Tantrix Discovery Challenge in Sutton

When the fete organisers at Alexander Smout's school finally gave up trying to come up with a challenge which would stop him walking away with the top prize yet again, they asked him to come up with something better. Tantrix fan Alexander, aged 15 and seen above timing the winner and ensuring fair play, was at the time the UK Tantrix Discovery Puzzle Challenge record holder, so naturally he thought he would try out Tantrix on his unsuspecting friends and teachers.

Alexander's father John now takes up the story:

"On the 17th of June Tantrix UK Ltd kindly sponsored a school fete at Sutton Grammar School in Surrey by supplying sets of tiles to use during the day and a 56-tile Tantrix Game Pack set as a prize. In spite of the biting cold and the threat of rain all day, the stall proved to be popular and attracted a crowd for the entire fete, held at the school's sports ground.

Up to four games were in progress at any one time, on two tables. Alexander kept control of the times for each table and explained the rules which were as follows:

For 50 pence per attempt, participants were invited to see how far they could get with the Discovery Puzzles in ten minutes. If a person reached and solved the fifth puzzle with seven tiles, they won a lollipop and a chance to complete as many further puzzles as they could in a further ten minutes.

Nobody managed to do the puzzle with eleven tiles, let alone challenge Alexander's UK record of 32, despite several people trying hard to do so, including the headmaster. So, as the person who completed puzzle ten in the quickest time, Mrs Costello, wife of the school's physics teacher, won the game set. It is very unusual for the children not to beat the adults at Tantrix, so many congratulations to Mrs Costello!

Parents, pupils and members of the public alike were fascinated. Since Tantrix is relatively new to the UK, most had not seen Tantrix before. The simplicity of the first few puzzles produced smirks which quickly disappeared when the later puzzles proved rather more challenging!

On behalf of the PTA may I say that the school is most grateful to Tantrix for their support and wish them every success in the future with their wonderful puzzle. The entertainment value that the stall provided was as great as were the valuable funds that were raised for the school. Dare we ask to use Tantrix again at the Christmas fete?"

We said 'yes' of course and we would also like to thank Alexander for all his work on the day and John for his report and for the picture of the winner at the top of the page.