A group of Blood Bowl coaches gather in March of each year for one of the coolest and likely one of the coldest tournament environments ever played. You read that correctly, cold! The temperature this year was -10°C (14°F) during a heavy snow. The tournament we are talking about is called the True Open and has happened for the last three years running in Finland. The True Open is played outdoors and in many times in cold and snowy conditions where coaches dress in their winter hats, jackets, and gloves and brave the elements to play Blood Bowl! The coaches stay in a cabin in the woods where they use a fire to cook food and warm their hands and feet between rounds.
Joel Hulkkonen, who is known by his NAF name Jopotzuki, organized the event. This is Joel’s third year running the event and his photos posted on the Blood Bowl Community caused a significant amount of attention and comment from the Facebook group members such as “This is exactly the kind of madness I came here to see.” and “That is a thing of beauty. I could definitely hang with these people.”
The NAF caught up with Joel to describe what its like at the event:
“The idea for the event started as a joke amongst the Finnish Eurobowlers. We were thinking about what the true Finnish tournament (Finnish Eurobowl) would be like. It was planned to be played in February on the lake Sevettijärvi in Lapland with a helicopter ride there. Tier 1 teams would have to wear t-shirts and shorts and stunties could wear anything.
The idea came to life after some time when I moved to live in Lapland. I ditched the idea about the clothes as I didn’t want anyone to die there. Sleeping in a tent was also the first idea but I ditched that also for the same reasons. Then I found a big Kota (traditional Sami dwelling) near Rovaniemi where we could sleep and cook.
Playing outside in winter is the heart of this tournament. The event has taken place in late winter/early spring so the weather hasn’t been the worst. First year we had watery snow falling on us which then melted on the pitches. Combined with wind it made the plastic models skate on the pitches. This year we had heavy snowing which covered all the pitches quickly which can be seen on the photos. The evenings after sundown (around 5pm) were freezing cold every year.
The amount of coaches attending True Open has been a steady increase every year. People really seem to enjoy battling the elements and throwing dice in the freezing snow. This just proves that the Finnish people carry huge amounts of sisu (Finnish mental power) and go to great lengths to achieve things. The best motivator most likely is to see others freeze their asses off also and show them that you can withstand the elements better.”
I think we can all agree this tournament environment would generate memories for all coaches involves! Great Job Joel on organizing such a unique event!