Decipher Team Sets Guinness World Record
With The Lord of the Rings™ TCG!

This past May 25-27, four Decipher employees set out to break the Guinness World Record for "Card Playing Marathon" using The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game. It was an idea born on the morning of Thursday the 23rd and realized 48 hours later.

The idea came about as a result of the ongoing "Set a World Record for The Lord of the Rings TCG" program that Decipher has. There were quite a few people requesting to set a record for longest card playing marathon so we wanted to contact Guinness to find out what their rules were. About one month later we received an email from them detailing what it took to set their record. That was on Thursday the 23rd of May.

The United States was looking at a three-day weekend coming up for Memorial Day and we thought what a perfect time to break the existing record now that all the rules were in hand. Guinness informed us that the previous record was held by a group of Swiss playing the game "Jass" – they had the record at 28 hours. We figured we could blow that record out of the water!

There were several steps that needed to do be done in order for the attempt to be valid. Step one: Find players who are willing to give up their three-day weekend. Kevin Reitzel, Dan Bojanowski, Joe Alread, and Kyle Heuer were in! Step two: Find at least two judges that can't participate in the attempt itself. Brian Kallenbach and Paul Evans are in. Step three: Get a physical from a doctor to prove we are fit to attempt the record... You read that right, they all needed to get a physical to play a card game!

Kyle makes some calls that afternoon to try and find a doctor who will give all the participants a physical and note saying that they are fit to try the attempt. They have to have this note for the attempt to be valid and have less than 24 hours to make it happen. As luck would have it, a doctor is found and appointments are set for Friday morning the 24th.

On Friday the checklist is made for all the things they will need. Log book – check; video camera – check; camera – check; matching cool t-shirts – check. All that remained was buying a bunch of food for the participants to devour (emphasis on caffeine). Tom Lischke, Kathy Lischke, Evan Lorentz, Geoff Snider, Chuck Kallenbach, and Cheryl Kallenbach all made several stops by the event throughout the weekend to fix the participants food (since the players could not leave the table where the game was being played), put movies on for them, hang out, and really help create a party atmosphere.

The day had arrived and all the participants gathered at 3:30 p.m. EST to start final preparations. All was set and the game officially started at 4:00 p.m. EST on Saturday, May 25. .

Record-breakers (L to R) Dan Bojanowski, Brian Kallenbach,
Kevin Reitzel, Joe Alread, Paul Evans, Kyle Heuer

The attempt was long and hard, but after 28 hours (8:00 p.m. Sunday, May 26) the participants all congratulated themselves for having broken the record. Yet, there was still more to be played! The players didn't want it to be too easy to break their record and were attempting to go 40 hours straight. Alas, midnight hit four hours later and all the players were too exhausted to keep going and decided to call it quits (there were rumors of the annual Memorial Day cookout to be held at Tim Ellington's house the next day that people just HAD to attend). They again all congratulated each other and after that 57th game ended at 12:01 a.m. Monday the 27th, the new record stood at 32 hours of continuous card playing.

It wasn't until this past week (September 5th) that the participants in the record received official word from Guinness that the attempt was successful and that they are the new Guinness World Record holders. Good things come to those who wait.

(Click a thumbnail for a larger view)

During the attempt, the judges kept strict records of everything – wins, losses, comfort breaks, changes in players, and anything else that happened. Here was the breakdown of how everyone fared throughout the attempt:

	Joe Alread (Game Designer): 31 games played 22 wins 9 losses
	Dan Bojanowski (Organized Play Coordinator): 29 games played 17 wins 12 losses
	Kevin Reitzel (Volunteer Coordinator): 24 games played 7 wins 17 losses
	Kyle Heuer (Promotions Coordinator): 30 games played 11 wins 19 losses

Now, here is the challenge to you... Can you break this record with The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game and get your name in the Guinness World Record books? We are including the official Guinness rules so that you know what you are in for. There is more, however, and you will need to contact Guinness yourself (CRM@guinnessrecords.com or +44 (0)207 891 4567) to get all of the official forms to fill out and send back. Be sure to tell them you want to attempt the record for "Card Playing Marathon".

If you don't want to go through all the hassle of doing it through proper channels, Decipher will recognize non-Guinness records for Card Playing Marathon with The Lord of the Rings TCG using the official Guinness rules.

Best of luck to everyone that takes a stab at the record!