Elves Celebrate Season with a Triple Play: Game of Stones, Plunger Games, and The Incredible Race
To Bring the Ring
Flurries Fly at Finale
Everyone knows about the annual Reindeer Games, but the Elf Games drew a bigger crowd this year since the finale was held at Christmas Village with Santa and Mrs. Claus presiding over closing ceremonies.
“The Elf Games take place every ten years and are held around the world, much like the human Olympics,” explained historian Professor Rupert Wright. “In ancient times, the games were violent, involving dangerous quests or brutal contests that often cost lives. Our modern games are tame, but they have incorporated many of the same exciting elements found in other current entertainment to keep suspense high.”
This year’s Elf Games consist of three segments: the Game of Stones, the Plunger Games, and The Incredible Race. Dixie Pixy, head of the Elf Game committee, explained, “Each of the major elf clans sends two elves to represent their group in the contest. They send their strongest and their smartest.”
The first round is an old fashioned elven Game of Stones. The contestants performed feats of talent and strength, including pebble skipping, boulder hiding, and stone circle dances.
Buzz Baxter, North Pole News correspondent, covered the games. He reported, “Favorites Athdar and Cliona from the Emerald Clan initially took the lead, but they were upstaged by Ogin and Helaku, the fruit and flower elves from Nebraska, who proved that boulder hiding requires more than just fancy footwork. They successfully hid from an entire class of fifth graders at Mount Washington in New Hampshire, while Athdar and Cliona were surprised by a teenager who plastered a photo of the duo on Facebook.“
Human discovery is an instant disqualifier. “We were mortified when that lad popped up out of nowhere,” said Cliona. “I think he has a bit o’ Changelin’ in himself.”
The Game of Stones was followed by the Plunger Games, during which elf participants competed in simulated human environments without the use of their elven magic. The timed contest required them to fix a toilet, do three loads of laundry without losing more than one sock, and drive a minivan through a packed Christmas parking lot.
“The Plunger contest proved a fierce competition between Magnar and Berit from Scandinavia, Webber and Kex of the Weaver Clan, and Rillia and Dale from the Schwartzvald Clan,” said Baxter. “Rillia and Dale pulled ahead when they figured out the plunger, but they were disqualified because they cheated with leprechaun magic dust to recover a lost sock.”
Magnar and Berit ended up winning. “I couldn’t believe it,” said Berit. “Webber and Kex would have beaten us but they got stuck in a parking space during the driving challenge.”
For the final round, all the contestants joined in The Incredible Race starting at the giant stone balls of Costa Rica in the Diquís Delta.
“Elves are addicted to televised games shows like The Amazing Race,” explained Professor Wright. “So it was natural for them to make their own version. The Incredible Race commemorates the millennial anniversary of the famous elven quest of 1014 in which a dangerous ring with the power of invisibility was carried across three continents and eventually cast into an Italian volcano to be destroyed.”
Dixie Pixy, said, “The Incredible Race was designed so that all of the elven players compete together, forming shifting alliances, to deliver a ring to Mrs. Claus for charity. The ring was forged by master elven craftsmen just for the event and inscribed in ancient Elf script. It was even blessed with a magic spell, not revealed until the finale.”
Finnegan of the Gold Clan took charge of the ring first, but he lost the ring to Dallis and Magnar in France when they formed a surprise alliance by combining light and water magic to outmatch the old white-haired elf. Then, in Iceland, Magnar was tripped up by his own teammate Hallmar. He was defeated at the last minute by hardworking Emery of the Metal Clan. Emery delivered the ring to Mrs. Claus, who activated the spell on live TV. It created a small snow flurry over the closing ceremony, delighting the audience.
An encore performance will air on ETV on Friday at 8 p.m.
The Elven Ring
Inscriptions
“Everyone has been asking about the mysterious inscription on the ring used during the Elf Games,” said Murple Mavis, the language expert from Elfwood University. “We were involved in designing the contest’s ring. It was supposed to read, ‘One Ring to Bring Hope.’ But when we received the ring from the Metal Clan and checked the translation, it actually said “One Ring for My Darling Mildred.’ No one could explain the mix-up. Fortunately, the ancient Elf script still looks beautiful on the gold ring.” The ring will be sent for display at the Museum of Elven Arts.
