PUZZLES

Revenge of the Mike

My friend Mike gave me this map a few weeks ago, but I just now got around to placing it on the Map-Tennis court. “Take this yellow felty ball,” he asked me to tell everyone participating in this round.

And a mean ball it is.

The question is fairly straightforward this time: What the hell is shown in this map? Irregular coast line with a few rivers flowing into a body of water — that could be anywhere in the world. Right?

Right.

UPDATE, Nov. 14, 2005 — Here’s a clue: The section in question is to be found in one of the two American continents.

My Island, Your Island

That’s what a degree in Geography will do to you: You will become a veritable Map-Tennis junkie. And a really good one at that, too.

Anyways, compliments to my buddy Ossi for getting the last one right. Indeed, we were looking for the pretty little island group off the coast of Sicily. More about them here.

Without much ado, here’s the next rendition of your favourite geek sport. This map contains a border in it. So it is going to really easy. Well, actually, no. Even for the experienced Map-Tennis pro, we predict this to be tricky.

Here’s the question:

What are the names of the heads of state of all the countries depicted in the map?

Thanks for playing.

Island, Islands, Schmislands

The next Map-Tennis ^TM match is about an island group, just like the last one. Unlike the Tasmanian islands, however, these islands are arranged in a pretty unique constellation. So, for folks who are familiar with that particular corner of the world, this could be easy.

This week’s round comes to you courtesy of the MT fanclub in Dortmund, West Germany. I used to live in Dortmund. It’s is a friendly, mid-sized town where they play good soccer and brew good beer. And — in our humble opinion — that’s really what it’s all about.

Surprise Winners Pummel Map-Tennis Veterans

This is where stars are born. And we believe we are witnessing true champions in the making: my friend Katrin and her sidekick Dennis. Map-Tennis veterans, here are two newcomers to watch out for!

It looked to be an extremely boring match. The usual heavyweights either weren’t playing, had already given up, or were just too ashamed to admit that they were totally clueless about this one.

Until the strong Katrin/Dennis duo from Dortmund, Germany, got warmed up, that is. They turned the slow match around and scored with a brilliantly placed long-line volley. Indeed, the islands named “Furneaux Group” north-east of Tasmania is what we were looking for in the first 2005 season game.

Congratulations to the geographical badasses from Dortmund. You know what to do. Submit a new map-idea and keep the ball rolling. And if you want to be really cool about it, you part ways from here on out. Flip a coin, winner submits a map, play head-to-head, get nasty.

The 2005 Map-Tennis^(TM) Season Begins

What is the name of this island? Leave a comment and get your chance to challenge the rest of us in a new game of Map-Tennis.

We’re back at center court at one of the best kept and nerdiest secrets in the virtual sports landscape: The Capital Morgenpost’s very own Map Tennis ^(TM). We know you’ve missed it, and so — without further ado — we present to you the first match of the new year. We’re kicking it off with a nice clean serve. No spin, no trickery, just hard.

Tickets, as always, are entirely free. And now that your humble referee has the ability to receive comments again, determining the winner will be a snap. Mind, however, if you enter your answer into the comment form, you will not immediately see it until we approve it; the reason being the hundreds of comment spammers that we first have to clean out. The order in which the comments are received will not be jeopardized, though. So, if you’re quick, you’ll get the credit.

Map Tennis Round V: Looking for harder

To be honest, we’re getting a little desperate. No Map Tennis match has lasted for more than a day. Thanks to our eager contestants, a small but faithful crowd of geographical sports lovers, all games have been won fairly quickly. Now, this could speak for the players’ brilliance; and - by all means - it surely does. But it also speaks for the referee’s inability to present a real challenge. We know, we know: The winner is entitled to his or her map pick for the next round’s map, but in the end your humble editor makes the final call on how the desired region will look in the end.

To make a long story short, we are thinking about taking drastic measures. Stay tuned.

Oh, before we forget. We also present to you Oz’s pick for the next round. The question accompanying this round’s Map Tennis match is: What are the capitals of the countries depicted in this map? Enjoy.

Map Tennis Round IV: Referee’s Dilemma

What can we say. Last match’s result has got somewhat of a bad aftertaste. One contestant was smart enough to solve the geographical location but didn’t understand the second part of the task, the other contestant would never have found the place by himself, but was smart enough to research question #2.

We are inclined to give the point to Oz since he figured out where the town we were looking for was in the first place. But since he didn’t solve the puzzle 100%, he does not get to choose the next map. We do.

So here it is.

Now, in order to win this point, these tasks have to be answered:

1. What is the name of the town marked with the red dot?

2. Name alle the capitals of the countries shown in this map.

Map Tennis Round IV: Beyond the Map

Well, the winner of the last match, Benny, has certainly surprised the experts with his tricky topspin lob. We take this as a hint that the gloves have to come off. And Benny starts the hard hitting with an almost Edbergian kick-service; the kick being his question’s two-foldedness. So here we go:

1. What is the name of the town marked with the red dot?
2. What is the telephone number of the town’s bus terminal?

Now, that’s downright nasty.

One the side: From an editorial point of view, we have decided to put the Map Tennis ^(TM) matches in their own category, away from the front page. Just to clean things up a bit. The restructuring will happen in the next few days, so please bear with us through potential mishaps. Design-wise speaking.

Map Tennis, Round III: It’s getting ugly

Last time’s Map Tennis ^(TM) match, a haevily contested map of southern New Zealand, was finally solved with a mighty header by a certain “Oz”. As the winner notes cockily, knowing a little bit about fjords and - notably - where they appear in the world’s landscape comes in handy every now and then.

Now, without further ado, here’s Oz’s contribution to our sporty little game. As you will notice, in a questionable act of sportsmanship, he denied the rest of the players a scale. We suppose they call him the Paul Gascoigne of Allenbach for a reason.

Map Tennis: Round II

Map-Tennis, Round Two: What’s on this map?

OK, Mr. Wiese had a great start in the last Map Tennis^(TM) match. Leading by a slight margin he now serves a nasty top spin to our geographically inclined readership. But since he is a nice guy, he threw in a scale to make things a tad bit easier.

We have had a few suggestions about improving the game. It seems that posting the answers as comments instead of sending them to your humble editor via email is a more, well, interactive way of playing. It makes it visible for others whether the puzzle has been solved and who the winner is. When the winner has been announced, we ask for an email by that geophile individual to grace us with their sporty response to their well earned point.

For those who are unfamiliar with Map Tennis, please check the rules in the posting “When geeks play with maps”, just a few articles down.