Our 5th Annual Roshambo Winery Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament went off without a hitch as 192 competitors let fists and fingers fly for their chance at a piece of the $2500 pie. Once again, the World RPS-sanctioned championship was an international affair, with competitors from both near and far. A cute metal rock chick named Motoko came out from Japan. The one and only “Custard Chuck” and his lady friend, “Scissor Sista,” were in from Darwin, Australia. Wall Street Wonderboy, Matt Brown, trekked out from, you guessed it, Wall Street. And the world famous “Master Roshambollah” of Washington D.C. came for the fifth straight year. (Though, it should be noted that he didn’t officially compete as he retired from the sport several years ago as the world’s greatest champion. He’s kind of like Lance Armstrong, only different.) In other words, there was NO shortage of colorful characters to captivate the imagination. And if you don’t believe me, peep our Flickr page and THESE PHOTOS.

This year’s contest was won by Maricela Barrigan of Santa Rosa who beat out Healdsburg’s Zack Polston. Barrigan claims it was “beginners luck,” but anyone versed in basic RPS strategy (or common sense) knows that she’s just saying that. I mean, if you had just won 1800 big ones would you be racing to reveal your secret? Probably not, especially with our 6th annual championship in the works. (Next summer at our new Cornerstone tasting room!) She did, however, admit to John Beck of the Press Democrat, “I had one cocktail and that was it.” When he asked if there was any chance the rest of the field was inebriated, she said, “Definitely.” Perhaps sobriety was her secret (which is funny, because I heard one late round competitor attribute “cocaine” and his “speedy mind” to his successful run). Whatever the case, in the 5 year history of this tournament, 4 of the winners have been women. Naomi Brilliant has an interesting theory on this: “It just goes to show that men have no idea what’s going on in the minds of women, and women know exactly what’s going on in the minds of men.” True that.
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CLICK HERE for some video footage of the event and John Beck’s recap.

And special thanks to photographer Josh Adler for his sharp eye and contributions to our Flickr page. (He also snapped great photos of last year’s Pirate Prom. Adler is Aces.)

Last but not least, please send some of your best photos from the event to me: scott (at) scottkeneally.com. I’d love to add them to our Flickr page!