Cannon Ball Run

Cannon Ball Run Historically

The Cannonball run is celebrated annually on the Galle Face Green, in Colombo, Sri Lanka to commemorate the misfiring of a British Artillery cannon in 1840.

A 30-pound cannon misfired during a practice session around the southern ramparts of the Colombo Fort. The ball was deflected after striking a masonry bridge and shot almost a mile down the Green, scoring a direct hit on the roof of the Galle Face Boarding House. The cannon ball crashed through the roof and ceiling and fell into a drawing room, leaving a heavy dent in the floor. It rolled under a chair and remained there.

The British Governor of Ceylon at that time Sir Colin Campbell on hearing of the incident rushed to the scene to view the "mischief" done by "the incredible Cannonball". The cannon ball is preserved in the museum at the "South Wing" of the hotel to this day.

The event has been marked over the years by the run, which is organized by the Galle Face Hotel (previously the Galle Face Boarding House). It begins at the cannon on the Fort end of the Green and ends at the cannonball placed on a pedestal in the hotel. The runners are generally members of the diplomatic community.

Cannon Ball Run : The Game

This game is a one player, to 8 player game. Playing this solo is just as fun a with a lot of people.

If multiple people are playing one person will be designated as the movement roller. This person will roll the D4 and everyone will move tha space number of spaces quickly.

As soon as people move the designated cannon ball roller will roll 2 X D8 dice. The cannon ball roller will place a cannon ball shard on the spot on the grid the 2 dice showed. Count over to the first die roll on the top side of the board, and count over to the 2nd die roll on the left side of the board. This should make a grid coordinate system for placing shots.

This game is set in a very fictional version of the Galle Face Boarding House. The original floors were made of terracotta, in our version the floors are wood. In our version of the cannon ball run a series of misfires is launched and your running around in circles trying to dodge them all.

This is obviously not at all what happened in the original event, but we thought it was a hilarious idea for a game.

First roll your die to run to a new position. Move your player, and then roll the game dice to determine where the shot is going to land. Place a cannon ball on the spot that was rolled. You must roll the dice as quickly as you can and move quickly so there is no wearing down the clock.

Each cannon ball that hits, will leave a cannon ball on the floor so you can not move to that space. If you get crushed by a cannon ball you lose and flip the cannon ball shard to the "Splat !" side on the space you died. This space will be treated like a cannon ball space after and can't be moved to. If you end up being surrounded by cannon balls and have no clear path to move, you won't be able to move, and you will be a sitting duck, you must stop rolling your movement dice, and just start rolling the cannon dice over and over until the time runs down.

If you survive for 180 seconds you win !

The bonus of this game is that you can use the grid floor for D20 encounters when your not playing Cannon Ball Run.