The registration for Turf Bonanza in Edinburgh, June 6-9 is now OPEN!
Registration and more info at: bit.ly/3GisL8V
Check out the promo-video here: bit.ly/4lE1sWX
Don't miss out on this first ever Bonanza outside Sweden, hosted by our lovely community in Scotland!
Round winners – March (Round #177)
Congratulations to the winners of round March 2025: Király from Skåne decided he wanted another Gold, Jomii from Värmland went for a thrid Silver and féarglas from Scotland added a Bronze to her medal row. Well done mates!
Upcoming events
If you are organising an open event, don't forget to write to insider@turfgame.com a couple of months in advance to get the information about your event into the newsletter :)
Åland Open, 24th of May in Mariehamn, Åland
For the second time, Mariehamn (Åland) will host two Events on the same day. Information HERE (only in Swedish).
Bonanza 2025: 7th of June in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
The first Bonanza outside of Sweden will be held in Edinburgh in June 2025, and is a must for all. Please pre-register your interest by completing this FORM, and join in a weekend of FUN FUN FUN. See you in Edinburgh!
As of 2nd of April, most of us will need an ETA to travel to the UK. Read more HERE. It opens for application on the 5th of March.
féarglas has more Scotland related tips for anyone coming over for the Bonanza:
“As the countdown continues to Bonanza ’25 in Edinburgh on June 7th, we are excited to now have three Frut missions. Two involve the fabulous canal route along the NCR754, with 211 zones, mission #71 going westbound, and mission #72 going eastbound. MarkkuEsoc has written a wonderful account for all to read. The third is mission #70, the Edinburgh Roon, with much fun to be had going roon and roon the toon taking 140 zones in alphabetical order. Come to Edinburgh and try them for yourself!
With many gems of places to visit in Scotland, here is a quick mention of one right up there with the best. Dunnottar Castle, near Stonehaven on the northeast coast, is one of Scotland’s hidden treasures, a castle perched atop a 160 foot rock and surrounded on three sides by the North Sea. The cliff walk from Stonehaven to Dunnottar Castle is spectacular. Then climb the steps along the steep path that leads to the gatehouse along a narrow strip of land joining the headland to the mainland. Dramatic views a plenty. (Check opening times if you want to take the zone inside!)”
Uppsala2025, 28th of June in Uppsala, Sweden
Uppsala2025 will be held on the 28th of June. It will contain foot, bike and water zones, and might also have some fun event-quests alongside the actual competition. We will most definitely have dinner, but where it will be is not yet planned. Sign up HERE.
Turf Gbg Open, 5th of July in Gothenburg, Sweden
Head over to the Swedish West coast for a double Event day. Two 90 min Events followed by dinner in the evening. Read more HERE (Swedish only) and sign up HERE.
”Luleå
Ice '25 took place on March 15th on the ice around central Luleå.
The
skating conditions on the ice track were good, and the weather
during
the competition was nice, though a bit windy. A total of
22
participants
took at least one zone. Participants skated, skied, kicked
sleds,
and several walked. Seven people competed for the medals.
In the end,
grock took bronze, Duja took silver, and Kygni won
gold.
Unfortunately,
just after the event concluded, it started snowing,
making
the prize ceremony and hot dog grilling a bit less enjoyable. In
the
evening, dinner was held at a restaurant. Thank you to everyone
who
participated,
and see you again next year!”
Two Turf-related April Fool's Day jokes took place this year. On Facebook a turfer told everyone about a new feature in Android Auto/Apple CarPlay for all car turfers out there. Another joke was the news on Turf's home page about a new Attribute, Electrify. Turfers were also encouraged to send photos of electrical cabinets/transformer buildings to Turf Insider. A total of 13 pictures landed in the Inbox. Here is my fave where you get two for the price of one.
During the March round, FeTaTo from Scotland took her 40.000th Unique Zone. This is her story of the event:
”To the 40000th Unique
Succeeded in a special and memorable trip taking a world heritage site zone as my 40k unique in Vienna on my birthday with féarglas on a beautiful spring day. There might not be many zones in Vienna but they were an interesting selection.
A while back I decided that I wanted to make this zone a special and memorable one. Where would I like to go? Vienna? How about making it on my birthday? And then féarglas offered to come with me to make it more memorable. Hitting a specific zone on a specific day took planning. I would need another trip out of Scotland to get close enough. I decided to use trains, buses and my feet to collect councils ("kommuner" in Swedish) in north Wales. This proved too productive - I kept finding useful buses. I had to stop unique hunting on that trip and for the two weeks before my birthday to avoid hitting the target early!
Travel, exploring and exercise are my main drivers with turfing which leads to the focus on uniques. There are over 100k zones that I haven’t visited so still plenty of exploring possibilities to keep me busy (though with ever further travelling). And I hope to meet some of you on my travels.”
Canal System Frut-mission by MarkkuEsoc
“For the reasonably energetic, and now available as Frut missions, a wonderful Turfing day out can be had by following the canal system of central Scotland all the way from West coast to East Coast (or vice versa) along the NCR754. The entirely traffic free ride encompasses magnificent views and both rural and urban landscapes and yet, following the canal towpath is practically flat, navigationally easy and enjoys good solid surfaces. You will rack up a total of 211 Turf zones (without veering from the canal) and get a massive sense of achievement!
Should you prefer a shorter route, other stations are available along the route. The ride can be done in either direction, and utilising the train for the other direction (Edinburgh Waverley-Bowling) typically taking 1 hour 45 minutes, for around £22. Scottish trains do take bikes. The ride is a distance of 66 miles/106 km, (and going West to East) commences at zone ‘Stuck’ finishing at ‘LochrinBasin’.
The first half is ridden alongside the Forth & Clyde Canal with the latter half on the Union canal. 2 tunnels are encountered on the route, both of which are lit but watch out for drips coming down through the roof!
The highlight of the trip has to be the Falkirk Wheel, a rotating boat lift around halfway on the route which opened in 2002. It connects the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal and replaced 11 locks which fell into disrepair. It is the only rotating boat lift of its kind in the world, and one of only two working boat lifts in the United Kingdom. It makes an ideal pitstop and has a cafe for sustenance and you’ll definitely want to take photos! Falkirk Wheel is the only hill on the route (or notable descent if going East to West).
Other trip highlights are passing alongside monumental artificial hills in the Bathgate area known as ‘bings’, they are orangey/red in colour and rise up to 95m high and are formed of billions of fragments of waste shale that were produced from the extraction of shale oil. Keep an eye out for all sorts of wildlife, both land and water based too, but make sure not to slip off the towpath into the water! Happy Turfing!”
Did you know...
...there are 72 Missions for turfers at Turf Missions
...there are Turf Missions in Sweden, Germany and Scotland
...you can take part in as many as you want and at the same time!
Turf Picture of the Month
March's Turf Picture of the Month is from the zone SheriffCar by DXP2K
Turfa lugnt/Safe turfing!
//Munin
...if you want to contribute to future Turf Insiders, send your story to insider@turfgame.com :) C'mon and share your big and small stories with the Turf world.
Congratulations to the winners of round February 2025: féarglas from Scotland turfed home her 7th Gold, Cruachan from Scotland took his second Silver and Király from Skåne added another Bronze to his row of medals. Well done mates!
Upcoming events
If you are organising an open event, don't forget to write to insider@turfgame.com a couple of months in advance to get the information about your event into the newsletter :)
LuleåIce25, 15th of March in Luleå, Sweden
After the success of last year, LuleåIce is back. Information and how to sign up is found HERE
SåsTurf, 5th of April in Alingsås, Sweden
MaXi wants you to come and compete in two open Events at the very end of this round. Join him in his home town by foot or by bike or both :) You can read more about it HERE (only in Swedish). You can compete in one Event or in both. There will be a prize to the turfer who takes most points combined in the two Events. Go go go!
Åland Open, 24th of May in Mariehamn, Åland
For the second time, Mariehamn (Åland) will host two Events on the same day.
Bonanza 2025: 7th of June in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Please pre-register your interest by completing this form, and join the fun. As of 2nd of April, most of us will need an ETA to travel to the UK. Read more HERE. It opens for application on the 5th of March.
Bonanza 2025 is coming to Edinburgh, Scotland, on June 7th, and we are very excited to welcome you all for a fun weekend of Turf. Information is coming this week to https://www.esoc.org.uk/news/turf-bonanza-20257
For walks with a worthy view within a day trip of Edinburgh, the Fife Coastal Path is a sign-posted (and zoned) path from Kincardine to Newburgh, around the Fife coast. It can be broken in to sections for day trips, with bus and train options to get to/from the starting/end points. It takes in lovely fishing towns such as Elie, Anstruther, Crail, and of course, St. Andrews. This is definitely worth a visit for the long sandy beach, the historic buildings, and yes - the golf course. https://fifecoastandcountrysidetrust.co.uk/walks/fife-coastal-path/
Dundee is a city with many interesting attractions, and just a 90 minute drive or 70 minute train journey from Edinburgh. You will find the award winning V&A dedicated design museum, the Science Centre, and Mills Observatory. You can experience life in the Antarctic with Captain Scott on the RRS Discovery, explore the forests and wildlife centre at Camperdown Park, enjoy the walk along the river Tay and the beach area at Broughty Ferry. And of course - see the famous Desperate Dan sculptures - a Dundonian legend!
Further along the coast, Carnoustie has a lovely promenade, and is another world leading golf destination with three superb golf courses. A particular favourite of mine is Arbroath, settled in the 12th century and home of the renowned Arbroath Smokie. Arbroath Abbey is in the centre of the town, the old harbour is still active, and the sandstone cliffs are stunning. More suggestions in the next Insider!
Uppsala2025, 28th of June in Uppsala, Sweden
Uppsala2025 will be held on the 28th of June. It will contain foot, bike and water zones, and might also have some fun event-quests alongside the actual competition. We will most definitely have dinner, but where it will be is not yet planned. Sign up HERE.
Some turfers discovered during February that the Turf app disappeared from the App store (where iPhone users get their hands on Turf). It was a bureaucracy hang up, but it has now been fixed. So spread the word again among your friends with iPhone, Turf has returned!
It looks like Turf Awards is taking a break this year. This is due to lack of time from the Crew member organising it. It will return. Everything Crew does, is done in our spare time for free, and sometimes life just gets in the way of all the fun things Turf brings into our lives.
Turf Insider asked MaXi to tell us about his goals during a round. This is his story:
A normal round for MaXi
Goals. With turfers there’s almost as many goals with turfing as there are turfers. For me the thing that currently holds most interest, well except for growing my row of event medals, is the Jack of all trades toplist, “my toplist standings”, on warded. To get up in ranking I've mostly been focusing on Revists, Assists, Turfers taken zones from and Takes from neutral, but i do every toplist when I get the chance.
My round start usually takes me to Lidköping where I like to challenge myself to try and get the yellow leader t-shirt. Doing it in Lidköping with its high take points is a lot easier than doing it in my hometown of Alingsås where it would be almost impossible to keep up with the Germans and Electric bike turfers.
In the first week of a new Turf round, I sometimes do short road trips to nearby towns to get more takes from neutrals if I have time and energy for it. These trips also provide a comfy baseline of pph and a nice change of scenery! Highly recommend switching the scenery while turfing from time to time :)
The rest of the weeks of the round are usually pretty “normal”. I do afternoon and night time rides on my beloved gravel bike a couple of times a week while keeping a lookout for potential revists and all the other stuff that can advance me on the Jack of all trades toplist. I also keep an eye on the leagues where I like to stay in League 4. I find it a pretty chill place while it also keeps me from becoming too lazy. Finally I want to share with you one of my face zones.
Did you know...
...403 386 medals have been awarded so far to 116 662 turfers
...there are 2 medals no one has taken so far (Roundpointer–3 M and Take-500000)
Turf Picture of the Month
February's Turf Picture of the Month is from the zone LunaParkFace by TheInquisitor. It was hard to choose this month, from many good pictures. Keep 'em coming!
If you have a Zone picture you want featured as Turf Picture of the Month, send it to insider@turfgame.com Please include your Turf nick for recognition!
Turfa lugnt/Safe turfing!
//Munin
Please, send your story to insider@turfgame.com:) C'mon and share your big and small stories with the Turf world. I know you have a fave zone you'd like to the Turf world about ;) Or a meeting in a zone or story from a local Turf get-together.
This Turf Insider will cover two rounds, since I have been on a long vacation.
Round winners – December 2024 (Round #174) and January 2025 (Round #175)
Congratulations to the winners of round December 2024: Király from Skåne decided he wanted another Gold, uppuppuppner from Västra Götaland went for Silver and IndoorsyHermit from Skåne added a Bronze to his Gold. Well done mates!
Congratulations to the winners of round January 2025: sarasota from Halland secured a first Gold, nicos from Berlin took his second Silver and uppuppuppner took his second Bronze. Well done mates!
There has been requests to interview the top achievers in the rounds, Turf Insider does not have the possibility to do this. But if you, as a private turfer, wants to do it and send the piece to insider@turfgame.com, it will for sure get published. This goes for texts about just anything Turf related. I, Munin, see myself more as an Editor of Turf Insider than the sole writer of it. I believe it will be a more interesting News letter, if it contains content from more than one person. So, please send me your stories, big and small, personal or more general. If I, by some miracle, will get an avalance of mail in the next weeks, I will have to save some stories for later. Just remember, I might edit your piece a bit to make it fit in Turf Insider. English is the preferred language, but if you want you can write it in your native language, and I will translate together with Google :)
Upcoming events
If you are organising an open event, don't forget to write to insider@turfgame.com a couple of months in advance to get the information about your event into the newsletter :)
LuleåIce25, 15th of March in Luleå, Sweden
After the success of last year, LuleåIce is back. Information and how to sign up is found HERE.
Åland Open, 24th of May in Mariehamn, Åland
For the second time, Mariehamn (Åland) will host two Events on the same day.
Bonanza 2025: 7th of June in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
The first Bonanza outside of Sweden will be held in Edinburgh in June 2025, and is a must for all. Please pre-register your interest by completing this form, and join the 48 already pre-registered. See you in Edinburgh!
As of 2nd of April, most of us will need a ETA to travel to UK. Read more HERE. It opens for applicaion on the 5th of March.
Uppsala2025, 28th of June in Uppsala, Sweden
Kygni is organising an Event this summer in the town he started turfing in. It will be a 3 hour Event, with zones on both land and in the water. Stay tuned!
Uppsala is a very active Turf City with lots of local turfers and many zones. If you have never been to Uppsala, June is a very nice time to visit :)
Report from Turf Skåne's "Nyårslöftet" by Kingslayer
Turf Skåne traditionally hosts the first event every year - Nyårslöftet (“The New Year’s resolution”) which is a 90 minute foot event that takes place on January 1st. For the first time since the start in 2017 we had to postpone it a few days this year due to the weather – turfing in a park full of old trees in storm is likely not a good idea. The event was postponed until January 5th and instead of storm the participants had to navigate icy paths in Malmö Kungspark. Unexperienced mugglers was seen diving and sprawling on the ground, but none of the participants had any accidents. Winner of the event was Podde who took a bus and train from the darkest of Småland just to participate. He was followed by IndoorsyHermit, ZepLeddelin (who has participated in all Nyårslöften since the start) and mrSpock. If you visit Skåne over New Year holidays remember that we (almost) always host this event on January 1st!
From left: Podde, mrSpock, IndoorsyHermit and ZepLeddelin.
When you travel outside of the official Turf countries, you often feel that Turf zones are lacking. You might even feel zones are lacking in official Turf countries in your next vacation spot. The zone makers in Crew, makes zones in their spare time and so far the order of importance has been Official Turf Countries first followed by a few special projects such as World Heritage Zones. Requests for zones of a more touristy nature, have been of a lower priority, and most often not acted upon when a turfer discovers they have planned a vacation to a zone desert and at the last minute written about it in social media. It is discussed now and then in Crew how to handle requests in non-official Turf countries. Usually what it boils down to, is time. Zone makers make zones in their free time and we can't make zones everywhere, so we have to have a priority list. In general, touristy zones are made in locations with a lot of tourists, such as Paris, Spain and Thailand. We are also not all-knowingly about good places to make zones and that is why we often refer to the Forum.
However, the Forum has its issues. It is often the victim of Spam attacks. If you get an Error message when trying to log in, be patient and try again later. It is not something you have done, that prevents you from logging in. Using your allocated Zone Suggestions in the Turf app every round to make zone suggestions, is also a good way to help with making new zones. Most zone makers use this feature of the zone creation tool. Zone makers are required to read the Forum, but are not required to act on the suggestions/request. The Forum is also sometimes hard to navigate. If the area/city is not stated in the title of the post in the Forum, it is very hard for the zone maker to know if the post is in an area they at the moment is responsible for. I do not read thru all the posts in the Forum, I am only interested in the posts regarding those areas I am currently responsible for. And we change area responsibility every 4 months. Also, it is hard to know at a glance which suggestions have been acted upon by other zone makers.
And remember, suggestions are only suggestions, as is the name you have given your suggestion. For information, there is no Turf factory that reviews the proposals received in turn and stamps them with "yes" or "no". How it works (in Sweden and in UK) is that a zone maker has 4 months to add a certain number of allocated zones per area. In the job description, it is said that Forum threads for the relevant area should be read (however, nothing is said about interacting or that these zone proposals have a higher priority). In the Forum, the suggester can add information that may not be obvious on the map. If you go this way, it is a very good idea to make sure that the name of the area (in Sweden, the municipality=kommun) is in the subject line, in order to identify the post to the correct zone maker. The zone maker can however put the zones whereever s/he wants.
During zone making, the suggestions made by all turfers in the app, can be shown on the map in the zone creation tool and the suggestions become a kind of heatmap of interest. Or just a blurr, because all proposals since 2012 that have not been realized show up. If you click on a suggestion, you can see the zone name and when it was suggested, but not by whom. So, it's a lottery if your suggestion will become a zone or not. You can choose to pick up your tickets every round and have a slightly higher chance of getting zones where you want them, or not. But don't look at a zone suggestion as something that will automatically lead to a zone in a certain place within a limited time. Maqqan wrote a very good Blog post about zone making some years ago, I think it is still a very good piece on the subject. You can find it HERE (original post from 2016) and an updated version from 2020 HERE.
And as always, remember that most things done by Crew, is done for free on a volunteer basis. We do our best with the time we have.
Did you know...
...there are still 27 turfers in the Daily-5 race that began on the 4th of September, 2021.
...you can check your progess in the Daily-5 HERE.
Turf Picture of the Month
Decmber's Turf Picture of the Month is from the zone ÅhlsKyrka by Lola_Lola
January's Turf Picture of the Month is from the zone AlléFotboll by eastmo.
If you have a Zone picture you want featured as Turf Picture of the Month, send it to insider@turfgame.com Please include your Turf nick for recognition!
Turfa
lugnt/Safe turfing!
//Munin
...if you want to contribute to future Turf Insiders, send your story to insider@turfgame.com :) C'mon and share your big and small stories with the Turf world.
