HONOLULU — The fifth biennial of AIGA Honolulu’s premier drawing competition, Drawing Under the Influence (DUI) took place on Thursday, August 18th at the Cupola Theatre in the Honolulu Design Center. A full roster of eight teams competed for glory but only one would walk away with the coveted first place prize: Amazon gift cards and bragging rights until the next DUI!
DRAW OFF: ROUND ONE
The games kicked off pitting teams against each other in rapid-fire rounds of 16 words each. Team captains were called to the front to draw numbers to determine play order. First up: Team Fapple (Clarence Lee Design & Associates) vs. Team Markered & Dangerous (IQ360).
The first two teams had the disadvantage of being the first to encounter the types of clues that would be given — color names like “red”, design terms like “saddle stitch” and plate lunch favorites like “garlic shrimp” — but they had the distinct advantage of being the least drunk. Nevertheless sometimes teams guessed the correct answer at the same moment, or were both completely stumped. In those cases, points were not awarded so scores don’t always add up to 16. The first round ended with Fapple scoring 6 and IQ360 winning the round with 8.
The next three heats saw Your Sketchy Neighbors (scoring 7) taking on Team MVNP (winning with 9). Team Sketchy People (aka Goma Games) narrowly lost 6-7 to Team Ad2, and both teams took the spirit and energy in the games up several notches, hooting and roaring with each victory.
Finally, after almost an hour of beverage consumption, Round 1 ended with returning champions Dirty Drawers (Wall to Wall Studios) winning their first round against Team Sae Design 10-6.
ROUND ONE STANDINGS:
Dirty Drawers (Wall to Wall) – 10
MVNP – 9
Markered & Dangerous (IQ360) – 8
Ad2 – 7
Your Sketchy Neighbors – 7
Fapple (Clarence Lee Design & Assoc.) – 6
Sketchy People (Goma Games) – 6
Sae Design – 6
DRAW OFF: ROUND TWO
Round 2 kicked off pairing low-scorers against low-scorers and high-scorers against high-scorers. Team Fapple (CLD) defeated Your Sketchy Neighbors 10-7. TheDirty Drawers (WW) and MVNP tied 9-9. Sae trounced Sketchy People (Goma) 12-6, and Markered & Dangerous (IQ360) dominated Ad2 14-8.
In the end, Markered & Dangerous (IQ360) was in the lead, followed by Fapple (CLD) and in third place, the Dirty Drawers (WW).
FINAL ROUND: SPEED DRAW
This is where dreams are crushed and history is made. This is where champions rise. This is where Superman pulls on his tights. The moment of truth. The moment some players realize they can’t draw — or guess — when they’re drunk.
The speed round.
Each team selects one drawer and attempts to correctly guess as many words as possible in a 2-minute period. Points earned are then doubled, creating the potential for a huge change in the standings. Strategy is employed with drawing and guessing efficiency, erasing, and knowing when to PASS! Game Officiant Alan Low presented teams with a list of themed words to choose for their final round, with the lowest scoring team getting to choose first. The themes were:
Something is Out There which was made up of words related to the supernatural (vampire, black cat, wand)
In a World which was made up of words related to the movies (popcorn, 3-D, director)
Doggie Bag which was made up of words related to restaurants (crab cake, drive thru, hostess)
Cross Country which was made up of words related to travel (Air BnB, ticket, postcard)
Cheaper than a Psychiatrist which was made up of words related to shopping (X-Large, credit card, lingerie)When it was all said and done, we had an historic tie for 3rd place – With 40 points each, Sae Design and Fapple had to play a round of Jan Ken Po to determine who got their choice of 3rd place prizes – a gift bag from Mono or gift cards to Brue Bar. Fapple won by cutting Sae’s paper with a brutal pair of scissors.
With 50 points, Markered & Dangerous took 2nd place, winning a bag full of goodies from Mōno.
And, for the fifth year in a row, reigning champions Dirty Drawers once again took 1st place with 53 points.
That’s right: a three-point margin of victory.
It was an exhilarating evening; loud, high-anxiety, and hilarious. A huge mahalo to the all the competitors for their bare-knuckled bravery, death-defying devotion, and epic effort.
Goma Games gets the Team Spirit award for arriving in custom, individualized team T-shirts.
Sae Design wins the award for longest travel time, having flown in several competitors from Maui. And taking home the prize for fewest points scored was Ad2, who accepted their prize of coloring books with rambunctious good humor.
The question first raised at DUI 2006 is now a decade strong: Can anyone defeat Wall to Wall Studios’ Dirty Drawers? Markered & Dangerous (IQ360) came very close…
We’ll find out next time, at DUI 2018.
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