First round of OGAT National Builder Competition
Neck a Neck
by Guardian News team, 29 July 2020
After the initial uncertainty if the competition will be cancelled, The Guardian News decided to start the event when seven competitors signed up. AkiraStrait, ciabatta8.9, General Goose, heliozoan, Pudie, Toilet seat and Zpazeeagle decided to bravely step into the arena and compete to see who will be crowned the best Builder in OGAT.
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The first stage of the competition where each participant is competing twice in two separate rounds, started on Saturday. Nervousness and anticipation was present among the first four competitors, AkiraStrait, ciabatta8.9, Toilet seat and Zpazeeagle when waiting for the beginning of the first round. None of the first competitors knew exactly what they got themselves in to. When the referee announced the theme of the first round – Lighthouse, many competitors were confused how to construct a lighthouse with limited height option. For the first 10 minutes there was almost no progress on any of the four fields. Slowly the creations started to appear. There was almost no interaction between the four builders as each was entirely focused on their creations. First to finish was ciabatta8.9 who made his creation in record 50 minutes. All other competitors finished well before the maximum allowed time of 90 minutes.
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With only one score point difference between first and last position shows the quality of all four contestants. The first to finish - ciabatta8.9, was also crowned the winner in the end. Zpazeeagle following closely behind with his 2D relief sculpture of a lighthouse. There was also were little disparity among the three expert judges. The largest deviation was by Riczio2 who scored Zpazeeagle with only three points while other two judges gave the creation a nine and a ten. “I just don’t see a lot of work, water, few rocks and this thing from miscellaneous, just looks sad” commented Riczio2.
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Head Judge and the director of the organisation committee DOJEGAN commented on the proceedings of the first round, “We have been very pleased with the first round. There were no major violations and the first round went very smoothly”. He also remarked on the four creations “I was slightly disappointed that apart from Zpazeeagle no other builder focused enough on the main theme, the lighthouse. In most creations a lighthouse was only a small part of the entire creation”.
WINNER: ciabatta8.9
JUDGES
7,5
PUBLIC
7
TOTAL
7,25
Scoring by the judges
DOJEGAN - 6
"I was slightly disappointed that the lighthouse is not more prominently featured. A lot of attention went into creating the surroundings and the ship while ignoring what should have been the centre piece. It was interesting to see that ciabatta8.9 decided to create a smaller modern lighthouse instead of the old tall tower structure which everyone else made.
HELBA - 8
Riczio2 - 8
"i gave a point who in my opinion put more work to the map, and innovations, who put his passion and creativity."
2. PLACE: Zpazeeagle
JUDGES
6,5
PUBLIC
7,5
TOTAL
7
Scoring by the judges
DOJEGAN - 10
"During the building stage his lighthouse didn't look very interesting. It looked like a rock with a pier. Only when looking at it from above can you see the masterpiece that Zpazeeagle made. I was blown away when I realized what he made. He was also the only one to prominently feature a lighthouse.
HELBA - 9
Riczio2 - 3
"I just dont see a lot of work, water, few rocks and this thing from "misc", just looks sad"
3. PLACE: Toilet seat
JUDGES
7
PUBLIC
6,5
TOTAL
6,75
Scoring by the judges
DOJEGAN - 7
"Although again focusing more on the surroundings rather than on a lighthouse, at least he put slightly more effort into making the lighthouse. It was also interesting to see how he used rocks to create and interesting island rather than using simple terrain features. Toilet seat also made a very visualy appealing creation by using strong contrast colours - blue tiles for sea, gray rocks and just the right amount of green plants. "
HELBA - 7
Riczio2 - 7
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4. PLACE: AkiraStrait
JUDGES
5,5
PUBLIC
7
TOTAL
6,25
Scoring by the judges
DOJEGAN - 5
"Akira was the builder who focused all his effort into making everything else apart from the lighthouse. Making two ships (container ship and a wooden ship) and pier, while placing his small lighthouse in the corner. What raised his score was making a lightkeepr's house next to the main lighthouse tower, something nobody else thought of. I also appreciated how he placed the lights to create a large beam coming from the lighthouse.
HELBA - 6
Riczio2- 6
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