We invented a new fitness game !

 We call it "Castle" !

It looks pretty disciplined - at least for the first few seconds......

(Joshua and Éanna defending the "castle" - Euan and Achmed attacking from the outside.)

The rules :

Two teams with two fencers each are involved in a "team fight" on one piste - simultaneously ! The two fencers in the middle - positioned back to back - defend the castle from the attackers outside. There are no breaks after hits. The referee interrupts in case of an emergency (fencer on the ground, broken blade etc.) or when the game ends with one team reaching 50 hits.

From our experience a "castle" match takes around 3 to 5 minutes in total.

The technical equipment required:

Three extra cables with banana plugs and a body wire allow to combine the two reels in the middle (castle) to connect them to one side of the scoring machine (e.g. "green"). Another three cables with banana plugs and a body wire allow to connect the outer reels (attackers) to the other side of the scoring box (e.g. "red").

Very important: The "dead time" of the scoring box after each hit - which is the time frame for the acoustic signal and till the box is ready again for the next signal - has to be reduced to 1 second. As we use in our club mainly our VSM boxes (virtual scoring machines: see link on the left) this is simply done by changing this value in the software settings.

.... and then it can escalate fairly quickly.

Okay - it has not that much to do with olympic fencing....

... but it is very exhausting and so much fun !