So my church has a little fair coming up and everyone knows I'm into trains. People that want to are encouraged to "display" their tallents. What do you guys think of putting a timesaver on a table and using it as one of the games? I'm not worried about the locos and cars because I'd be supervising it. Maybe give larger pieces of candy to those that do it in a certain time and smaller candy to the ones that don't meet the deadline? What would a reasonable amount of time be to allow someone to complete it if they've never played with trains before? It's just a thought. Who knows, maybe I'll turn someone onto the hobby. Any thoughts? [ September 19, 2005, 04:04 PM: Message edited by: txronharris ]
I think it's a great idea! I would imagine that most eveyone would like it, and it would expose people to the idea that our trains are operated, not just run in circles (although if you like doing that, hey that's fine too). Not sure off the top of my head about the time element, but if you did a google search on the timesaver layout I'd bet you could get some ideas there. Regardless, I think everyone would enjoy it and it's a great way to introduce people to the hobby and show off a few of your models in the process.
I think two minutes as a standard is pretty good. Maybe three minutes. Seems like I did it with two mis-moves in 1:45. As I remember, really good players will do it in less than a minute. OTOH, if you start to run out of the big candy, decrease the time!
Another way of doing it is to count the moves rather than racing the clock. It takes some of the pressure off and the operation is "a little" more realistic. A move is any one of the following: uncoupling coupling reversing (must stop to reverse, but only counts one move) stopping for any reason other than to reverse, couple or uncouple costs one move. Since it costs a move to stop, someone who can plan their route and throw all the points before they take off, or otherwise plan ahead, has an advantage. This wrinkle to the old game makes it more of a chess match than a pedal to the metal demolition derby, but watch out - "girls" seem to play this version better than "boys", for some reason.......If you don't believe me, play a game with these rules against your wife or girlfriend.
txron: Keep us posted on the contest and how it was done. Should be good for future reference. BTW, probably not much hurricane rain for you for a while? (Garland, TX is near Dallas.)
Sounds like it would be fun. I think Bob's idea about the moves would probably be most workable for that audience.
Hi, txronharris, The Coast Division NMRA always has a Timesaver switching puzzle set up at our quarterly meets, and it's often at the local GATS. Here's some of my observations about it: - It's really helpful to have the person monitoring the contest (you) be able to give some tips or rules as to what to try to do. Some folks (myself included) when we first tried it, by ourselves, couldn't visual what to put where and stopped having fun due to frustration. The helpful hints of the moderator made all the difference. - The timing probably depends on the number of cars in the TimeSaver configuration to be switched. In our 'standard' two inbound / two outbound / 5 cars on the Timesaver beginner config, it's more like 10 minutes for a beginner. I'm sure by reducing the number of cars or lengthening switching leads, you can get the timing down to match shorter attention spans. - I find the Timesaver to be sort of like watching a chess match; it's not an obvious attention grabber, but those who try it usually get very involved in the little world. - From a 'displaying what model RRing is all about', I think that a layout with moving trains (like NTrak) seems to have more general appeal. If you can supplement the switching contest with a layout, module, or diorama, I think many attendees will get a more complete picture of what's possible in our great little hobby. (just my 2 cents worth) - We use a clock and time the contestants, then post the names on a board. The good players really get competitive against that clock! Let us know how it works out, and take a couple of pics and post here! Hope this helps.
