Random 15 Championship 2025/26: Round 1

[tangy]

We are back for another season!

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

We start the new season with the now customary Champion's Twist as provided by the winner of last's season's championship- which was Andrew Chilcraft (again).

When: Saturday 13th September 2023 12:30 UK local time.
Variant: Poison Trail, LU only, zones 1 & 2 (see below for explanation).
Meet up: Aldgate (street side of ticket barriers).
Post challenge pub: The blue posts, Newman Street, Marylebone W1T 3EU
Time limit to complete: Twist round, so 6 hours.

How Poison Trail works:

--When you travel round the network, each station you visit becomes poisoned.
--Should you revisit a station, you must alight the train at the station, and wait on the platform until the next train arrives. After the following train opens the doors, you can either board the train or proceed to a different platform to make a connection. Alternately, if 5 minutes passes and no train has arrived, you may proceed. It is designed to make you think about doubling back or chasing your tail.
--You only leave poison on a valid visit to a tube station, i.e. via tube trains or same rail services. So travelling through Olympia on a LO service does not poison it, but visiting Stonebridge Park on LO does poison it.
--The stations will be in two envelopes. The first envelope contains 5 Z1 stations. The second will be 10 stations in Z1 and 2, poison does not reset between envelopes or at all.

Closures affecting this challenge (correct at time of posting):
Please be aware that the Tube strike is due to finish on Friday but there will be spill over into Saturday morning but all lines should be up and running by mid morning.
--Piccadilly: No service Hammersmith - Osterley / Uxbridge.
--Waterloo & City: Usual weekend closure.
--Windrush: No service New Cross Gate - West Croydon / Crystal Palace

Other closures to be aware of:
--District: No service Turnham Green - Ealing Broadway.
--South Western Railway: Revised service on many routes as works at London Waterloo and approaches closing platforms 12-24.
--Southern / Thameslink: No trains via New Cross Gate (fast and locals), trains curtailed or diverted.
--South Eastern: Cannon Street (NR) closed plus the line via Greenwich also towards Lewisham via New Cross.

The leaderboard is wiped clean and everyone starts the new season on zero.

As usual this is an open invitation event but advance notice would be welcome - so that I know who I am expecting at the start and also how many envelopes to prepare.

Thanks.
Tangy.

[RJSRdg]

So just for clarification: - if a double back goes through more than one station, e.g. Hammersmith- Turnham Green, would all stations on the double back be poisoned and incur the five minute wait? (So Stamford Brook, Ravenscourt Park, and Hammersmith?)

[JamesWright]

Fascinating twist, looking forward to it.

A few more clarifying questions:

1. Am I right in thinking that it has to be the specific platform you arrived on that you wait at, e.g. if you arrive at Earl’s Court Platform 4, you have to wait for the next train at that platform even if a train comes at Platform 3 first?

2. What about terminal platforms, e.g. the Bakerloo platforms at Elephant & Castle? Do you have to wait for the train you arrived on to leave and the next one to arrive?

3. If you arrive at a poisoned station on a non-LU mode, e.g. by DLR at Stratford, do you still have to wait? What if you arrive by bus or on foot?

4. Can LU stations in zones 3-9 also be poisoned? I assume yes from the Stonebridge Park example.

[tractakid]

Fascinating twist, looking forward to it.

A few more clarifying questions:

1. Am I right in thinking that it has to be the specific platform you arrived on that you wait at, e.g. if you arrive at Earl’s Court Platform 4, you have to wait for the next train at that platform even if a train comes at Platform 3 first?

2. What about terminal platforms, e.g. the Bakerloo platforms at Elephant & Castle? Do you have to wait for the train you arrived on to leave and the next one to arrive?

3. If you arrive at a poisoned station on a non-LU mode, e.g. by DLR at Stratford, do you still have to wait? What if you arrive by bus or on foot?

4. Can LU stations in zones 3-9 also be poisoned? I assume yes from the Stonebridge Park example.

1) Yes, same platform face. The 5 minute rule was conceived mainly if you happened to arrive at a rare platform. And because this is how long the poison takes to pass with no antidote

2) Yes, the next train would need to arrive.

3) If you arrive on a train, you would need to wait. If you arrive through the station entrance, poison takes hold when you pass through the ticket barrier (even if left open). You need to either wait 5 minutes in the ticket hall, or pick the first platform you step foot on to perform the wait. You may not board the first set of open doors you come across, this counts as fully open or watching them close. One the subsequent train arrives, you can continue. If the train is in or partially in the platform, but the doors are closed before you see them, this does not count, and you would not be able to board the subsequent train.

If there is no ticket barrier, enjoy the loophole.

4) Yes, even Chesham can be poisoned.

[greatkingrat]

The idea is interesting, but the implementation seems unnecessarily complicated.

[Sachef]

Finally found the login details to my account! Looking forward to attending and may even bring a few friends along to compete with.

3) If you arrive on a train, you would need to wait. If you arrive through the station entrance, poison takes hold when you pass through the ticket barrier (even if left open). You need to either wait 5 minutes in the ticket hall, or pick the first platform you step foot on to perform the wait. You may not board the first set of open doors you come across, this counts as fully open or watching them close. One the subsequent train arrives, you can continue. If the train is in or partially in the platform, but the doors are closed before you see them, this does not count, and you would not be able to board the subsequent train.

Does this mean that once a station is poisoned, it is poisoned for all modes? So if, for example, Liverpool Street is poisoned and you are travelling from Whitechapel to Farringdon on the Elizabeth Line (passing through a poisoned station), you would be forced to wait on the EL platform for up to 5 mins (despite the fact that doing this in the first place would not poison the station).

poison takes hold when you pass through the ticket barrier (even if left open).

Could this rule be used to circumvent poison at Bank/Monument? (e.g. if Bank is poisoned but Monument isn't, on arrival at Monument and transfer to Bank, there would be no obligation to wait since you had not arrived at the poisoned station through a ticket barrier nor arrived at it on a train).

Looking forward to the challenge which sounds incredibly strategic and fun (although slightly complicated...)

[Lunaticonthegrass]

A few more clarification questions, from myself:

1) Will the stations in the first list be excluded from the draw for the second list (so as to avoid us revisiting stations and having to poison ourselves)?

2) What if our final station is poisoned (e.g. A station we happened to pass through before envelope 2 was opened)? Would we arrive at it, wait on the platform for the next train to arrive, and then stop the clock?

And a question out of interest:

Why 2 envelopes?

[Lunaticonthegrass]

But most importantly:

Attending: Lunaticonthegrass

[Going Underground]

I won't be at this one but hope to make the Blue Posts later - and good luck to Tangy in results processing

[RJSRdg]

Hoping to be there if my knee holds up!

As well as my earlier question, would it be possible to define what "wait on the platform" means? Does that mean I have to stand still on the platform, or, if I've got my door position wrong (which of course I NEVER do...) am I allowed to walk along it towards the exit (if changing) or to the correct door position (if catching another train in the same direction) before the next train arrives?

[tractakid]

A few more clarification questions, from myself:

1) Will the stations in the first list be excluded from the draw for the second list (so as to avoid us revisiting stations and having to poison ourselves)?

2) What if our final station is poisoned (e.g. A station we happened to pass through before envelope 2 was opened)? Would we arrive at it, wait on the platform for the next train to arrive, and then stop the clock?

And a question out of interest:

Why 2 envelopes?

1) All being well, the same station shouldn't appear in both envelopes.
2) You're poisoned, but it's irrelevant as the time has stopped on arrival at the station. (Poison also doesn't prevent you from opening the second envelope). Feel free to pointlessly wait before boarding your next train toward the pub.

Two envelopes, so that you potentially make a trail you have to avoid with the second set of stations. With just one envelope, it's far more likely a set of stations would spawn where poison rarely becomes relevant.

[tractakid]

Hoping to be there if my knee holds up!

As well as my earlier question, would it be possible to define what "wait on the platform" means? Does that mean I have to stand still on the platform, or, if I've got my door position wrong (which of course I NEVER do...) am I allowed to walk along it towards the exit (if changing) or to the correct door position (if catching another train in the same direction) before the next train arrives?

You are free to move about the platform, but not pass through any archway, entrance, exit or staircase. If a platform is dangerously overcrowded, please use common sense and wait somewhere safe.

[tractakid]

So just for clarification: - if a double back goes through more than one station, e.g. Hammersmith- Turnham Green, would all stations on the double back be poisoned and incur the five minute wait? (So Stamford Brook, Ravenscourt Park, and Hammersmith?)

Absolutely.

[tractakid]

Finally found the login details to my account! Looking forward to attending and may even bring a few friends along to compete with.

3) If you arrive on a train, you would need to wait. If you arrive through the station entrance, poison takes hold when you pass through the ticket barrier (even if left open). You need to either wait 5 minutes in the ticket hall, or pick the first platform you step foot on to perform the wait. You may not board the first set of open doors you come across, this counts as fully open or watching them close. One the subsequent train arrives, you can continue. If the train is in or partially in the platform, but the doors are closed before you see them, this does not count, and you would not be able to board the subsequent train.

Does this mean that once a station is poisoned, it is poisoned for all modes? So if, for example, Liverpool Street is poisoned and you are travelling from Whitechapel to Farringdon on the Elizabeth Line (passing through a poisoned station), you would be forced to wait on the EL platform for up to 5 mins (despite the fact that doing this in the first place would not poison the station).

poison takes hold when you pass through the ticket barrier (even if left open).

Could this rule be used to circumvent poison at Bank/Monument? (e.g. if Bank is poisoned but Monument isn't, on arrival at Monument and transfer to Bank, there would be no obligation to wait since you had not arrived at the poisoned station through a ticket barrier nor arrived at it on a train).

Looking forward to the challenge which sounds incredibly strategic and fun (although slightly complicated...)

1) I would say that the poison is carried by tube (and same rails) trains, is activated by your presence on the train, but once it has been activated at a station, takes hold across the whole station. So arriving at a station you originally poisoned by tube train, by another train mode, would mean you must wait on the arrival platform.

2) Naturally, Bank/Monument is the outlier. Loophole is valid. Lets celebrate the quirk!

[Oggm]

Attending:

JamesWright, Sachef, Lotg, RJSRdg, Oggm (not pub)

Note: I have heard roumors that the protests going on at this time might be a bit dangerous to get near to - I have had a look and they shouldn't be too in the way though.