CPE Human Curling Championships

Winter School 2016 group photo

The inaugural Centre for Plastic Electronics Human Curling Championships took place in Burgün, Switzerland, on the 15 January 2016

A multinational group of competitors gathered for the inaugural Centre for Plastic Electronics Human Curling Championships in Burgün, Switzerland, on the 15 January 2016. The Human Curling craze is sweeping across winter resorts like a blizzard. Teams compete to shove human ‘rocks’ across ice with the aim of getting the most rocks closest to the circular target or ‘house’ in the centre of the rink. The rocks, seated on sledges, must not put their feet down during their glide, but may adjust their trajectory by shuffling their bodies on the sledge. Rocks may also push (but not grab) other rocks if they should come within sufficient range of each other. The game is an interesting mix of Newtonian mechanics, strategic cunning, non-linear friction and brute force.

‘I was really excited to put my skills to the test’ said seasoned competitor Sebastian Pont. ‘We were stoked to hit the button on the second shove’. The five times Danish national champion Jason Röhr commented that the game had ‘gone ballistic’ in the third end as the teams competed for dominance. When asked for her opinion, the top scoring shover of the match, Gwen Moon commented that ‘the final parts of the game were chilling’ pointing out that referee had failed to penalise some clear gabbing infringements by the Ribbon team allowing them to achieve a draw in the closing moments. A rematch has already been scheduled for next year.