Celebrating its 20th birthday this year, Worms is without doubt one of the all-time classic PC games – A uniquely incongruous blend of cartoon cuteness and violent mayhem in which teams of cute little worms annihilated one another with a range of weaponry from shotguns to exploding sheep. We're celebrating that birthday with a tournament to find the greatest Worms players in Macclesfield!

To enter, simply pop into the Park Tavern and ask to register at the bar. Entry is £3 per contestant but the competition will be free to watch, subject to seating - To make this a spectator event, we’ll be playing on the big screen in the Park Tavern cinema. The Park Tavern will also be putting on specially-themed WormFood™ for participants to enjoy between matches.

THERE ARE ONLY 16 PLACES: We will announce the opening of registration on our Facebook page...So don't delay - First come, first serve!

The first and most important question – Which version of the game? There are numerous iterations of Worms, from the pixelly 1995 original to the faux-3D of Worms Revolution in 2012, but public opinion is firmly behind Worms: Armageddon as the definitive version of the game, so that’s what we’ll be using. We'll be using the PC version, so players will use a keyboard & mouse.

The tournament will be divided into four groups of four players each. Day 1 of the tournament (2–6pm Saturday 28 November) consists of initial heats in which each group will face off in a four-way melee. Players win points in each round – The first to be knocked out wins no points, the second team out wins 1 point, second place takes 2 points and the winner taking 3 points. Each group match concludes when one player has won two rounds, after which points are tallied. The two top-scoring players from each group, eight in total, will go through to the next stage.

Day 2 of the tournament (2–6pm Saturday 5 December) begins with the quarter-finals, pitting the two survivors from each group against the two victors from the next group in a four one-on-one single round matches. When the two winners from those matches face one another in the semi-finals, they’ll have to win the best of three rounds in order to progress to become finalists. Things get interesting in the Grand Final as each finalist will be playing for the best of three rounds, but this time with eight worms each and one set of weapons for the whole match!

SO GRAB YOUR NINJA ROPE, ARM YOUR SHEEP & TAKE THE SAFETY OFF YOUR BAZOOKA - IT'S DEATH OR GLORY!

TIME
Rounds will be 15 minutes each and contestants will get 45 seconds per move. If a round has not concluded within 15 minutes, Sudden Death activates and the sea will rise after each turn. The winner is the first to win two rounds, except for quarter-finals where each match will consist of a single round.

TEAMS
Each match apart from the final will be played with five worms per team; the final will have eight worms per team. Each worm starts at 100 health and contestants can choose which worm to move in each turn, but this comes out of their move time.

LANDSCAPE
Each landscape will be randomly-generated and therefore could be open-air or cavern (Note: airstrike weapons are not available on cavern levels). At the beginning of each round, contestants take turns placing their worms on the landscape. They have 10 seconds to place each worm, otherwise the game will place it at random. The landscapes will contain up to 8 barrels and mines - Mines will have randomly-set fuses and some may be duds.

DRAWS
In the event of a draw, a new match will be created on the same landscape in which each team gets one worm with 100 health. Sudden death will activate after 5 minutes and the sea will rise quickly after each turn. Last man standing wins!

WEAPONS
We will be using the weapons scheme detailed below. The clock icon indicates weapons that only become available after a certain number of turns. The inventory will refresh each round in all matches except for the Grand Final.
In addition, teams are entitled to one special weapon, which also only becomes available after a certain number of turns. This can be any of the following: flamethrower, mole, old woman, homing pigeon, sheep launcher, super sheep, mad cows or Holy Hand Grenade - You will be asked to pick your weapon at registration but this cannot be changed once submitted!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD OUR GAME SCHEME

If using the Steam version of Worms Armageddon, copy this file to 'Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Worms Armageddon\User\Schemes' and it should show up in your list of Game Schemes

CAN I REGISTER ONLINE? FOR INSTANCE, VIA FACEBOOK?

Afraid not - We need every player to register in person at the Park Tavern. Just ask at the bar, pay your entry fee and you'll be given a form to allow us to set up your team in advance.

ARE THERE PRIZES?

There are indeed - Nobody goes away empty-handed! Win or lose, all contestants go away with their own cuddly worm, kindly provided by Team17 themselves. The second-place finisher receives a T-shirt, while the overall winner takes home a custom-made trophy (plus a t-shirt) to commemorate their victory.

DO I NEED TO BRING ANYTHING TO THE EVENT?

Just yourself, and your hunger for victory!

CAN I ENTER AS A TEAM?

Sorry - Only individual players can enter and they are the only ones who can control their teams during gameplay. However, you are free to bring friends along as spectators who can give you advice during matches.

WHICH VERSION OF WORMS ARE WE PLAYING & WHERE CAN I GET A COPY?

We're using the PC version of Worms: Armageddon. You can purchase a downloadable copy on Steam £10.99 by clicking here.

WAIT, DIDN'T WORMS ARMAGEDDON COME OUT IN 1999? WILL IT WORK ON A MODERN COMPUTER...?!

Amazingly, it works just fine. Team 17, the games studio who developed it, are still going strong 20 years later - They've had a handful of their developers constantly tinkering with Armageddon over the last decade and a half to keep it up-to-date so it functions perfectly using modern operating systems and higher screen resolutions. No substantive changes have been made (e.g. no new weapons, etc) so if you haven't played it since 1999 it will function exactly as you remember it, just with sharper graphics!