Authoritative Minesweeper: Breaking News
Microsoft Agrees to Sponsor International Minesweeper Competition
Microsoft Hungary has agreed to sponsor the International Minesweeper Tournament. The event is scheduled for 14 April 2007 in Budapest, the location for two previous competitions. The contest starts at 13:30 and consists of one, 3 hour session. Each player will be ranked on the sum of their best 5 games of each the Expert and Intermediate levels. Six prizes will be awarded to the players with the lowest sums. Venue is Corvinus University, Department of Information Systems, 36, Veres Pálné street.
The agreement of sponsorship was signed in November and the date announced 14 Feb 2007. This is the first time Microsoft has sponsored a tournament related to one of its integrated games. Nagy Gergely, organiser of the event, has been working behind the scenes since the last competition to secure the deal. As a result, the session featuring the popular variant Nonosweeper will be moved to the following day.
The event is being timed to coincide with the Hungarian release of Windows Vista. Previous tournament results can be found here.
Players Attending
A list of players can be found in the Player Preview article!
Prizes
The top 3 players will receive Vista Ultimate, the next 3 will receive computer peripherals.
Penalties
Players not completing the required number of games will be penalized as follows:
Expert | Penalty |
5th game not completed: |
(Score of worst game) + 35 sec | Intermediate | Penalty |
5th game not completed: |
(Score of worst game) + 40 sec |
Visiting Hungary
People from the following countries do not need permission to visit Hungary:
Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brunei, Bulgaria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Israel, Japan, Korea (South), Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Salvador, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Uruguay, USA, Vatican State, Venezuela.
You must have a passport.
All other countries require a visa
Getting a Visa
Do not mention the minesweeper championship…they will not believe you.
You can download VISAS here.
1. Buy air ticket and book hotel.
2. Buy insurance policy for your stay in Hungary.
3. Make copies of your passport, hotel booking, air ticket, insurance, bank statement (or letter from employer).
4. Take 3 passport photos of yourself (3cm x 4cm).
5. Take ~ 65 USD and go to Hungarian Embassy in your country.
6. At the embassy complete the visa form, write that you need a tourist visa.
(You can get the form at the Embassy or download it).
7. ~ 10 days later they will give you the tourist visa. If you pay an extra ~ 15 USD they will do it on the same day.
Hotels
Most players will stay at the Hotel Griff Junior in Budapest. Their website is here.
If you need a visa, book your own room so you can print the booking and take it to the Embassy. Several players have already booked rooms, so if you don't need a VISA contact Damien (damienalexmoore @ yahoo.com) and we will try to find you a room.