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The Games

Image by Kasper Rasmussen

NALA offers four different agility games:

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These games run on a monthly rotation, one game per month.

Jumpers Pairs

Jumpers Pairs has the easiest learning curve of all the games. If you know how to do the Standard Agility competition, then you already know how to do Jumpers Pairs.

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Two teams join together to complete a course. The course is split into two numbered parts. The first dog/handler combination runs the first half of the course, then once that dog has completed the final obstacle, the second dog/handler combination will complete their half of the course.

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Points and time are scored as a team, with both halves of the team receiving the same total time and points as the other.

Rules and regulations can be found at:

An example Jumpers Pairs run, with two 320 dogs (the dogs are not required to be the same height):

Black Jack

Blackjack is an agility game where obstacles are given points:

  • Jumps - 1 point

  • Tunnels and Long Jump - 3 points

  • Dog walk, A-Frame, 6 weave poles - 5 points

  • 12 weave poles - 7 points

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Points are scored when the dog successfully completes the obstacle. The goal is to get 21 points in the time allowed.

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At its core this is a choose-your-own-course type of game. Pick a route through the obstacles that suits your strengths as a team. For example, if your weave pole performance is stronger than your dog walk, you may opt to select a route that takes you through the weaves and excludes the dog walk.

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The fastest dog with 21 points wins. Scoring greater than 21 points results in an elimination. Scoring fewer than 21 points means that anyone with more points (without going over 21) will score higher than you.

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Rules and regulations for Blackjack can be found at:

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The following video shows a Blackjack run where the team scores 20 points. They would have scored 21 points, except a rail was dropped, resulting in that obstacle not scoring. The team chose not to try to correct for the missing point (by taking another jump), so their run only scored 20 points.

Gamblers

Gamblers is a game of two halves:

  • The "Points Accumulation Period" (PAP) - this is a points scoring challenge where you direct your dog to score as many points as possible by completing obstacles. There is a fixed period of time for this phase. Obstacles are given points, with the more "difficult" obstacles scoring more points than the easier, and they must be completed successfully to score.

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  • The "Gamble" - this is a distance handling challenge where you direct your dog to perform a specified sequence without you stepping into a forbidden zone.

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As with any game there are rules, and these are best described in these documents:

Snooker

This is a game of two halves:

  • In the first half there are three "red" jumps, and the rest of the obstacles are given point values. The handler must complete one "red" jump successfully, then they must complete one of the non-red obstacles. They then complete the second "red" jump, followed by a non-red obstacle, and finally a third "red" jump and a non-red obstacle.

  • In the second half the handler must direct the dog around a numbered standard agility course.

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Both halves must be completed within a fixed time. Most points wins, with time deciding between dogs with the same points.

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A more detailed description of the game, plus the official rules can be found from:

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