to score the frisbee has to be between the goal cones, they do not mark out the sides of the pitch. Play continues as normal even if the frisbee strays a long way from the main rectangle. 2) Occasionally, when we play up by the Chapel during Summer Term, a small tree ends up in the middle of the pitch. It just adds to the randomness.
Have you considered calling it Penultimate Frisbee? --SMcV
Not sure, I think we might have at some point -- PaulPower
Netless Volleyball
Equipment: Six cones, a baseball bat, a light ball.
Truly the game where everyone wins, Netless Volleyball is... well... Volleyball without the net (the court being divided by two of the cones and the baseball bat). To counter this, the rule is that only upward hits are allowed on the ball: no smashing. The biggest twist in NV though is what happens when a side loses a point: the person responsible for that error, or for failing to stop the winner, transfers to the other team. The game ends when one team is down to one player. Because now practically everyone is on one side, everyone (even the last person standing: hey, they didn't make any errors!)'s a winner. NV games can go on for some time: sides can have just two players left and manage to claw their way back into a game, and there is a great ebb and flow to it.
Traditions
The First Go Rule
Applies in sports such as Random Rounders and Croccer, this basically means "you can't be out on your first go". In other words, if it's your first turn at batting or kicking this "innings", then whatever happens, you get another go.
No Keeping Score
Everyone's a winner at RandomSports. Therefore, even though normally you would have a record of how many points had been scored, not here you don't. At all times, the score is n - m, where n and m cannot be determined.
The Fumble and The Slide
"Always assume the fumble!" The fumble is, of course, when someone fails to catch a ball: the funnier the better. It seems to happen a bit less now we're all more practised at the art of catching, but there is still the odd one. The slide is when a player goes sliding along - on their knees, belly, bum, whatever. Slides can either be accidental in the case of a wet field and/or a slope, or deliberate simply because the slide is Traditional.
Biscuits
It comes to something when your society has a biscuit subcommittee called "The Three Biscuiteers", but biscuits are key to the whole Random Sports experience, providing refreshment between and sometimes during games and restocking the calories we burn. In fact, we'd probably have a mutiny on our hands if the biscuits failed to turn up.