I’m not sure exactly the first time I met Matt.  He was one of the locals at Littlehampton who played in 2000-2001.  At the time the Littlehampton tournament scene was big and used to attract about 15 players to each tournament.  The standard was not particularly high however and it was a standing joke that whichever London players made the journey down south were pretty much guaranteed to fill the top spots.  Unfortunately, as with a lot of local tournament scenes, there were also some bad rules decisions that had crept in and become entrenched in the tournaments.  With our comparatively good grasp of the rules, we often used to spend time correcting the local players and explaining the rules properly.

Matt Shippam however was the exception to the rule.  He probably had the worst grasp of the rules of all but he always had the rock solid conviction that he was right.  I only ever played against him once.  I won comfortably of course but that didn’t stop us getting involved in a number of rules discussions that involved Matt explaining as if I was a beginner how Dead End is only unique per quadrant and I can only attempt a mission if I can meet the requirements.  The other great thing about Matt was that after you beat him (which you invariably would), he would explain how your victory was all down to one critical piece of good luck such as ‘You hit the wrong combos’ or ‘I didn’t manage to draw a ship’.

Now you would think that this would make him one of the most annoying opponents in the world.  In fact this was not the case.  He was quite a nice guy, would always congratulate you after a game and whenever he got a ruling against him (about every 5 minutes) he would take it with good grace.  I won’t pretend that I knew the guy that well.  In fact I never saw him outside the tournament hall.  On the basis of the few times I played him however, he was one of those players whose enthusiasm kept the game going for so long and who always made you think during games; even if you were only wondering where exactly in the FAQ it said that you couldn’t put your outpost on board a ship.

I haven’t seen Matt for about a year now.  According to other local players he has been very busy with work.  However, his legendary status is secure due to an obscure piece of slang that has entrenched itself into the tournament slang in England.

Shippamism – An interpretation of the rules that is obscure enough for everyone else to wonder where it came from.