Random 15 Championship 2024/25: Round 5

[tangy]

If you are new to all of this:

Welcome to the Random 15 Championship. I am your host (commonly known to regulars as the BERC when I am hosting Random 15 challenges). The Random 15 challenge is just that, visit 15 randomly selected stations that feature on the Tube Map (usually within zones 1-2 and using the Underground network only). There will be certain rounds within the championship that are a variation of this such as adding an extra zone or network e.g. DLR onto the challenge. So are you ready to take on the Random 15 championship?

The rules and scoring are unchanged from previous seasons but if anyone is not familiar with them, or needs a refresh, you can view them here: http://www.explorerticket.co.uk/tubecha ... 5rules.htm

Round 5 is just under a week away so here are the details:

When: Saturday 12th April 2025 12:30 UK local time.
Variant: The London Game banned stations twist. LU only, zones 1 & 2 (see below).
Meet up: St. James's Park (55 Broadway exit) - street side of the ticket barriers.
Post challenge pub: TO BE CONFIRMED (I have had recommendations for alternative venues which I will research their suitability).
Time limit to complete: Twist round, so six hours allowed.

The banned stations twist is as well as visiting the usual 15 stations, there will be 10 other stations that will be banned and you may not pass through or stop at and must avoid (if anyone has played The London Game, you will already be familiar with this concept). The ban only applies to the fare paying side of the station (and all lines running through that station), so you can run or take a bus past the banned stations without penalty.

Closures affecting this challenge (correct at time of posting):
Waterloo & City line: Usual planned closure.

Other engineering work to be aware of:
Chiltern: No Service Marylebone - Aylesbury via Harrow-on-the-Hill (Met unaffected).
DLR: Reduced services on all lines.
Thameslink: No service West Hampstead Thameslink - Luton
South Eastern: Charing Cross and Waterloo East closed with various diversions and alterations in place on the suburban network.

Any questions then please ask.

Please respond if you are attending so I know how many roughly to expect.

[tangy]

I should also mention that the criteria for a banned station will be determined by the ticket barrier / separate station rulings as used on NR twists. Therefore if say West Brompton is banned then BOTH the District and Mildmay lines would be banned at that station as West Brompton is classed as one station.

However if Canary Wharf (LU) is banned you can still pass through Canary Wharf (DLR) as it is a separate station.

[Lunaticonthegrass]

Attending: Lunaticonthegrass

[RJSRdg]

What happens if a station (or stations) on the "banned" list make a visit to a station on the "chosen" list impossible?

For example, if Earl's Court is banned, this makes a visit to Kensington (Olympia) by Tube impossible.

Indeed, if both Victoria and Westminster are on the "banned" list, we're in trouble right from the start as it would make St James's Park unvisitable!

[RJSRdg]

I should also mention that the criteria for a banned station will be determined by the ticket barrier / separate station rulings as used on NR twists. Therefore if say West Brompton is banned then BOTH the District and Mildmay lines would be banned at that station as West Brompton is classed as one station.

However if Canary Wharf (LU) is banned you can still pass through Canary Wharf (DLR) as it is a separate station.

That's confusing, given that this is an LU only round.

That means that stations on the "chosen" list must be visited by Underground, but stations on the "banned" list can't be passed through by any means.


And would I be right in thinking that if Faringdon came up on the "banned" list, then the LU and XR stations at Faringdon would be out of play, but Barbican would not, despite being directly connected to Faringdon XR (and thence to Faringdon LU)? Similarly if Bank is "banned", Monument would still be in play?

[tangy]

As posted to the Facebook thread regarding this round:

Once the banned stations are known (they will be drawn and posted in advance), I will oversee the banned stations to ensure that both Victoria and Westminster do not appear as banned stations together and look at any other stations that may be affected (such as if Holborn and Leics. Square are banned, it would be impossible to visit Covent Garden). If so, these stations (and the banned ones) would then be excluded from the main Random 15 draw.

Following established Tube Challenge rules, Bank and Monument are separate named stations (so if Bank is banned, Monument will be available and vice versa).

Banned stations are barred to all modes passing through if they are considered one station (with regard to the separate stations rules), so if Farringdon is banned then the whole station is banned (LU, XR and TL) but Barbican would not as it is a separate named station (as per above paragraph).

[JamesWright]

I will be there!

[Going Underground]

This banning of all modes could make this an extremely long and difficult challenge and I can see it leading to possible disqualifications - for ease of result checking and the challenge itself should it not just be the LU that is banned on on any of the 10 stations drawn ?

[tangy]

This banning of all modes could make this an extremely long and difficult challenge and I can see it leading to possible disqualifications - for ease of result checking and the challenge itself should it not just be the LU that is banned on on any of the 10 stations drawn ?

When this banned stations twist was first played way back in September 2014, the criteria for the banned stations was a complete ban of all modes through that station if it was a "shared" station e.g. West Brompton. I am only keeping the status quo with regard to the rules this time to ensure consistency.

Out of the 10 banned stations that featured in that September 2014 challenge, only one was a shared station and that was Old Street (the rest were LU only anyway).

[Going Underground]

This banning of all modes could make this an extremely long and difficult challenge and I can see it leading to possible disqualifications - for ease of result checking and the challenge itself should it not just be the LU that is banned on on any of the 10 stations drawn ?

When this banned stations twist was first played way back in September 2014, the criteria for the banned stations was a complete ban of all modes through that station if it was a "shared" station e.g. West Brompton. I am only keeping the status quo with regard to the rules this time to ensure consistency.

Out of the 10 banned stations that featured in that September 2014 challenge, only one was a shared station and that was Old Street (the rest were LU only anyway).

OK perfect thanks

[Lunaticonthegrass]

And now, the hardest of all questions regarding the banned stations:

Once the banned stations are known (they will be drawn and posted in advance)...

When might we expect to find out which stations are the banned ones?

[tangy]

The banned stations (drawn from the raffle tickets used for the live bucket draw in round 4) are:

--Liverpool Street (LU) (low level XR platforms also banned as within same barriers).
--Notting Hill Gate
--Waterloo (LU)
--Green Park
--Finchley Road (LU)
--Goodge Street
--Ravenscourt Park
--West Brompton (Overground Mildmay line also banned)
--Edgware Road (Bakerloo)
--Shepherd's Bush (LU)

Therefore with the banning of Notting Hill Gate and Shepherd's Bush (LU), Holland Park will be impossible to visit and will be excluded from the main draw.

[Oggm]

Attending: Lunaticonthegrass, JamesWright, Oggm, Muadh

[Going Underground]

Attending: Lunaticonthegrass, JamesWright, Oggm, Muadh, GU
parkrun; Kingston - GU
spoons; Kingston - GU

[penguin]

I plan on attending too.

Here's a (quickly done) map of what London looks like now:
https://ibb.co/ynYc7R3w
Don't look too closely: there are a couple of vestigial interchanges and missing gridlines...

It's an LU-only round but I did the rail & tube map anyway.


Edit: might have to dip out early and not come to the pub, depending on how long it takes