Our trip was easy and upon arrival in Cardiff we walked from our hotel downtown to the Champions League Festival on Cardiff Bay. Playstation ran a Headmaster tournament where the winner received two tickets to the match! This was an incredible opportunity and we were super excited to be there for it.

The Winner

The tournament ran Thursday, Friday, and Saturday until 1pm. Kristin and I happened to visit the booth right around then. We looked over and saw this man with tears in his eyes. We quickly came to find out that he was the winner. It was then that I really understood how precious those tickets were.

Chris was from Cardiff and came down to the festival on Friday, played Headmaster a few times, but didn’t quite reach the top of the leaderboard. His first score was 600. He told us he went home that night and couldn’t sleep because he was so consumed with strategizing how to get a higher score. He came back on Saturday and played three more times, getting first place on his last ball. He beat the next closest player by 20 points.

The Champions Village

Right after the Tournament ended, it was time to head over to the match. We were a part of Playstation’s group, so we had passes to The Champions Village, which is like an all inclusive mini-resort to hang out at for a couple hours before game time. If there is a polar opposite to tailgating at a Buffalo Bills game, this was it. These guys have some good video of the experience and make it look appropriately fancy.

Just like last year, inside the Champions Village was a Playstation hospitality “tent” with free food, drink, and another Headmaster station. But even better than last year, the fine gents from Playstation Access came by and ran up the scores, recording the whole bit. The video below should go right to the proper time for Headmaster business, but their whole video is another fun look at what it was like to be there at the match.

The Match

After we ate and drank and hung out at the Champions Village, we made our way over to the stadium. This video gives a first hand account of that walk from the time we left the village until we sat in our seats.

Highlight of the trip

Even after seeing the match itself, Kristin and I consider meeting the winner and the runners up of the Headmaster tournament as the highlights of our trip.

Thanks to Playstation

We’d like to say thanks especially to James Olivier and Leiana Tran of Playstation for inviting us to be a part of this event and working with us over the past few months.

Random Cardiff Photos

Cardiff is a great town with a vast walkable area. We explored a lot in between all the events.

I offer these photos without comment.