The Fire Championship

How to run it

Pairs, one fire each, one a night. The groom judges and does not build.

Each night

1. Each pair builds its fire before anyone lights anything.
2. Photograph it unlit, from the same spot every night, and put it in the group chat.
3. Light the best of them and get on with the evening.

Judging

• On the last night scroll back through the photographs and vote. Nobody votes for their own.
• Marks are for structure and presentation. How long it burned is not the competition.
• The winning pair takes the points each. Award it flat so both of them get it — the sheet opens that way.

Worth knowing

• Want the scoreboard moving before the last day? Give the night's winners five each on the spot and dial the award down in the sheet.
• An odd number is a pair and a judge. If the groom would rather build, he joins whichever pair is behind and somebody else judges.
• The photographs are the whole mechanic. An unphotographed fire did not happen.

What you need

• A phone
• Somewhere to light a fire — A firepit, a fireplace, a barbecue, or a beach that allows one venue

Before the day

Check what firewood the venue has on arrival, and do the pairing yourself — pair men who do not already know each other. Start a photo thread in the group chat on the first day so every night of fires ends up in the one place.

If it goes badly

Losing pair builds and lights the last fire of the weekend, and rakes out the pit in the morning.

Add this to your event

Fayla builds the whole weekend around it — a scoreboard everybody can see, a shopping list that writes itself out of the things you picked, and one link for the group chat.

Who it suits

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