OlympicIRL

Strike 1.....the penguins are getting their attacks in early this time! We move now to @kungshamra71 for a first pick for NZ..... Canada x x United States x Tunisia x x Algeria x New Zealand x x GRIDLOCK 1 2 3 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 x 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 x 61 62 63 64

x Back to the blanks for hckosice And we go now to @bestmen for his first pick of the game..... Canada x x United States x Tunisia x x Algeria x x New Zealand x x GRIDLOCK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 x 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 x 61 62 63 64

Ouch! Not the start the United States would have wanted. But not the end of the world for now, a long way to go. Onwards now to @hckosice Canada x x United States x Tunisia x x Algeria x x New Zealand x x GRIDLOCK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 x 61 62 63 64

x A blank tile to start us off. Moving on to @dezbee2008 now..... Canada x x United States x x Tunisia x x Algeria x x New Zealand x x GRIDLOCK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 x 61 62 63 64

So here we go, just a quick reminder of the rules first..... The grid system consists of an 8x8 grid of 64 squares, similar to the the grid in the Heats. Players will take turns revealing tiles from the grid in the same way as before. Play will begin with the highest placed finisher at TISC Open 2016, i.e. the Canada, and continue with the next highest finisher and so on. So the order will be and finally The format will be slightly different from the Heats in that when a player collects a key, they do not use it to open a chest immediately. No chests will be opened until grid play is complete. Grid play is deemed to be complete when all 12 keys have been collected. When the 12th and final key has been revealed, grid play immediately comes to an end and all players in possession of at least one key will advance to the Final stage, the opening of the chests. There will be special tiles added to the grid which will enable users to steal keys from their opponents. So collecting a key does not guarantee that you will keep the key. However, players will keep all keys in their possession at the close of grid play. Therefore, in order to avoid elimination, players must be in possession of at least one key at the end of gridplay. Any player without a key at this stage will be eliminated from the competition. As with the heats, the pesky penguins have infiltrated the grid system and have hidden themselves away in an attempt to sabotage the bidding process. If a player collects 3 penguins they will be eliminated from the competition. Séamus once again has hidden himself away in the grid and will grant good fortune to the player who finds him. With a wave of his shamrock wand will he wipe away any penguins collected by that player thus far and not only that, the player who finds Séamus will have immunity from the key stealing process. So any keys that player holds at the time they find Séamus will be secure as will any keys they collect thereafter. He can only wipe away penguins once though so any penguins collected by that player afterwards sticks with them. So there will be 12 coloured keys hidden in the grid. Each of those keys will be attributed to one of the 12 treasure chests, one of which will hold the illustrious Golden Ticket. So the more keys a player collects during grid play, the more chances they have of claiming the prize at the end of proceedings. Players beware, although there were only 8 penguins present in each of the grids in the Heats, as many as 10 penguins have burrowed inside the system for the Final grid. Should a player be eliminated by a penguin, the keys they collected will be distributed as evenly as possible between the other players, beginning with the highest-placed finisher at TISC Open 2016 and working down through the rankings. If another player is eliminated after that, the keys will be divided evenly, starting with where the previous key-sharing order ended. So one key might be all a player needs to get their hands on the Golden Ticket if luck is with them. One of those coloured keys will be the lucky one that opens the treasure chest containing the Golden Ticket. Whoever holds that key at the end of grid play will be destined to open the lucky chest. Of course, there is no way of knowing which key will be the lucky one Canada x x United States x x Tunisia x x Algeria x x New Zealand x x GRIDLOCK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 So without further ado, I'd like to invite @intoronto to make the first choice of the game

Great! You can be New Zealand then

Hmm, you can be Tunisian again if you like?

@Federer91 would you like to play on behalf of one of the missing contestants?

I'm back and ready to begin at last! So I see we are without Wanderer and amen so we need 2 subs. @hckosice ? Can we rely on you once again?

Ok, apologies everyone for the delay in proceedings. I'm just sitting down to eat now, I'll be back as quick as I can. Looks like we may need some subs again today so I'd be grateful if we could get some volunteers

I have had dinner much earlier than 6:00pm too On Sunday it's not unusual to have dinner in early afternoon (around 2pm ).... I don't get it myself, our dinner culture is weird

We have dinner early here.... in fact 6pm really isn't considered early dinner here

I'm not sure yet but the start may be delayed by 10 mins or so depending on whether or not the presenter has finished eating his dinner

Chisnall so close to going 4-3 up but the Scotsman shows his class!!

I have managed to get my hands on one of those penguins and remove them from the grid. But unfortunately the remaining 10 penguins are too hard to reach and we'll have to carry on with our final grid with them in the system!

Yes it's at 18:00 GMT. 11 penguins between 5 players isn't that much. 8 penguins between 3 players was harder

Ok so in advance of tomorrow's Final I decided to post some details on the format. The 5 contestants will again engage in a battle of Gridlock but rules will be slightly amended for this 5-way showdown. The grid system consists of an 8x8 grid of 64 squares, similar to the the grid in the Heats. Players will take turns revealing tiles from the grid in the same way as before. Play will begin with the highest placed finisher at TISC Open 2016, i.e. the United States, and continue with the next highest finisher and so on. So the order will be and finally The format will be slightly different from the Heats in that when a player collects a key, they do not use it to open a chest immediately. No chests will be opened until grid play is complete. Grid play is deemed to be complete when all 12 keys have been collected. When the 12th and final key has been revealed, grid play immediately comes to an end and all players in possession of at least one key will advance to the Final stage, the opening of the chests. There will be special tiles added to the grid which will enable users to steal keys from their opponents. So collecting a key does not guarantee that you will keep the key. However, players will keep all keys in their possession at the close of grid play. Therefore, in order to avoid elimination, players must be in possession of at least one key at the end of gridplay. Any player without a key at this stage will be eliminated from the competition. As with the heats, the pesky penguins have infiltrated the grid system and have hidden themselves away in an attempt to sabotage the bidding process. If a player collects 3 penguins they will be eliminated from the competition. Séamus once again has hidden himself away in the grid and will grant good fortune to the player who finds him. With a wave of his shamrock wand will he wipe away any penguins collected by that player thus far and not only that, the player who finds Séamus will have immunity from the key stealing process. So any keys that player holds at the time they find Séamus will be secure as will any keys they collect thereafter. He can only wipe away penguins once though so any penguins collected by that player afterwards sticks with them. So there will be 12 coloured keys hidden in the grid. Each of those keys will be attributed to one of the 12 treasure chests, one of which will hold the illustrious Golden Ticket. So the more keys a player collects during grid play, the more chances they have of claiming the prize at the end of proceedings. Players beware, although there were only 8 penguins present in each of the grids in the Heats, as many as 11 penguins have burrowed inside the system for the Final grid. Should a player be eliminated by a penguin, the keys they collected will be distributed as evenly as possible between the other players, beginning with the highest-placed finisher at TISC Open 2016 and working down through the rankings. If another player is eliminated after that, the keys will be divided evenly, starting with where the previous key-sharing order ended. So one key might be all a player needs to get their hands on the Golden Ticket if luck is with them. One of those coloured keys will be the lucky one that opens the treasure chest containing the Golden Ticket. Whoever holds that key at the end of grid play will be destined to open the lucky chest. Of course, there is no way of knowing which key will be the lucky one Canada x x United States x x Tunisia x x Algeria x x New Zealand x x GRIDLOCK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Séamus is proving to be a good hider.... he is yet to be revealed through three games of Gridlock!

The solution set for the third heat.... GRIDLOCK x x x x Miss your next turn x Miss your next turn x Have another go x x x x x Miss your next turn x Have another go x x Have another go Have another go x x x x x x x x x x Miss your next turn x x x 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 x x x x x x x x x x 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 x x x x x x x x

Really sad for you, as with Poland yesterday, it's a horrible way to go I'm guessing the next time you visit the zoo, the penguins will not be at the top of your list of attractions.

Strike 3 and out! Disaster for Croatia as the penguins have sabotaged their bid @Agger Curiosity really did kill the cat Congratulations @hckosice and Tunisia for claiming the final Silver Ticket and the last remaining spot in tomorrow's Final (which will be without European representation ) GRIDLOCK x 2 3 x x Miss your next turn 9 x 11 Miss your next turn x Have another go x x 18 x 22 24 x 26 27 Have another go 31 32 34 38 39 Have another go Have another go x 43 x x x 47 x x x x 54 56 57 58 x 61 x 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 x x x x x x x x 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 x x x

x No, not to be on this turn...dear Lord Ok, over to Croatia who need to avoid revealing a penguin! Btw @Agger, which one are you? John Isner or Nicolas Mahut? GRIDLOCK x 2 3 x x Miss your next turn 9 x 11 Miss your next turn x Have another go x x 18 x 22 24 x 26 27 Have another go 31 32 34 36 38 39 Have another go Have another go x 43 x x x 47 x x x x 54 56 57 58 x 61 x 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 x x x x x x x x 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 x x x

Ding-dong, we have another key Will Tunisia be going to the Final? Let's see if they can find the Silver Ticket.... GRIDLOCK x 2 3 x x Miss your next turn 9 x 11 Miss your next turn x Have another go x x 18 x 22 24 x 26 27 Have another go 31 32 34 36 38 39 Have another go Have another go x 43 x x x 47 x x x x 54 56 57 58 x 61 x 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 x x x x x x x x 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 x x

x Blank tile....but we stay with you as Croatia sits out the next round. Choose another tile @hckosice GRIDLOCK x 2 3 x 6 x Miss your next turn 9 x 11 Miss your next turn x Have another go x x 18 x 22 24 x 26 27 Have another go 31 32 34 36 38 39 Have another go Have another go x 43 x x x 47 x x x x 54 56 57 58 x 61 x 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 x x x x x x x x 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 x x

Miss your next turn Unlucky, Croatia misses their next go! But you never know, it could be a blessing in disguise with those penguins lurking.... Tunisia, it's over to you.... GRIDLOCK x 2 3 x 6 x Miss your next turn 9 x 11 Miss your next turn x Have another go x x 18 x 22 24 x 26 27 Have another go 31 32 34 36 38 39 Have another go Have another go x 43 x x x 47 x x x 53 54 56 57 58 x 61 x 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 x x x x x x x x 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 x x