TurfZone – WickedMarket
The 21st of December is 5-years to the day from the moment I first encountered the concept of the turf game. And today I have a decision to make. That decision is, do I continue or do I stop. Yes, stop playing the game called turf. To be honest, I’m finding the game rather monotonous, dare I say boring, even with the challenges of the Turf Skåne Advent Calander. Not for the first time, I find I’m simply just going through the motions, just taking the bike out and taking zones for the sake of it, little more than a habit., though perhaps for the exercise as well. However, I’m thinking a review of where I stand would be a good idea and might kindle that spark again.
First of all, the part that underlies the game called turf, the points. Today, I’m sitting at around 14,500,000 points (rounded up for ease) which might appear amazing and depending on your point of view, perhaps it is. Mind you, some turfers do that in a single year, not over five years, the time it’s taken myself. This gives me rank 57 Turf Archangel, which again, might appear amazing, when you realise that rank is out of 60 possible ranks available. The next rank is 58 Turf God, which requires 15,000,000 points, only another 500,000 points away. Perhaps this is a good reason to continue the game? Food for thought.
But what about after that? The following rank is 59 Turf Titan. But, and it’s a rather big but, to become a Turf Titan I would need to reach 25,000,000 points. That’s another 10,000,000 points away. Okay, some turfers might do that in around a year, indeed some have. But that’s a serious undertaking for anyone, let alone a 64-year-old pensioner. Mind you, perhaps an electric bike would help? Now that sounds like a great idea! To finish on this point about ranks and points. The ultimate rank is 60 Turfalicious and guess how many points you need for that? Well, it’s only 50,000,000 points. Only?
Now, medals and there are plenty of those, many of which I’ve been able to achieve, including Ghost Minute, Greed 350, Darkest Ninja, Trainer and Daily 365, to mention but a few. All the relatively easy medals I might add. There are plenty of others available and there are a few that I could set my sights on.
- Take 50000 – current takes 49372, requiring 628 takes for the medal.
- Unique 5000 – current uniques taken 3382, requiring another 1618.
- Assist 2500 – sitting at 2066, meaning another 434 required.
- Greed 400 – hold 400 zones at the same time.
- Region Medal – for winning a round in a region i.e. Scotland.
- Country Medal – for winning a round in a country i.e. UK.
- Crowdy 21 – need to find 21 turfers in a zone at the same time.
- Order of Aquamen – awarded for taking a water zone.
- Roundpointer 750k – collect 750,000 points during a single round.
- Diversiest – take 1000 different zones during a single round.
- Staminatrix – take 400 zones withing a 24-hour period.
- Monumental – monuments taken 80, requiring another 20.
The Take 50000 can be achieved by simply turfing, chugging away taking zones and also getting points. The Unique 5000 would require considerable travel to reach unique zones further afield but quite doable. The Assist 2500 is also within means as I often turf with ChoccyMuffin letting her get the takes while I get the assist. The Greed 400 is a real challenge indeed and I’d place that at the bottom of the list.
Along with the Region and Country medals I’d include the Roundpointer 750k, as a grouping, as they would all require roughly the same number of points to achieve each of those medals. Problem here is that you never know who you are up against during any given round, though I think I’d set my sights on the Roundpointer 750k and hope for the best with the other two.
With the Crowdy 21, my best bet would be to participate in a turf event where these are more likely to take place, for example, the coming 2026 Turf Bonanza in Glasgow. As for the Order of Aquamen, I need a small boat or inflatable dingy. In fact, I did look into this and was considering either purchasing something myself or getting a group of turfers together and clubbing together to buy something we could share out, a pool boat, as it were.
The Diversiest medal could either be a standalone challenge or perhaps part of something like the Roundpointer 750k. The Staminatrix, taking 400 zones withing a 24-hour period, would likely also be a stand along task considering the effort required. And finally, Monumental, the 20 monument zones might be gathered while taking the unique zones for the Unique 5000. Hmm, plenty stuff to be getting on with then.
Daily Dozen 365 – take a dozen zones a day for 365 days.
There is one medal I’ve always wished I could have continued, one I feel that would help keep turfers turfing. That medal is the Daily 5, where you take at least 5 zones each day, all the way to 365 days. At the moment, this medal can only be achieved once. I would love to be able to keep going for another year, or two, or more. Or how about something similar but that little bit more challenging, the Daily Dozen, where you need to take at least 12 zones each day. Now, would that not be fantastic?
As well as medals there are other elements to the game of turf that can be useful for maintaining interest. The first is the League, where you are pitted against random turfers each round and where the winner of each round can progress up the League table. Also of interest are FTT and TvT, that’s First To Take, where the turfer endeavours to be the first to take a new zone. TvT stands for Turfer Verses Turfer, where turfers hunt down zones held by other turfers they have not taken a zone from previously. My main gripe with all three of these is that there’s no award or recognition beyond being listed in some statistics. Be nice of there were medals awarded, for example, for reaching any Level within the League or for numbers of FTT and TvT taken. One lives in hope.
Now the final decision. Yes, do I carry on turfing? No, do I stop turfing and do something entirely different? Och aye man, let’s go turfing!
Copyright ©2025 Gary Buckham. All rights reserved.
