2024

The 10th annual Short Family Games was another year for the books. Teams checked in at 8:30AM, excited for the day ahead. In honor of the 10th anniversary, Zellmer presented Jodi and Will with a neon sign "Short Family Games - est 2014" and a gift card from the group. Will welcomed competitors, Jodi said a prayer, and Team Merica (Vristol and Kaitlyn) held the flag for the National Anthem. Teams were looking strong as they geared up for the day. Special thanks to Kayla Spychalla and Jack Ryan for helping throughout the day.

Kingpins - Josh and Jolene Raymond were going to play to make our 17th team for the first year ever. That would have resulted in our first game ever with pigtail matches. Unfortunately, the last minute cancelation shifted the brackets a bit. Kingpins were included in our morning prayer and we look forward to perhaps someday welcome them back. New competitors this year included Caleb Piper, part of Flowstate and Megan Brown, part of Off Daily. After a short hiatus, Jake and Rachel Short also returned as D1 - Villains. We missed John and Jen this year.

As usual, the day started with Kubb, Volleyball, Pickleball, Shuffleboard, and Around the World. D1 was looking strong as they locked in the Kubb and Pickleball championships. Up the Hill secured the Volleyball win. Western Croakers looked strong as well, claiming the Around the World championship. Triple Threat later secured Shuffleboard and were strong throughout the day.

Competitors continued to complete their challenges of Marksman (Champions - House Zellmer), Axe Throw (Champions - I Don't Care) and Darts (Champions Vamos) throughout the morning and afternoon. Around 4pm the relay started with a very strong performance from Up the Hill who not only set the pace, but also ended up claiming the relay title. It was near perfect, however Chris Short secured the Men's horn once again by less than .2 seconds difference from Josh. Claiming her horn for the third year in a row, Samantha Short downed her beer in 4.80. Taylor Frid was the next closest woman at 5.23.

The A-Team got really hot on the transition of the games. They won the Can Jam tournament and took true second in Ramp Shot against The Reapers. Western Croakers were the champions in Ramp Shot. Meanwhile the Hammerschlagen tournament was secured by It Is What It Is. Later in the evening Vamos won the Ping Pong tournament.

However, it was ultimately Triple Threat who stole the show this year. And it was the perfect name for the job. This was Mack and Samantha Short's 3rd championship in the Short Family Games. They won multiple championships including: Shuffleboard, Cornhole, and Beer Pong. They placed 7th in Can Jam and Volleyball, 6th in Hammerschlagen, 4th in Kubb, 5th in Ramp Shot, 2nd in Marksman, 3rd in Darts, and 5th in the Relay.

The team vote for best drinkers went to The Western Croakers. However, for those of us who stayed late into the night, we saw a standout individual drinker in Q. The best video went to Jodi and Will although it was a tight vote against House Zellmer. House Zellmer showed up with another exceptional team name and uniform and even started a new tradition - bringing a team banner for your team.

This year the games went very late, until nearly 5am. The commissioner has already decided that 2024 will be the final conclusion of Minute to Win It games. Check in will also move forward by 30 minutes. He has a few more ideas up his sleeve to make more improvements in 2025.

Overall it was another incredible year. The 10th anniversary was something very special. This is the essence of Short Family Games. Intense competition. No pathetic excuses. Until next year.