Lighthouse Lager’s Rock Paper Scissors Tournament Sends Two to the Belize Nationals

Rock Paper Scissors (or Roshambo) is a silly game that nerdy kids play to settle disputes.   I mean seriously…Two players tossing out random hand gestures seems like only a game of chance or dumb luck and well…pretty boring.  Right?

Wrong!  Not in Belize when Belikin Beer is running the show.

Saturday night Lighthouse Lager hosted a qualifer for Belize’s first National Rock Paper Scissors championship at Fido’s Bar & Restaurant in San Pedro.  One of many to ultimately crown the NATIONAL CHAMPION OF BELIZE on August 3rd in Belize City.

This was a serious set up.  An ESPN Sportscenter style film crew and host, Melissa…

lots of Belikin employees, free Lighthouse and specially printed t-shirts for participants…

and a referee that would put many in the NFL to shame.  Ref Derl Hyde (great name) may have been my favorite part of the night.  Interesting to me, he is a 22 year employee of Belikin AND had to try out for the role as RPS Official.  He went up against 4 other guys to secure the position.  He meant business.

I took an overwhelming number of pictures.  But this event was so intriguing, so so un-Belize-like, so…well…well-lit, I just couldn’t help myself.  It was a seriously intense battle.

I present:  Lighthouse Lager’s Rock Paper Scissors San Pedro Qualifier for Nationals 2013.

We were there are 7pm sharp to secure our shirts and a spot on the roster.  Look at the excitement!

 

Coconut Leo was the next up…he gladly signed up without even knowing how to play.  Fortunately, Kevin was there to teach him the moves.

The film crew set up lots of cameras and lights…

There was a roped off ring and a VERY cool Lighthouse table that would look smashing in my living room (or, more appropriately,  in an US frat house).

Contestants came in to sign up.  The one qualification:  you have to live in Belize so that you are available for the championship match.

Josh from Hurricane’s Bar

.Grant and Joe Chung.

JC, on the left from Belikin, was in charge of the whole process.

JC and Melody ready for the event.

 

Gary Grief and friends wait for the competition to begin.

And the pregame interviews started.  With all of these hams signed up, this was bound to get good.

Joe expounding his strategies and preparation process.

 

 

And then he had something extra to add…

Ooooop ooooop ooooopa Gangnam style.

I couldn’t hear what Coconut Leo was saying but he ended up ripping off his shirt, grunting and putting on a full muscle man flex show.

Rob from Crazy Canuck‘s not only chugged his 8 ounce bottle for the camera…

but busted out a juggling routine too.  Everyone was bringing their A game.

Mark from the Phoenix Resort was in full character.  Magic Mark made a Lighthouse bottle disappear.  Way to intimidate the competition.

Showing her manual prowess, Krista threw a double C…apparently her bar Crazy Canuck’s hand sign.

To the competition.  Here’s most of  the crew.

Here’s the line up…and this guy.  I’m not sure who he is but he was extremely high energy and all around good times.

Let me just give you some competition photos. I do not kid when I say that I took about 200.

Krista (local champion in the US) lost to Melody.

Joe’s interesting technique of “only paper” led to a loss to Shirlee (who had never played before!)

He didn’t take it well.

Kevin tried to intimidate with size…and lost.

This is the guy who beat him.  He was all about the Jedi mind tricks and the evil stare down.

Melody, from Belizean Melody Art Gallery, had the eye of the tiger and it got her to Round 2.

In the end, the victors were declared.  Magic Mark came in third place and scored a six pack of Lighthouse.

Shirlee need to strip down for the final round…

but Grant triumphed and won a case of beer and a trip to the Nationals.  Congratulations!

Lighthouse is airing these episodes on Channel 5 on Thursday night at 8pm.  Check out the short promo.  This week they will be showing a combination of the Hopkins and Orange Walk events, next week Placencia and then August 8th, our San Pedro episode will be on TV and YouTube.

Good times, right?  Quirky, well run and just something different to do!  I’m considering making the trip to Belize City for the finals.  Maybe I’ll see you there August 3rd?

As to the word Roshambo or Rochambeau…I just had to look it up.  Apparently Rock Paper Scissors has been around for centuries.    And the word roshambo may be the phonetic French way to abbreviate Rock Paper Scissors or it may be from Chinese.  Maybe, maybe, maybe…

But what I definitely know based on the official World Rock Paper Scissors website, way too much time has gone into thinking about these things.

Check out UrbanDictionary.com for the most interesting definitions.