title: Lenny Dykstra

text: Dykstra then purchased NHL superstar Wayne Gretzky's $17 million estate (built at a cost of $14,999,999) hoping to flip it but was unsuccessful. At one point he owed more than $13 million on the house and Lake Sherwood security guards were eventually told to keep him away from the property because he had stripped the house of over $51,000 worth of items (countertops, an oven and hardwood flooring) and allowed the homeowners' insurance policy on the property to lapse. The house was eventually sold in January 2011 for "an undisclosed amount". Jeff Smith, the second lien holder on the former Gretzky mansion, said the property was listed on the market for $10.5 million, and sources interviewed by CNBC said that Smith "did very well" with the sale.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: In 2000, Dykstra and other members of the 1986 Mets' World Championship team threw out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 5 of the World Series at Shea Stadium against the New York Yankees. In 2002, Dykstra made another much-anticipated return to New York after being elected to the Mets' 40th Anniversary All-Amazin' Team.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: He returned to Shea in 2006 for the Mets' 20th-anniversary celebration of their 1986 World Championship. He then voiced a greater desire to get back into baseball and his name surfaced as a possible Mets coach or even manager. He also served as part-time instructor at the Mets' spring training camp in Port St. Lucie.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: He came back to Flushing for the last time on September 28, 2008 for the Farewell to Shea Stadium ceremony held after the final game of that season.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: Starting in 2016, Dykstra has become a recurring guest on the Barstool Sports' podcast segment, Locker Room Talk, during "Pardon My Take" hosted by Dan "Big Cat" Katz and PFT Commenter. The segment involved the hosts prank-calling Dykstra's personal cell phone and asking him vulgar questions. Most instances of Locker Room Talk end with Dykstra angrily hanging up.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: In the book "108 Stitches" (2019) by former teammate Ron Darling, it was alleged that Dykstra hurled racist taunts at Red Sox pitcher Oil Can Boyd from the on-deck circle during the 1986 World Series. Dykstra publicly and vociferously denied the story and was publicly supported in his denial by former teammates Dwight Gooden, Kevin Mitchell, Darryl Strawberry and Wally Backman. Dykstra attempted to sue Darling for defamation in April 2020 but the case was dismissed on June 1, 2020, with the judge citing Dykstra's documented reputation as being "among other things, racist, misogynist and anti-gay, as well as a sexual predator, a drug-abuser, a thief and an embezzler" as the reason.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: On June 28, 2016, Dykstra released an autobiography titled "House of Nails: A Memoir of Life on the Edge."


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: "House of Nails" landed at No. 11 on the New York Times nonfiction best-seller list for July 17, 2016.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: On October 5, 2016, Dykstra and Rebound Finance, a credit referral company, announced their partnership. The partnership is still ongoing with Dykstra acting as the brand's ambassador. According to a press release published by Rebound Finance, the main goal of the partnership is to "provide hard working Americans with the credit they deserve."


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: To promote his new book and then, later on, his partnership with Rebound Finance, Dykstra made several media appearances in 2016.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: On June 28, 2016, Dykstra appeared on "The Howard Stern Show" for the first stop on his promotional tour for his bestselling book "House of Nails: A Memoir of Life on the Edge" and to discuss his sexual conquests.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: On July 27, 2016, Dykstra appeared on "Larry King Now" to discuss his book, his MLB career, his use of steroids, and his close friendship with Charlie Sheen.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: On November 28, 2016, Dykstra returned to "The Howard Stern Show", bringing with him two women to verify the claims he made during his first visit in June. Dykstra also promoted his partnership with Rebound Finance.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: Then, on December 17, 2019, Dykstra returned again to "The Howard Stern Show" playing on Stern's "Hollyweird Squares" game.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: Dykstra's son, Cutter, was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the second round of the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft, and played in the Washington Nationals organization until being released on June 14, 2016. Through Cutter's relationship with actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Dykstra has two grandsons. Another son, Luke, was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the seventh round of the 2014 MLB draft and last played for the Sugar Land Skeeters of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball in 2018.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: Dykstra was named in the Mitchell Report on steroid use in Major League Baseball on December 13, 2007. The report cited multiple sources, including Kirk Radomski, as stating that Dykstra had used anabolic steroids during his MLB career. It also stated that the Commissioner of Baseball's office had known about Dykstra's steroid use since 2000. Dykstra did not agree to meet with the Mitchell investigators to discuss the allegations.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: In Randall Lane's book "The Zeroes", Dykstra admitted in his hotel room to Lane, editor of "Trader Monthly", that he used steroids to perform better than those he felt might replace him; otherwise, his $25 million would be "on the line".


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: On December 20, 2007, Dykstra was also named in former MLB pitcher Jason Grimsley's unsealed affidavit as an alleged user of steroids.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: In September 2008, Dykstra began a high-end jet charter company and magazine marketed to professional athletes known as the "Player's Club", LLC. The magazine was part of a business plan to offer financial advice to professional athletes, according to a profile article in "The New Yorker" magazine, Dykstra had a website entitled "Nails Investments" to impart information about his investment ideas.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: In early 2009, stories and evidence began to emerge indicating that Dykstra's financial empire was in a tailspin. A "GQ" article by Kevin P. Coughlin, a former photo editor for the "New York Post", detailed Coughlin's 67-day employment with Dykstra producing "The Players Club", a magazine geared toward athletes and their expensive lifestyles. Coughlin detailed incidents and accused Dykstra of credit card fraud, failure to pay rent on the magazine's Park Avenue offices or for bounced checks, lawsuits, and printing costs.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: An extensive article about an ESPN.com investigation in April 2009 went into greater detail, asserting that Dykstra has been the subject of at least two dozen legal actions since 2007.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: Dykstra, whose net worth was estimated at $58 million in 2008, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2009, listing less than $50,000 in assets against $10 million to $50 million in liabilities. He claimed to be a victim of mortgage fraud, after he lost the house purchased for $17.5 million from Wayne Gretzky to foreclosure, in the Sherwood Country Club development in Thousand Oaks, California.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: According to the July 7, 2009, petition in the Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California Dykstra's debts and creditors include $12.9m to Washington Mutual (unsecured), $4m to Countrywide Financial /Bank of America (unsecured), $3.5m to Rockridge Bank of Atlanta, $2.5m to David and Teresa Litt, $1.5m to K&L Gates (a large law firm), and smaller amounts to others.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: In August 2009, Dykstra was living out of his car and in hotel lobbies. The estate he had purchased from Gretzky was riddled with water damage, torn-up flooring, missing toilets, and other major damage. His second house, also in the Sherwood development, was uninhabitable due to toxic mold. A dispute with his insurance carrier over reimbursement for the necessary repairs. Fireman's Fund Insurance Company provided Dykstra and his wife with a temporary residence pending resolution of the outstanding claim. According to papers filed in court, one of the houses in question was in "unshowable" condition as "the home was littered throughout with empty beer bottles, trash, dog feces and urine, and other unmentionables." Raw sewage had been leaking inside the house, and electrical wiring had been damaged or removed by vandals.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: On October 6, 2009, the "Wall Street Journal" reported that Dykstra's World Series ring had been auctioned off for $56,762 "to help pay the former major-leaguer's $31 million debt." On November 20, 2009, the case was converted to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy to liquidate the estate and pay creditors.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: In June 2010, a court-appointed federal trustee in Dykstra's bankruptcy case charged he had lied under oath, improperly hidden and sold assets, and repeatedly acted "in a fraudulent and deceitful manner" during his ongoing bankruptcy case. The trustee accordingly asked the bankruptcy court to deny Dykstra's request for a bankruptcy discharge.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: In 1991, Dykstra crashed his red Mercedes-Benz SL 500 into a tree on Darby-Paoli Road in Radnor Township, Pennsylvania, after attending the bachelor party of Phillies teammate John Kruk. Dykstra suffered broken ribs, a broken collarbone and a broken facial bone, in addition to second-degree burns on his left arm and lower back. Darren Daulton, also a teammate, was a passenger in the car at the time; his injuries included an injured eye and a broken facial bone. According to Radnor Township Police, Dykstra's blood alcohol content was measured at 0.179% shortly after the crash.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: In 1999, he was arrested for sexual harassment of a 17-year-old girl who worked at his car wash. The criminal charges were later dropped.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: In March 2009, press reports alleged that Dykstra's businesses were facing financial ruin. They also alleged that he had used offensive terms when speaking about blacks, women, and homosexuals.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: In September 2009, he was banned from both of his foreclosed multimillion-dollar properties in Lake Sherwood, from which security officers were instructed to deny him access. He was accused of vandalizing the properties, and not maintaining homeowners' insurance on them, and the court assigned a trustee to manage them.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: In December 2010, Dykstra was accused of hiring a female escort, and then writing her a bad $1,000 check: adult entertainment star and escort Monica Foster claimed he had hired her on December 13, 2010, and then wrote her a worthless check. Foster later posted a copy of the check on her blog.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: In January 2011, Dykstra was accused of sexual assault by his housekeeper. She alleged that he would force her to give him oral sex. The woman told investigators "she needed the job and the money, so she went along with the suspect's requests rather than lose her job," according to the filing, and "returned to work in the suspect's home with knowledge obtained from the Internet about a claim of sexual assault by another woman."


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: In April, 2011, the Los Angeles Police Department Commercial Crimes Division arrested Dykstra on separate grand theft charges, related to the purchase of vehicles. He was held on $500,000 bail. On April 13, 2011, Dykstra was arrested for investigation of grand theft by Los Angeles police at his Encino home on suspicion of trying to buy a stolen car, the day after Dykstra, in an unrelated federal complaint, had been charged with embezzling from a bankruptcy estate. He faced up to five years in federal prison if convicted. Federal prosecutors contended that after filing for bankruptcy Dykstra hid, sold, or destroyed more than $400,000 worth of items from the $18.5 million mansion in question without permission of a bankruptcy trustee. The items allegedly ranged from sports memorabilia to a $50,000 sink. At one point, he sold "a truckload of furnishing and fixtures" for cash at a consignment store, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: In May 2011, Dykstra was sentenced to house arrest after his bankruptcy fraud indictment. Under the terms of his plea agreement, he had been allowed to leave the house only to go to work, attend church, or undergo mandatory drug testing. On June 13, 2011, Dykstra appeared in Federal bankruptcy court and pleaded not guilty to 13 charges. He was represented by a public defender. Dykstra faced up to 80 years in prison if convicted of all charges relating to embezzlement, obstruction of justice, bankruptcy fraud, making false statements to bankruptcy court, and concealing property from the bankruptcy court. The bankruptcy fraud trial was set to start on June 5, 2012.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: On June 6, 2011, Dykstra was arrested and charged with 25 misdemeanor and felony counts of grand theft auto, identity theft, filing false financial statements and possession of cocaine, ecstasy and the human growth hormone (HGH) known as Somatropin. He first pleaded not guilty to the charges, but later changed his plea to no contest to grand theft auto and providing false financial statements in exchange for dropping the drug charges. On March 5, 2012, after unsuccessfully trying to withdraw his nolo-contendere plea, he was sentenced to three years in state prison, receiving nearly a year's credit for time already served. According to court records and press reports, Dykstra and confederates had obtained automobiles from various car dealerships using falsified bank statements and stolen identities.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: On August 25, 2011, Dykstra was charged with indecent exposure. The Los Angeles City Attorney accused him of placing ads on Craigslist requesting a personal assistant or housekeeping services. The victims alleged that when they arrived, they were informed that the job also required massage service. Dykstra would then disrobe and expose himself. He was given a nine-month sentence for lewd conduct.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: On July 13, 2012, Dykstra pleaded guilty in federal court to three felonies: one count each of bankruptcy fraud, concealment of assets, and money laundering. He admitted to hiding, selling, or destroying over $400,000 worth of items that were supposed to be part of his bankruptcy filing. On December 3, 2012, he was sentenced to six and half months in prison and 500 hours of community service, and ordered to pay $200,000 in restitution.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: Dykstra was released from the federal penitentiary in Victorville, California, in June 2013 after serving six and a half months of his sentence for the bankruptcy fraud and money laundering charges, which ran concurrently with the grand theft auto and false financial statements charges.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: As part of his release, he was required to serve three years of supervised release, including 500 hours of community service, enroll in a substance abuse program, submit to drug testing, and pay $200,000 to his creditors.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: He finished his probation in April 2014, and had undergone weekly drug testing. Now he lives with his ex-wife, Terri, who said that she has no plans to remarry him.


title: Lenny Dykstra

text: On May 23, 2018, Dykstra was arrested after uttering terroristic threats and for possession of drugs. He allegedly held a gun to his Uber driver after the driver refused to change destinations. On October 10, 2018, Dykstra was indicted by a New Jersey grand jury for cocaine and methamphetamine possession, and making terroristic threats.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: , abbreviated as GuP or Garupan , is a Japanese anime franchise created by Actas which depicts a competition between girls' high schools practicing tank warfare as a sport. The series was directed by Tsutomu Mizushima, written by Reiko Yoshida and produced by Kiyoshi Sugiyama. Takaaki Suzuki, who had earlier acted as a military history advisor for "Strike Witches" and "Upotte!!", was involved in the production of the anime. The TV series initially aired in Japan between October and December 2012, with two additional episodes that aired in March 2013 and an released in July 2014. Nine manga series and a light novel adaptation have been published by Media Factory. An animated film was released in Japanese theaters on November 21, 2015. A six-part theatrical anime series premiered in 2017.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: The story takes place in a world where historical World War II–era tanks are maintained for sport-style warfare competitions and large carrier ships, known as Academy Ships, support mobile sea communities. Of the many activities high school students can participate in, one of the most popular is , the art of operating tanks, which is considered a traditional martial art for females.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: Miho Nishizumi, a girl from a prestigious family of "sensha-dō" practitioners who became traumatized by a past event, transfers to Ōarai Girls High School to get away from "sensha-dō", as she presumed the school was no longer practicing the sport. However, shortly after Miho begins her new school life and makes some new friends, the student council announces the revival of "sensha-dō" at Ōarai and coerces Miho, the only student with prior experience, to join. While reluctant to join at first, having practically been forced, Miho soon warms up to "sensha-dō" and they enter a national championship, facing off against various other schools, in a competition that becomes a serious matter after Miho and the others learn that their school will be closed should they not win.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: The spin-off manga, "Girls und Panzer: Little Army", follows Miho in her elementary school days as she participates in "sensha-dō" alongside her friends Emi, Hitomi, and Chihiro.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: "Girls und Panzer" aired its first episode in Japan on Tokyo MX on October 9, 2012, TV Osaka and TV Aichi on October 11, BS11 on October 14, and AT-X on October 17, and concluded on March 25, 2013, with 12 episodes. The anime series was produced by Actas and directed by Tsutomu Mizushima from a series composition written by Reiko Yoshida. Shirō Hamaguchi served as the series composer. Choucho performed the opening theme music for the series titled "Dream Riser", while Mai Fuchigami, Ai Kayano, Mami Ozaki, Ikumi Nakagami, and Yuka Iguchi, voicing the five main characters of the series, sang the ending theme music titled "Enter Enter Mission!" It was collected into six Blu-ray and DVD volumes that were released in Japan from December 21, 2012, to June 21, 2013. Each volume contains the anime series' original video animation (OVA) and an OVA featuring Yukari Akiyama's lecture about tanks that appear in the series titled .


title: Girls und Panzer

text: A new OVA depicting the unseen match between Ōarai Girls' Academy and Anzio Girls' High School in the seventh episode, titled , was released simultaneously in 14 theaters and several online distribution services in Japan on July 5, 2014. Its Blu-ray and DVD were released in Japan on July 25, 2014, which include a new episode of "Yukari Akiyama's Tank Course" featuring Italian tanks that appear in the OVA. The OVA was aired in Japan on AT-X on June 21, 2015, on BS11 on December 30, and on Tokyo MX on January 3, 2016.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: An animated film by Mizushima serving as a sequel to the anime series, titled , premiered in Tokyo on November 20, 2015, and was theatrically released in Japan on November 21. The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD in Japan on May 27, 2016, which include a new OVA, titled , that is set after the events of the film and a new episode of "Yukari Akiyama's Tank Course". The film is followed by a six-part animated film series by Mizushima titled , with the first film in the series being released in Japan on December 9, 2017. , a total of three films have been released. A compilation film combining the twelve episodes of the series and "This Is the Real Anzio Battle!" OVA into a two-hour runtime, titled , was released in 110 theaters and several 4DX and MX4D screenings in Japan on September 29, 2018. The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD in Japan on February 23, 2019.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: Sentai Filmworks announced the acquisition of "Girls und Panzer" in September 2012, and released the 12 episodes of the series on Blu-ray and DVD in North America on December 3, 2013, and the six episodes of its OVA on the same formats on February 25, 2014. Crunchyroll streamed the series in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, and South Africa from October 10, 2012, to March 31, 2022. A scene in the Japanese broadcast of the eighth episode, where the characters Katyusha and Nonna sing the Soviet folk-based song "Katyusha", was removed by Crunchyroll, with Jeff Chuang of "Japanator" stating that "copyright reason is the most likely why the segment was cut". Sentai Filmworks restored the missing scene in their home media release of the series, but the song was replaced with a different one, later revealed as the instrumental version of "Korobeiniki". In October 2012, Anime Network licensed the series for a November release. MVM Entertainment announced the acquisition of the series in October 2013. They released the series on Blu-ray and DVD in the United Kingdom in April 2014 and its OVA on the same formats in June. Hanabee Entertainment licensed "Girls und Panzer" for an Australian release in November 2013, and released the series and its OVA on Blu-ray and DVD on March 5, 2014. Hidive began streaming the series after the acquisition of the assets from Anime Network in June 2017.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: A manga adaptation of "Girls und Panzer", illustrated by Ryohichi Saitaniya, was serialized by Media Factory in their magazine "Monthly Comic Flapper" from June 5, 2012, to March 5, 2014. The first volume of the manga was published in Japan on September 21, 2012, and the fourth and final volume on April 23, 2014. Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the manga for English publication in North America in July 2013, with its first volume being released on June 3, 2014, and final volume on June 9, 2015.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: Gakken began serializing a 4-panel manga for the series in "Megami Magazine" on July 30, 2012. Illustrated by Yuuma, the manga later revealed its title as and continued publishing on "Cho! Animedia" website from February 10, 2015, to July 26, 2022, ended due to "production reasons". , the manga has been published in a single volume in Japan. A "gekiga" manga for the series, titled , was illustrated by Motofumi Kobayashi and serialized by Shogakukan in their magazine "Corocoro Aniki" from December 15, 2017, to March 15, 2021. It was published in a single volume in Japan on March 26, 2021.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: A spin-off of the series depicting Miho Nishizumi in her childhood, titled , was illustrated by Tsuchii and serialized by Media Factory in their magazine "Monthly Comic Alive" from June 27, 2012, to January 26, 2013. The first volume of the manga was published in Japan on October 23, 2012, and the second and final volume on February 23, 2013. Seven Seas Entertainment acquired the English license of the manga in July 2013, and released in North America its first volume on December 16, 2014, and final volume on March 10, 2015. Its sequel, "Girls und Panzer: Little Army II", was serialized in "Monthly Comic Alive" magazine from April 27, 2015, to March 26, 2016. Three volumes of the manga were published in Japan.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: The second spin-off of the series by Maruko Nii, titled , began serialization by Media Factory in "Monthly Comic Alive" magazine on May 27, 2013. The first volume was published in Japan on October 23, 2015. , a total of 18 volumes have been published.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: A spin-off of the series by Takeshi Nogami and Takaaki Suzuki, titled , features a new heroine (Shizuka Tsuruki) and was serialized by Media Factory in "Monthly Comic Flapper" magazine from September 5, 2014, to March 5, 2021. A total of 16 volumes were published in Japan from February 23, 2015, to April 23, 2021. A spin-off of the series by Saitaniya taking place after the practice match of Ōarai Girls' Academy with St. Gloriana Girls' College, titled , was serialized by Kadokawa on their webcomic service "ComicWalker" from November 19, 2014, to August 19, 2015. A total of two volumes were published in Japan from March 23 to September 23, 2015.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: A comedy spin-off illustrated by Midori Hagi, titled , serves as an explanation for the history, development, and technical details of tanks and other vehicles that appear in the series. Media Factory serialized the manga in "Monthly Comic Flapper" magazine from August 5, 2016, to June 5, 2019. A total of five volumes were published in Japan from February 23, 2017, to June 22, 2019.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: A spin-off of the series featuring Erika Itsumi of Kuromorimine Girls' High School, titled , was illustrated by Saitaniya and serialized by Kadokawa on "ComicWalker" website from September 19, 2016, to March 19, 2018. A total of three volumes were published in Japan from February 23, 2017, to April 23, 2018. A spin-off of the series featuring Katyusha and Nonna of Pravda Girls' High School, titled , was illustrated by Hajime Yoshida and serialized by Kadokawa on "ComicWalker" website from July 19, 2018, to December 19, 2021. A total of five volumes were published in Japan from January 23, 2019, to December 22, 2021. A spin-off of the series featuring Noemi Kohiyama of Count High School, titled , began serialization by Kadokawa on "ComicWalker" website on November 16, 2018. , the manga has been published in two volumes in Japan.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: A "gag" spin-off of the series featuring Anzio Girls' High School after the events of "Girls und Panzer der Film", titled , was serialized by Kadokawa on the official Twitter account of "Dengeki Twitter Magazine" from February 1, 2019, to June 21, 2021. A total of three volumes were published in Japan from September 27, 2019, to June 25, 2021. A short comedy manga by Yoshida, titled , began serialization by "Monthly Comic Alive" magazine's web label Comic Alive+ on the websites "ComicWalker" and "Niconico Seiga" on October 7, 2022.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: Several anthologies based on the series were released in Japan. The first anthology, , had two volumes published by Media Factory from October 23, 2013, to November 22, 2014. Aki★Eda, EXCEL, Shin Kyogoku, Kobayashi, Saitaniya, Kouhei Takanaga, Shinobu Take, Tsuchii, Maruko Nii, Takeshi Nogami, Hagi, Yasuhiro Makino, Miki Matsuda, Eichi Mudoh, and Takuma Morishige each authored a manga in the first volume, while 15 anime cast joined the writing team for the second volume. The second anthology, , provides "spotlights" to other schools that appear in the series. The first volume featuring St. Gloriana Girls' College was published by Ichijinsha on November 5, 2014. , it has been published in nine volumes. The third anthology, , was published by Media Factory on November 21, 2015. The fourth anthology, , had four volumes published by Media Factory from March 23, 2017, to March 23, 2018, with additional release of two complementary volumes featuring animals and foods on February 23, 2019.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: A light novel adaptation of "Girls und Panzer", written by Yuu Hibiki and illustrated by Fumikane Shimada and Shin Kyougoku, was released by Media Factory in Japan from November 22, 2012, to June 25, 2013. It follows the established story of the series in Saori Takebe's point of view. The light novel was published in three volumes.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: Nijibox developed a mobile-based social game based on "Girls und Panzer", which was released in Japan on Mobage, GREE, and Mixi on December 7, 2012, and on Pixiv on January 10, 2013. The game ended its service on April 2, 2015. Namco Bandai Games announced a video game based on the series for PlayStation Vita, titled , in November 2013. Developed and published by Namco Bandai Games, the game was released in Japan on June 26, 2014.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: A mobile simulation game based on the series, titled , was developed by Showgate for Android and iOS, and released by Mobcast Games in Japan on November 11, 2015. An illustration book for the game is set to be released in Japan on June 28, 2022. Another video game based on the series for PlayStation 4, titled , was announced by Bandai Namco Entertainment in July 2017. Developed by Natsume-Atari, the game was released by Bandai Namco Entertainment in Japan on February 22, 2018, and in the Southeast Asia region on February 27. The game was later released on Nintendo Switch under the title "Girls und Panzer: Dream Tank Match DX" in Japan and Southeast Asia countries on February 21, 2019.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: A mobile-based life simulation game jointly developed by KLab Games and Bandai Namco Entertainment for Android and iOS, titled was released by Bandai Namco Entertainment in Japan on August 3, 2018. The game ended its service on November 27, 2019.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: A collaborative project between the "Girls und Panzer" animation team and Belarusian computer game developer Wargaming was unveiled in 2013, aiming to promote the online multiplayer video game "World of Tanks" in Japan. Part of the collaboration involved the promotion of the game in Japan in the form of advertising and local events, as Wargaming focused to penetrate the Japanese market.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: The South-East Asian game server for "World of Tanks" featured a tutorial documentation in the form of manga, titled . Drawn by Midori Hagi, it features "Girls und Panzer" characters as they learned how to play the game. The manga game tutorial is available in English, Thai, Traditional Chinese, and Japanese; it depicts the five members of Ōarai Girls High's Anglerfish sensha-dō team as they learn how to play "World of Tanks", intending to explain the game's basics to new players in an entertaining and interesting manner. The tutorial manga also had a side effect of introducing "Girls und Panzer" to many "World of Tanks" players, increasing its popularity amongst the players in the Asian region.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: "Girls und Panzer"-themed mods for the game were announced at the 2013 Tokyo Game Show; these game mods were distributed as free downloads for players in the South-East Asian server, mainly targeting the Japanese-speaking community. Initially, there were six voice packs released, featuring the voices of all five members of the Anglerfish team, as well as a special voice pack for Nonna, the vice captain of Pravda's sensha-dō team; each of the five crew members of the Anglerfish team voices the five different crew positions in "World of Tanks": Commander, Gunner, Loader, Radio Operator, and Driver. The voice packs replaces the standard crew voices with the "Girls und Panzer" character voices, when tank commands such as ""Target acquired!"" or ""Reloading!"" sound in the game. The voice packs, however, are only available in Japanese. Afterwards, a garage mod was released, where players could change the regular game garage to the sensha-dō garage square in Ōarai Girls High's Academy Ship. Another mod that was released allowed players to change the skins of a few select tanks in the game to the paint jobs of the tanks in the "Girls und Panzer" anime. Tanks include the Panzer IV H of Ōarai Girls High, the Churchill VII of St. Gloriana Girls Academy and the Jagdtiger of Kuromorimine Girls High. The last mod that was made available changed the look of destroyed tanks for certain vehicles; instead of a smoking wreck of metal that is shown when a tank is destroyed, the tank is shown in a moderate condition, with a white flag on top, similar to when tanks are knocked out in "Girls und Panzer", to indicate that the tank is destroyed.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: These mods were later made available together in a mod pack that is free to download on the South-East Asian server of "World of Tanks". On 31 January 2016, the "World of Tanks" South-East Asian server released an updated version of the "Girls und Panzer"-themed mod pack, in celebration of the release of "Girls und Panzer der Film". It features the voices of the Anglerfish sensha-dō team and replaces the standard game garage with the Ōarai Girls High School Tank Garage. It also features a lot of new tank skins, such as the Panzer IV D of Ōarai Girls High, before it was converted into the Ausführung H model, and the T95, M24 Chaffee, and the M26 Pershing of the university's sensha-dō team, in addition to all the previous ones released in earlier mods.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: The initial television airing of the first 10 episodes within 2012 received favourable television ratings and strong viewership. The relatively early airing timeslot of the show allowed the series to gain better exposure to more viewers. Blu-ray sales of the first anime volume in Japan reached third place on the Oricon charts in mid-February 2013, whilst sales of the second anime volume Blu-ray reached second place in late February with 24,733 copies sold within the first week of release. The third Blu-ray volume met with similar success during March, with 23,528 copies sold within the first week, peaking at third place behind "Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn" and "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha the Movie 2nd A's". The first week sales of the 4th Blu-ray volume reached second place at 28,410 units, behind "", which had its debut Blu-ray release the same week. The first week sales of both the 5th and 6th Blu-ray volumes placed first in the weekly Oricon chart, having reached 33,450 units and 32,385 units respectively. The first week sales of the "Girls und Panzer: This is the Real Anzio Battle!" OVA Blu-ray placed third in the weekly Oricon chart, having reached 35,909 units.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: In celebration of the popularity of the anime series and to promote local tourism, on 24 March 2013 the town of Ōarai in Ibaraki Prefecture held an event themed along the "Girls und Panzer" anime, as part of its yearly spring festival. The event featured live tank demonstrations and the sale of anime-themed merchandise.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: An opinion piece published on 22 January 2013 in the "", a subsidiary of the state-owned "People's Liberation Army Daily", criticized the anime for promoting "militarist sentiments behind the guise of cute characters."


title: Girls und Panzer

text: "Famitsu" gave the video game adaptation "Girls und Panzer: Senshadō, Kiwamemasu!" a review score of 23/40. "PlayStation LifeStyle" gave the game 8/10, highly praising the tank battles for their simplicity and the story for its charm. The game sold 31,526 physical retail copies within the first week of release in Japan.


title: Girls und Panzer

text: In 2017, scholar Takayoshi Yamamura described the series as a key example of cooperation between the JSDF and anime productions, noting that the production staff gathered important information with the help of the JGSDF, even riding in a tank at the JGSDF Ordnance School. The show was also helped by the JSDF's Ibaraki Provincial Cooperation Office. However, events which exhibited JSDF tanks drew criticism from the Japanese Communist Party but supported by the newspaper, "Sankei Shinbun". Additionally, Yamamura noted that Ground Staff Office of the Ground Self-Defense Force public relations department praised attendance at such events as demonstrating the "effect of the popularity of battle tanks."


title: Chief of Army Staff (Pakistan)

text: The Chief of Army Staff () (reporting name: COAS), is the most senior officer in the Pakistan Army. It is one of the most powerful positions in Pakistan.


title: Chief of Army Staff (Pakistan)

text: This is the senior most appointment in the Pakistan Armed Forces who is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee in a separate capacity, usually consulting with the Chairman joint chiefs to act as a military adviser to the Prime Minister and its civilian government in the line of defending the of the country. The Chief of Army Staff exercise its responsibility of command and control of the operational, combatant, logistics, and training commands within the army, in contrast to the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army. Due to its stature, the Chief of Army Staff have been instrumental in enforcing martial laws against the civilian government due to the meltdown of a civil-military relations in the past decades.


title: Chief of Army Staff (Pakistan)

text: The appointment, in principle, is constitutionally subjected to be for three years but an extension may be granted from the approval and recommendations of the Prime Minister by the President. The Chief of Army Staff is based in the Army GHQ, and the current Chief of Army Staff is General Asim Munir Ahmed, serving in this capacity since 29 November 2022.


title: Chief of Army Staff (Pakistan)

text: The designation of the Chief of the Army Staff was created from the previous title Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army in 1972. Since 1972, there has been 10 four-star rank army generals to be appointed as chief of army staff by statute. The Prime Minister approved the nomination and appointment of the Chief of Army Staff, with President confirming the Prime Minister's appointed choosing and nomination.


title: Chief of Army Staff (Pakistan)

text: The army leadership is based in the Army GHQ whose functions are supervised by the Chief of Army Staff, assisted by the civilians from the Army Secretariat of the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The Chief of Army Staff exercise its responsibility of complete operational, training and logistics commands.


title: Chief of Army Staff (Pakistan)

text: There are several principle staff officers (PSO) who assist in running the operations of the Army GHQ:


title: Mountain West Conference

text: The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations on January 4, 1999. Geographically, the MW covers a broad expanse of the Western United States, with member schools located in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Craig Thompson has served as Commissioner of the MW since October 15, 1998.


title: Mountain West Conference

text: The charter members of the MW included the United States Air Force Academy, Brigham Young University, Colorado State University, San Diego State University, the University of New Mexico, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, University of Utah and the University of Wyoming. Before forming the Mountain West Conference, seven of its eight charter members had been longtime members of the Western Athletic Conference and half of these had been charter members of that conference from 1962. Overall, each school that has ever been either a full or football-only member of the MW spent at least three years in the WAC before joining the Mountain West.


title: Mountain West Conference

text: The creation of the MW was a delayed aftereffect of the 1996 NCAA conference realignment, which had initially been triggered two years earlier when the Big Eight Conference agreed to merge with four members of the Southwest Conference (SWC) to create the Big 12 Conference, which would begin competition in the 1996–97 school year.


title: Mountain West Conference

text: The Western Athletic Conference, which had initially announced plans to expand beyond its then-current 10 members to at least 12, ended up with even more potential expansion prospects. Ultimately, the WAC took in three of the four SWC schools left out of the Big 12 merger—Rice University, Southern Methodist University (SMU), and Texas Christian University (TCU). Three other schools were added to bring the total membership to 16, namely Big West Conference members San Jose State University and UNLV, plus the University of Tulsa, an NCAA football independent and otherwise a member of the Missouri Valley Conference. The WAC's 16 teams were divided into four four-team "quadrants", two of which rotated between the Mountain and Pacific Divisions every two years. However, the newly expanded WAC was soon wracked by tension between the established and new members.


title: Mountain West Conference

text: In spring 1998, BYU and Utah proposed a permanent split into two eight-team divisions. The proposal would have forced some schools into an unnatural alignment because of the geographic distribution of the conference. Air Force was the most strident opponent of this proposal, threatening to become an independent. Soon after the proposal by BYU and Utah, the presidents of Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, Utah, and Wyoming met at Denver International Airport to discuss their future, and they agreed to break away from the WAC to form a new conference. They invited the WAC members New Mexico, San Diego State, and UNLV to join them in what became the Mountain West Conference.


title: Mountain West Conference

text: The next move for the MW came in 2005, when the conference added TCU, who had spent the previous four seasons in Conference USA (C-USA).


title: Mountain West Conference

text: On June 11, 2010, Boise State University agreed to join the conference as its tenth member. On June 17, 2010, Utah announced it would be leaving the Mountain West to join what would become the Pac-12 Conference. On August 18, 2010, amidst rumors that BYU was considering leaving the Mountain West to go independent in football and rejoin the Western Athletic Conference in all other sports, the Mountain West Conference officially extended invitations to California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) and the University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada). Both schools accepted and would become the tenth and eleventh members of the league. BYU announced on August 31, 2010 that it would leave the Mountain West Conference and go Independent in football and become a member of the West Coast Conference (WCC) in other sports starting in 2011. On November 29, 2010, TCU announced all athletic teams would move to the Big East Conference effective in 2012. (Less than a year later, on October 10, 2011, TCU announced it would not join the Big East but would join the Big 12, home to fellow former SWC members Baylor, Texas, Texas Tech, and formerly Texas A&M, in 2012 instead.) On December 10, 2010, the University of Hawaii at Mānoa accepted a bid to become the 10th member of the conference for football only. These changes would leave the Mountain West Conference with 10 teams for the 2012 football season.


title: Mountain West Conference

text: During the era of football's Bowl Championship Series (BCS), which was replaced by the College Football Playoff (CFP) in 2014, the MW champion qualified for a BCS bowl four times after the BCS formula was tweaked to allow teams from non-BCS conferences to play in BCS bowls if ranked in the top 12. However, two of the three schools that qualified are no longer with the conference.


title: Mountain West Conference

text: On October 14, 2011, the Mountain West and C-USA announced a plan for a football only alliance. On February 13, 2012, the two leagues announced that both conferences would be dissolving after the 2012–13 season to reform into one conference with at least 15 members for all sports, and a 16th team, University of Hawaii at Mānoa as a football-only member. However, when the two conferences discussed their plans with the NCAA, they were told that due to NCAA rules, they would forfeit substantial revenues. Specifically, the new conference would receive only one automatic bid to NCAA championships; at least one of the former conferences would lose future revenue distributions from the NCAA men's basketball tournament; and at least one former conference would not be able to collect exit fees from any members that departed to join the new conference. As a result, the Mountain West and C-USA backed away from a full merger. In late March of that year, the commissioners of both conferences stated that all 16 schools had entered into binding agreements to form a new "association", although the Mountain West and C-USA would have apparently remained separate legal entities. In the end, this alliance never materialized due to both conferences soon adding new teams.


title: Mountain West Conference

text: On May 2, 2012, San Jose State and Utah State agreed to join the conference for the 2013–14 academic year. On December 31 of that year, Boise State announced that it had backed out of its previously announced move to the Big East for football and the Big West for other sports, and would remain in the MW.


title: Mountain West Conference

text: On January 16, 2013, San Diego State accepted an offer to remain/return to the Mountain West Conference in all sports. Keeping SDSU in the conference gives the Mountain West 12 football members, allowing for a Championship Game to be held. The first championship game took place on December 7, 2013.


title: Mountain West Conference

text: In February 2018, the "San Diego Union-Tribune" reported that the MW was looking to expand in the near future. In the report, commissioner Craig Thompson revealed that the conference had discussed expansion with six schools, with WCC member Gonzaga (which has not sponsored football since World War II) the only school mentioned by name. Thompson added that Gonzaga could potentially join the MW as a full but non-football member as early as July 2018. While Thompson said that BYU had not contacted the conference, the report indicated that BYU would be open to an MW return, at least in non-football sports, should Gonzaga join. A later "Union-Tribune" report indicated that talks were advanced enough that the conference's presidents planned a vote on an invitation to Gonzaga during the MW men's and women's basketball tournaments in Las Vegas, but decided to delay the vote until after the Final Four. However, on April 2, the day of the Division I men's title game, Gonzaga athletic director Mike Roth notified the MW, the WCC, and media that the school would remain in the WCC for the immediate future.


title: Mountain West Conference

text: Excluded from this list are all national championships earned outside the scope of NCAA competition, including Division I FBS football titles, women's AIAW championships (17), equestrian titles (0), and retroactive Helms Athletic Foundation titles.


title: Mountain West Conference

text: The Mountain West Conference sponsors championship competition in eight men's and ten women's NCAA sanctioned sports. Hawai'i is only an associate member for football, and Colorado College is only an associate member for women's soccer.


title: Mountain West Conference

text: Beginning in 2013, the conference split into two divisions, named the "Mountain Division" and "West Division," of six teams each for football. The Mountain West also added a conference championship game, pitting the winners of the two divisions. This first championship game took place on December 7, 2013 at Bulldog Stadium in Fresno, California, the home stadium of Fresno State, the divisional winner with the higher BCS ranking. Each team plays five divisional games and three cross-divisional contests annually.


title: Mountain West Conference

text: The 2015 championship game featured the Air Force Academy Falcons against the San Diego State University Aztecs. The 2016 championship game featured the San Diego State University Aztecs against the University of Wyoming Cowboys.


title: Mountain West Conference

text: On May 20, 2022, the conference approved a new football schedule format, set to take effect in the 2023 season. Under this format, the conference will remove divisions, and instead play a 2–6 format, where each team plays 2 designated rivals every year along with six separate 6-team rotations that flip every other year, such that every team will have at least one home game and one away game against every other team in a three-year cycle (less than the standard length of a college player's career). The MWC Championship will also no longer be determined by the winners of the two divisions; the two teams with the highest conference winning percentage will play instead. The designated rivals under this system are as follows:


title: Mountain West Conference

text: Since the 2014 season, the Mountain West champion is eligible for an at-large berth in the Cotton Bowl Classic, Fiesta Bowl, or Peach Bowl, if it is the highest-ranked conference champion among the "Group of Five" conferences (which also includes The American, C-USA, MAC, and Sun Belt) in the final College Football Playoff rankings, if it is not in the top 4. In the 2014 season, Boise State became the first team to receive this berth, being selected for and winning the Fiesta Bowl.


title: Mountain West Conference

text: ESPN created the Bowl Challenge Cup in 2002 for the conference that had the best college football bowl record among Division I Football Bowl Subdivision conferences. The conference has won it five times, more than any other conference, by finishing with bowl game records of 2-1 in 2004–05, 4-1 in 2007–08, 4-1 in 2009–10, 4-1 in 2010–11 and 5-1 in 2021-22.


title: Mountain West Conference

text: The Mountain West and Missouri Valley Conferences hold an annual challenge series that was renewed in the 2015–16 season after a two-year hiatus. The series began in the 2009-10 season but temporarily ended when the original contract ran out after the 2012-13 season, During the first four seasons of the series, it involved all members of the MW and an equal number of the 10 MVC teams in basketball. With the MW now having 11 basketball members to the MVC's 10, the renewed series involves all MVC teams, with one MW team sitting out.


title: Mountain West Conference

text: The first game was on November 13, 2009, featuring the Bradley Braves and the BYU Cougars in Provo and it concluded on December 23 with the Wyoming Cowboys visiting the Northern Iowa Panthers in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The challenge is similar to the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, which pits men's basketball teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big Ten Conference.


title: Mountain West Conference

text: The Mountain West's slogan is "Above the rest," and over half of the member institutions, plus women's soccer-only member Colorado College, are at more than above sea level. This impacts endurance in sports like football, soccer, and the distance races in track & field and swimming meets; air resistance in sprints and horizontal jumps in track & field; and aerodynamics in baseball, softball, tennis, golf, and the discus and javelin throws. The Mountain West's institutions have the highest average elevations in NCAA Division I sports.


title: Mountain West Conference

text: Schools in "italics" are single-sport members. In the case of women's soccer-only member Colorado College, "Stadium Elevation" refers to the school's soccer venue.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: In the United States, bingo is a game of chance in which each player matches the numbers printed in different arrangements on cards. The game host (caller) draws at random, marking the selected numbers with tiles. When a player finds the selected numbers are arranged on their card in a row, they call out "Bingo!" to alert all participants to a winning card, which prompts the game host (or an associate assisting the host) to examine the card for verification of the win. Players compete against one another to be the first to have a winning arrangement for the prize or jackpot. After a winner is declared, the players clear their number cards of the tiles and the game host begins a new round of play.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: Alternative methods of play try to increase participation by creating excitement. Since its invention in 1929, modern bingo has evolved into multiple variations, with each jurisdiction's gambling laws regulating how the game is played. There are also nearly unlimited patterns that may be specified for play. Some games require only one number to be matched, while cover-all games award the jackpot for covering an entire card. There are even games that award prizes to players for matching no numbers or achieving no pattern.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: Bingo played in the U.S. (75-ball bingo) is not to be confused with bingo played in the U.K. (90-ball bingo), as the tickets and the calling are slightly different.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: The most common Bingo cards are flat pieces of cardboard or disposable paper which contain 25 squares arranged in five vertical columns and five side to side rows. Each space in the grid contains a number, except the middle square, which is designated a "Free" space.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: A typical Bingo game utilizes the numbers 1 through 75. The five columns of the card are labeled 'B', 'I', 'N', 'G', and 'O' from left to right. The center space is usually marked "Free" or "Free Space", and is considered automatically filled. The range of printed numbers that can appear on the card is normally restricted by column, with the 'B' column only containing numbers between 1 and 15 inclusive, the 'I' column containing only 16 through 30, 'N' containing 31 through 45, 'G' containing 46 through 60, and 'O' containing 61 through 75.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: The number of all possible Bingo cards with these standard features is P(15,5) × P(15,5) × P(15,5) × P(15,5) × P(15,4) = 552,446,474,061,128,648,601,600,000 or approximately 5.52×10.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: In U-Pick 'Em bingo and other variants of bingo, players are issued three 25 number cards which contain all 75 numbers that may be drawn. Players then mark which numbers they wish to play and then daub those numbers according to the numbers drawn. In addition, double-action cards have two numbers in each square.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: A player wins by completing a row, column, or diagonal. The most chips one can place on a Bingo board without having a Bingo is 19, not counting the free space. (In order for this to happen, only one empty cell can reside in each row and each column, and at least one empty cell must be in each diagonal.)


title: Bingo (American version)

text: In addition to a straight line, other patterns may be considered a valid bingo in special games. For example, a 2×2 square of marked squares in the upper-right-hand corner could be considered a "postage stamp". Another common special game requires players to cover the four corners. There are several other patterns, such as a Roving 'L', which requires players to cover all B's and top or bottom row or all O's and top or bottom row. Another common pattern is a blackout, covering all 24 numbers and the free space.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: The numbers that are called in a game of bingo may be drawn utilizing a variety of methods to randomly generate the ball call. With the expansion of computer technology in bingo, electronic random number generators (RNG) are now commonplace in most jurisdictions. However, some jurisdictions require mechanical ball draws which may utilize a randomly shuffled deck of bingo calling cards, a mechanical ball blower that mixes ping pong balls with blown air or a cage which is turned to mix small wooden balls. All methods essentially generate a random string of numbers which players match to their bingo cards that have numbers on them.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: Single games often have multiple bingos; for example, the players first play for a single line; after that, play goes on until a full card is called; then, play continues for a consolation full card.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: Players often play multiple cards for each game; 30 is not an unusual number. Because of the large numbers of cards played by each player, most halls have the players sit at tables to which they often fasten their cards with adhesive tape. To mark cards faster the players usually use special markers called "daubers". At commercial halls, after calling the number the caller then displays the next number on a television monitor; bingo cannot be called until that number is called aloud, however.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: Bingo is often used as an instructional tool in American schools and in teaching English as a foreign language in many countries. Typically, the numbers are replaced with beginning reader words, pictures, or unsolved math problems. Custom bingo creation programs now allow teachers and parents to create bingo cards using their own content.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: Ready/Waiting/Cased/Set/Down/Chance/Shot/Pat/Open – A player who only needs one number in order to complete the Bingo pattern is considered to have a Shot or be Ready, Waiting, Cased, Set, or Down, or to "have a chance".


title: Bingo (American version)

text: Breaking the Bubble or "Possible" – The bubble is the minimum number of balls required to complete the Bingo pattern. This is the earliest point any player could have a valid bingo. Example: Winning pattern is 1 hard way bingo, a straight line without the free space. The minimum number of called numbers is five (four if each number is under "N") although it is not considered Breaking the Bubble or possible until one number in each column or four/five numbers in a single column have been called.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: Jumping the Gun/Premature Bingo/Social Error – One who calls bingo before having a valid bingo. The most common situation is someone calling bingo using the next number in the screen before it has been called.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: Wild numbers – Many bingo halls will have certain games with a wild number. Wild numbers allow bingo players to start with multiple called numbers. Typically, the first ball drawn is the determining factor.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: Standard – All numbers ending with the second digit of the first number. Example: First ball is 22. All numbers ending in a 2 including B2 is considered a called number.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: Forwards/backwards – All numbers beginning or ending with the wild number. Example: First ball is 22. All numbers beginning or ending with a 2 is considered a called number. If the first number ends with an 8, 9, or 0, another number may be drawn as there are no numbers starting with an 8 or 9 and only 9 numbers starting with a 0. Some halls will also redraw a number ending with a 7 as there are only six numbers beginning with a 7.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: False Alarm or Just Practicing – Tongue-in-cheek term used when one calls bingo but is mistaken. This could be because of mishearing the caller or stamping the wrong number by mistake. Someone who calls a "falsie" genuinely believes that they have a bingo. This is also known as a "social error". Another term used for this is a "bongo".


title: Bingo (American version)

text: Hard Way Bingo – A hard-way bingo is a bingo pattern in a straight line without the use of the free space.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: A game of chance named lotto was being played in Italy by about 1530. In 18th-century a home version (called Tombola) was created in Naples with the addition of cards, tokens and the calling out of numbers. In the nineteenth century a game like this was widely played in Germany to teach children spelling, animal names and multiplication tables.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: The French game "Le Lotto" appeared in 1778, featuring 27 squares in a layout of three rows and nine columns. Five squares in each row had numbers ranging from 1 through 90, which led to the modern design.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: In the early 1920s, Hugh J. Ward created and standardized the game at carnivals in and around Pittsburgh and the Western Pennsylvania area. He copyrighted it and published a rule book in 1933.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: The game was further popularized by Edwin Lowe. While at a traveling carnival near Atlanta in December 1929 the toy merchandiser saw people eagerly playing a game called "Beano" following Ward's rules, with dried beans, a rubber stamp, and cardboard sheets. Lowe took the game to New York where friends liked playing it. The Lowe-produced Bingo game had two versions, a 12-card set for $1.00 and a $2.00 set with 24 cards. By the 1940s there were Bingo games throughout the US.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: The origin of the name "Bingo" is unknown but may date to the middle 1920s. There are claims that one of Lowe's friends was so excited to have won that she yelled out "Bingo" instead of "Beano," or that the word echoes the sound of a bell.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: In the US, the game is primarily staged by churches or charity organizations. Their legality and stakes vary by state regulation. In some states, bingo halls are rented out to sponsoring organizations, and such halls often run games almost every day. Church-run games, however, are normally weekly affairs held on the church premises. These games are usually played for modest stakes, although the final game of a session is frequently a "coverall" game that offers a larger jackpot prize for winning within a certain quantity of numbers called, and a "progressive" jackpot is one that may increase per session until it is won.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: Commercial bingo games in the US are primarily offered by casinos (and then only in the state of Nevada), and by Native American bingo halls, which are often housed in the same location as Native American-run casinos. In Nevada, bingo is offered mainly by casinos that cater to local gamblers, and not the famous tourist resorts. They usually offer one-hour sessions, on the odd hours, e.g. 9am, 11am, 1pm daily, typically from 9am through 11pm, with relatively modest stakes except for coverall jackpots. Station Casinos, a chain of locals-oriented casinos in Las Vegas, offers a special game each session, called "Jumbo" that ties all of its properties together with a large progressive jackpot. Most Bingo parlors in Las Vegas use hand held machines on which the games are played, except the Station Casino, the Fiesta Casino which has paper bingo cards and no machines. Native American games are typically offered for only one or two sessions a day, and are often played for higher stakes than charity games in order to draw players from distant places. Some also offer a special progressive jackpot game that may tie together players from multiple bingo halls.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: As well as bingo played in house, the larger commercial operators play some games linked by telephone across several, perhaps dozens, of their clubs. This increases the prize money, but reduces the chance of winning; both due to the greater number of players.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: Bingo halls are sometimes linked together (as by Loto Quebec in Canada) in a network to provide alternative winning structures and bigger prizes.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: Bingo is also the basis for online games sold through licensed lotteries. Tickets are sold as for other numbers games, and the players get receipts with their numbers arranged as on a regular bingo card. The daily or weekly draw is normally broadcast on television. These games offer higher prizes and are more difficult to win.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: The bingo logic is frequently used on scratch card games. The numbers are pre-drawn for each card and hidden until the card is scratched. In lotteries with online networks the price is electronically confirmed to avoid fraud based on physical fixing.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: Some gay bars and other LGBT-oriented organizations in both Canada and the United States also stage bingo events, commonly merged with a drag show and billed as "Drag Bingo" or "Drag Queen Bingo". "Drag Bingo" events were first launched in Seattle in the early 1990s as a fundraiser for local HIV/AIDS charities. They have since expanded to many other cities across North America, supporting a diverse range of charities.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: Bingo has gone beyond a fundraising role and is often featured in bars and nightclubs as a social and entertainment event, with both numbered and music bingo variations, attracting a loyal following of regular players. Many venues promote a bingo event to attract customers at off-peak times, such as weeknights and Sundays, which are traditionally slower for such businesses. The games are called by drag and non-drag hosts alike and often include ancillary activities such as cabaret shows, contests and other themed activities that add interest and encourage audience participation. Customers are invited to play for a chance to win cash and other prizes.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: With one bingo hall for every 6,800 residents, Cheektowaga, New York is believed to have the highest concentration of bingo halls in the United States. The suburb of Buffalo's large Polish-American Catholic population is believed to be a factor for bingo's outsized popularity in Western New York, which has five times as many bingo halls per capita as the rest of the state.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: A common form of bingo which allows players to mark the numbers they wish to monitor for a win. While this game closely resembles Keno, a game invented in China which predates the Han Dynasty, it is recognized as a variant of bingo and is permitted in almost all jurisdictions.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: Also known as Quickie Bingo, Turbo Bingo and similar names, these games are often played in between regular games with cards sold separately from the main game package. Players typically only play one or two cards and the numbers are called as quickly as the bingo balls come out.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: A game where numbers are pre-drawn and players purchase sealed bingo cards which are then matched against the pre-drawn numbers. If a specified pattern is achieved, then the player usually wins a prize according to a prize table. Some versions are played until a player achieves a top level prize and then new numbers are drawn and the game begins anew. This type of bingo may be played over days, weeks or months depending on the difficulty of achieving a top level prize.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: Typically 43 to 48 numbers are pre-drawn at the beginning of a bingo session. The numbers pre-drawn can be odd, even or the first 43 numbers that pop out the machine. Players purchase cards and mark out all even, odd or pre-drawn numbers. At a designated time, the caller asks if anyone has bingo. If no one does, the caller then draws one ball at a time until someone shouts bingo. This game is sometimes played as a "progressive" game, where the jackpot increases if no one hits bingo before the desired number of balls are called. If no one has achieved bingo before or on the desired ball count then the game is played again in another session in which the desired ball count increases by one and the jackpot is increased also. The player who hits bingo after the desired ball count does not win the jackpot but does win a consolation prize. If a player does hit bingo in the right number of numbers then they win all the money in the jackpot. The ball count goes back to 43 after the jackpot is won and the ball count increases by one until the jackpot is won again.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: Bingo on Facebook differs from traditional online or land based bingo games. Most games feature 'power-ups' which give individual players an advantage on winning the game when using such power-ups. Players can also collect, buy and share virtual items with friends on the Facebook platform. This adds to the community element which is otherwise not experienced in other forms of online and land-based bingo.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: Up to 15 players are randomly issued a number from 1 to 15 which corresponds with the top row of the bingo flashboard. Numbers are then drawn and the first person to have all five numbers in their column be drawn wins. This is a fast-paced and exciting form of bingo typically played in fraternal organizations.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: With the expansion of Tribal gaming across the US, there are numerous versions of bingo which now emulate the fast action of casino like table games but utilize the principals of bingo where players mark and monitor matrices cards with chips. Casino games like Roulette, Acey Duecy and Money Wheel have bingo counterparts that are permitted to be played under bingo licenses in many parts of the country.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: The advent of computer technology in bingo has blurred the lines between traditional slot machines and bingo slot machines. To the average person, bingo-based slot machines are physically indistinguishable from an RNG based slot machine typically seen in Atlantic City or Las Vegas. These devices are commonly called Class II machines, because the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act separated bingo, including electronic and mechanical aids, where players play against each other, from Class III slot machines, where player play against the house.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: As a result of the passage of SB1180 in 2017, the State of Arizona now allows technological aids for bingo games that functions only as an electronic substitute for bingo cards. These technological aids are not defined by Arizona law or regulation, but one such electronic technological aid consists of a system which includes a network linking player interfaces to a number drawing device (ball-draw server) and an electronic substitute for a "live" cashier. The player interfaces themselves do not contain random number generators or allow a player to directly deposit cash. Rather, the Arizona technological aid system allows a player to deposit money into a unique individual player's account, pay for the games played out of that account, and at the end of play redeposit the value of any unused games that player may have purchased or won back into that account. The system does not allow the player to print a redemption ticket or receive anything of value directly from the player interface. In Arizona this system is only legally available for use by fraternal organizations, by service organization such as the VFW, American Legion or Amvets, or non-profits such as hospice or volunteer fire departments.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: Music Bingo is growing in popularity and is finding its way into bars, pubs and other events as bingo is already a familiar concept and when integrated with music, also results in fun and collaboration among players (singing along to the songs that are randomly played). Music bingo was first introduced as a game show in 1958 and continues to expand today.


title: Bingo (American version)

text: Themed variants of the traditional game include drag queen bingo, punk rock bingo, and beach blanket bingo.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: The 2008 K2 disaster occurred on 1 August 2008, when 11 mountaineers from international expeditions died on K2, the second-highest mountain on Earth. Three others were seriously injured. The series of deaths, over the course of the Friday ascent and Saturday descent, was the worst single accident in the history of K2 mountaineering. Some of the specific details remain uncertain, with different plausible scenarios having been given about different climbers' timing and actions, when reported later via survivors' eyewitness accounts or via radio communications of climbers who died (sometimes minutes) later in the course of events on K2 that day.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: The main problem was reported as an ice avalanche occurring at an area known as "the Bottleneck", which destroyed many of the climbers' rope lines. However, two climbers died on the way up to the top prior to the avalanche. Among the dead were people from France, Ireland, Korea, Nepal, Norway, Pakistan, and Serbia.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: K2 is the second-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest, with a peak elevation of . K2 is part of the Karakoram range, not far from the Himalayas, and is located on the border between the Pakistani Gilgit-Baltistan region, and China's Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County of Xinjiang Autonomous Region. It is regarded by mountaineers as far more challenging than Everest, and is statistically the second most dangerous mountain in the world in terms of fatality per summit.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: The most dangerous section of the climb is the Bottleneck, a steep couloir overhung by seracs from the ice field east of the summit. The high risk of falling ice and avalanches means climbers aim to minimize time spent there. This section would prove especially deadly on this day.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: The climbing season at K2 lasts from June to August, but in 2008 adverse weather prevented any groups from summitting during June and July. At the end of July, ten different groups were waiting for good weather, some of them having waited for almost two months. The months preceding the summit push were used for acclimatization and preparing for the camps higher on the mountain, the highest of them, Camp IV, at above sea level.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: With July's end approaching and forecasts of improving weather, several groups arrived at Camp IV on Thursday, 31 July in preparation to try the summit as soon as weather would permit. Members of an American team, a French team, a Norwegian team, a Serbian team, a South Korean team along with their Sherpas from Nepal, an international team sponsored by the Dutch company Norit, and the teams' Pakistani high-altitude porters (HAPs) decided to work together on the Friday 1 August ascent. A few independent climbers (a solo Spaniard and an Italian pair) also pushed for the summit in the morning.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: The HAPs and Sherpas started to prepare fixed lines before midnight. They were joined by Spanish solo climber Alberto Zerain, who climbed from Camp III during the night and decided to continue his summit push early, rather than stay at Camp IV. The most experienced HAP, Shaheen Baig, had to go back down with symptoms of high altitude sickness. His experience as the only person in the collected teams to have previously summited K2, and his unofficial leadership of the HAPs and Sherpas, was sorely missed. Some confusion followed and ropes may have been left behind or placed too far down the slope from the Bottleneck.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: When the climbing groups started upward at 3:00 a.m., they found that the HAPs and Sherpas had started planting lines right above Camp IV, where they were not needed, up into the Bottleneck, and then had run out of rope for the traverse just above the Bottleneck. This forced the climbers to take the rope from the lower portion of the route and use it to prepare the lines above the Bottleneck, causing a dangerous unplanned delay in the climb schedule.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: At this point, Eric Meyer and Fredrik Sträng of the American group decided to abort and return to Camp IV, due to both the high probability of reaching the summit late, and the high exposure to ice fall in the crowded Bottleneck. Chris Klinke pushed on for a few more hours before abandoning the ascent, as did Jelle Staleman of the Norit team, who was also suffering frozen feet.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: At 8:00 a.m., climbers were finally advancing through the Bottleneck. Dren Mandić, from the Serbian team, decided to unclip himself from the fixed rope to attend to his oxygen system and to pass Cecilie Skog of the Norwegian team. He lost his balance and fell, bumping into Skog. She was still clipped to the rope and was merely knocked over. Mandić, however, fell over 100 m (328 feet) down the Bottleneck. Some climbers at Camp IV claimed they could see he was still moving after the fall and sent a group to help recover Mandić. Swede Fredrik Sträng stated he took command of the recovery operation.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: When Sträng reached the body, Serbian climbers Predrag Zagorac and Iso Planić, along with their HAP Mohammed Hussein, had already arrived. They had found no pulse and, judging by the severity of Mandić's injuries, pronounced him dead. The Serbian climbers decided to lower the body down to Camp IV, and Sträng assisted them. They were joined by Jehan Baig, a HAP from the French team, who had fulfilled his assisting duties and had been allowed to head down. Several people later indicated Baig may have been suffering from high altitude sickness, since he had displayed questionable behaviour in abseiling down the Bottleneck. Sträng also noticed that Baig was incoherent, first offering to help in the rescue, later refusing to help, then returning moments later to assist them again. Baig lost his footing and bumped into Sträng, who then urged him to let go of the rope attached to Mandić's harness, before all four climbers would be dragged down. Baig finally let go of the rope, but to Sträng's and the others' surprise, he did not try to stop his slide by using the self-arrest technique, which has about a 50% chance of arresting a fall, and Baig fell to his death. It is unclear why he did not try to stop his slide. Sträng then decided to descend without Mandić's body. The Serbian group aborted, wrapped Mandić's body in a flag and fastened him to the mountain, and started to descend. Nicholas Rice, a climber with the French team who had been delayed, also aborted at this point.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: These delays, together with the traffic jam in the Bottleneck, resulted in most climbers reaching the summit much later than planned, some as late as 8:00 p.m., well outside the typical time for summitting of 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Altogether, 18 people summited that day, though eight (plus one who stopped near the summit) would not survive the lengthy descent. On the descent, the Spaniard Alberto Zerain, who had topped out first and alone at 3:00 p.m., managed to pass through the Bottleneck without trouble.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: By 8:30 p.m., darkness had enveloped K2. Members of the Norwegian group – including Lars Flatø Nessa and Skog, who had both summitted two hours after Zerain – had almost navigated the traverse leading to the Bottleneck, when a serac (a large block of glacial ice) broke off from above. As it fell, it cut all the fixed lines and took with it Skog's husband Rolf Bae, who had abandoned the ascent only below the summit, telling Nessa to look after his wife, as he waited for her. Nessa and Skog continued descending without the fixed lines, and managed to reach Camp IV during the night.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: As a result of the serac's fall, the descent through the Bottleneck became more technical. Chunks of ice lay scattered around the route, and the mountaineers above were stranded in darkness in the death zone above . Since the climbers had planned for the fixed lines, they were not carrying additional ropes or fall protection devices, forcing the climbers to "free solo" the descent through the notorious Bottleneck. According to team Norit's Dutch mountaineer Wilco van Rooijen, panic broke out among the climbers waiting above the Bottleneck. Some tried to descend in the darkness, while others decided to bivouac and wait until morning before descending.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: The Norit team included a full climbing member named Pemba Gyalje, a Sherpa mountaineer who years earlier had been a support climber on Mount Everest. Gyalje descended in the darkness without fixed ropes to reach Camp IV before midnight. Sherpa Chhiring Dorje also descended the Bottleneck with "Little" Pasang Lama (who had been stranded without an ice axe) secured to his harness. "I can just about imagine how you might pull it off," writes Ed Viesturs in "K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain". "You kick each foot in solid, plant the axe, then tell the other guy to kick with his own feet and punch holds with his hands. Don't move until he's secure. Still, if Pasang had come off [i.e., 'fallen'], he probably would have taken Chhiring with him. Talk about selfless!"


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: Two members of the South Korean expedition, Kim Jae-soo and Go Mi-Young, also managed to navigate the Bottleneck in the dark, although the latter had to be helped by two Sherpas from the Korean B team, Chhiring Bhote and "Big" Pasang Bhote, who were supposed to summit the next morning. The men had climbed up around midnight without food or oxygen, and found Go Mi-Young stranded somewhere in the Bottleneck, unsure of which route she had to take. They guided her down safely.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: Meanwhile, team Norit's Cas van de Gevel and the French team's Hugues D'Aubarède had each decided to manoeuvre the Bottleneck in the dark. As van de Gevel reached the bottom of the Bottleneck, he witnessed a climber falling to his death, a story corroborated by the two Sherpas Chhiring Bhote and "Big" Pasang Bhote, who also had witnessed one or two objects falling from the mountain. This climber was probably D'Aubarède, whom van de Gevel had passed just above the Bottleneck in the dark. D'Aubarède had run out of bottled oxygen hours before, and when van de Gevel had passed him, he had looked tired and insisted van de Gevel descend before him.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: Italian semi-soloist Marco Confortola and Norit teammates van Rooijen and Irishman Ger McDonnell bivouacked above the traverse, as they could not find the fixed ropes leading across the traverse. Confortola claimed that during the bivouac, he heard screams and saw headlights disappear below him after a roaring sound came from the serac field. At that point, eight people were still above the Bottleneck.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: The rescue efforts started in the base camp as a group was sent upwards with ropes to help those still stuck in the Bottleneck. The group included Sherpas Tsering Bhote and "Big" Pasang Bhote, who had previously helped Go Mi-Young down the Bottleneck; they now went to search for their relative Jumik Bhote, who had been stranded with the remaining climbers of the Korean expedition somewhere above the Bottleneck.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: Early in the morning, above the traverse, van Rooijen gave up the search for the fixed ropes and descended alone. His vision was deteriorating and he feared he was going snow blind, requiring him to get off the mountain quickly. Confortola and McDonnell did not follow him immediately. Later, van Rooijen reached the remaining Korean climbers (Confortola claims one of them was Kyeong-Hyo Park) and their guide Jumik Bhote.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: The men were tangled in several ropes and had clearly been hanging there, some upside down and bloodied, through the night, but all alive. It is unclear whether or not the men were the victims of a second serac fall, an avalanche, or perhaps a regular fall leaving them tangled in the ropes. Some sources mention only two Koreans and Jumik Bhote, while other reports indicate three remaining Koreans (one near death). It could be that this was the event Confortola had witnessed during the bivouac the previous night, while it could also be that this was the second object Tsering Bhote and "Big" Pasang Bhote saw falling off the mountain—there is little direct evidence to clearly confirm either possibility. Van Rooijen handed Jumik Bhote his spare pair of gloves but was unable to help them any more. He claims Jumik Bhote informed him a rescue mission was under way from Camp IV. Van Rooijen decided to continue descending.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: Confortola and McDonnell reached the Korean group later in the morning and worked for several hours trying to free them. It is unclear what happened next. Confortola claims McDonnell, after working with Confortola for at least 1.5 hours, suddenly climbed back up the mountain, leaving him with the three stranded men. Confortola assumed McDonnell had succumbed to high-altitude sickness and was growing delusional, believing he had to climb back up. Left alone, Confortola did all he could for Jumik Bhote, giving him his own equipment. They had managed to get the Koreans back into at least a comfortable position, though they were still entangled. Confortola says he was able to radio Tsering Bhote and "Big" Pasang Bhote, who were on their way up to rescue the men. Confortola, having spent at least three hours with the entangled men, was exhausted and chose to continue down.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: Van Rooijen disputes Confortola's version of the events. Van Rooijen, who had seen Confortola and McDonnell helping the stranded Koreans and their guide from below, thinks McDonnell did not climb back up the mountain, but rather climbed up to the highest anchor supporting the three stranded men to try to transfer the load. He then could have returned to the three men and may have spent another several hours alone helping free the men from the ropes. In his book "Surviving K2", van Rooijen provides some photographs he believes support these claims.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: Confortola stated that some time after he left the three men, an avalanche struck just feet away from him. In the rubble of this avalanche, he spotted the remains of one climber. After investigating them, he concluded these were McDonnell's remains.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: Just after noon, Tsering Bhote and "Big" Pasang Bhote had reached the bottom of the Bottleneck. There they found Confortola crawling on his hands and knees. The two Sherpas radioed Gyalje and van de Gevel to come up for Confortola, so Tsering Bhote and "Big" Pasang Bhote could continue the search for their relative Jumik Bhote and the Koreans. "Big" Pasang Bhote later radioed Gyalje that he had met Jumik Bhote and two members of the Korean expedition just above the Bottleneck—apparently they were freed after all. He also radioed that a fourth climber, descending behind the two Koreans and the two Sherpas, had been swept away by a serac fall and was dead. The description of the climber's red-and-black suit matched McDonnell's, which suggests Confortola was mistaken in identifying the remains in the avalanche as McDonnell's and supports van Rooijen's theory that McDonnell freed the two Koreans and Jumik Bhote, before being killed in a different serac fall. Tsering Bhote, from his position at the base of the Bottleneck, has also claimed to have seen a serac fall strike the rescue party as they were descending near the top of the Bottleneck.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: Here, another mystery of the 2008 K2 disaster adds confusion to the sequence of events. There was one other climber still unaccounted for: D'Aubarède's HAP, Meherban Karim. Karim was last seen returning from the summit with D'Aubarède, in the later hours of 1 August. He and D'Aubarède must have gotten separated in the dark, as van de Gevel encountered only D'Aubarède above the Bottleneck. Van Rooijen, in his book "Surviving K2", supports the theory that Karim bivouacked even higher on the mountain than himself, Confortola, and McDonnell. Again, van Rooijen provides photographic evidence: what looks like a climber can be seen above the serac field on the morning of 2 August. In a later photo, the figure seems to have disappeared, and there is a trail leading down the seracs. Van Rooijen and others, such as McDonnell's partner Annie Starkey, believe this figure was Karim. Disoriented from spending the night at such high altitudes without an oxygen mask, he might have gotten lost and stumbled onto the serac field, where he fell or got swept away by an avalanche or part of the breaking serac. He might even have actually caused one of the serac falls. Hence, it may have been Karim's remains Confortola had found earlier in the avalanche rubble.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: Graham Bowley, in his book "No Way Down" (2010), is unable to refute the evidence presented by van Rooijen but still deems the photos inconclusive at best. He is joined in his analysis by writer Michael Kodas. Both men edge towards the testimony of the only living eyewitness: Marco Confortola. In the photos taken by Gyalje, individual climbers cannot be made out. In fact, some of the figures assumed to be climbers could very well be rocks, and marks that look like trails are everywhere on the mountain.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: Confortola's statements were conflicting at best. Many of the things he said were later disproved. In his initial interview at Milan Airport, he stated that he had freed the Korean climbers. It was later determined that McDonnell had freed them. He may have also misidentified a body, later thought to be that of another climber, as McDonnell's. In regards to the night before, Confortola stated that he and McDonnell saw climbers being swept away, and they decided to bivouac until morning. He said van Rooijen joined them later. Van Rooijen disputed this claim. He told McDonnell's family that they had all started together and bivouacked together at the same time. Overall, much of the truth of the story came down to van Rooijen's and Gyalje's versions of events. Part of the reason Confortola's version of events were believed early on was because he was first to speak to the media. Gyalje was still trekking out of the mountain range when Confortola was giving his statements and it was days before Gyalje could give his version of events.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: Another possible explanation of the mystery is an error in "Big" Pasang Bhote's observations about the colour of the suit, meaning the last climber could have been Karim, who was wearing a pure red down suit. If so, Confortola had indeed identified McDonnell's remains in the avalanche earlier. The existence of multiple plausible scenarios underscores the uncertainty, even among eyewitnesses, pertaining to the course of events on K2 that day.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: In the book "Buried in the Sky" (2012), Amanda Padoan and Peter Zuckerman examine much more closely the Sherpa and HAP experiences of the 2008 disaster, and present plausible alternative scenarios and explanations of the events, including the possibility that McDonnell and Karim were still alive at the time of the fourth serac fall.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: Minutes after "Big" Pasang Bhote had radioed in the news that he had found his relative Jumik Bhote and two Koreans, another avalanche or serac fall struck. It swept away the four men. Tsering Bhote, who had climbed more slowly than fellow rescuer "Big" Pasang Bhote, had not yet reached the top of the Bottleneck. Consequently, he survived the avalanche, as did Gyalje and Confortola at the bottom of the Bottleneck. The death toll had now risen to 11.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: Meanwhile, van Rooijen was making his way down the mountain alone. He had climbed down a new route to the left of the Česen route, bypassing Camp IV. Van de Gevel and Gyalje descended from Camp IV to Camp III after they had heard van Rooijen was still somewhere on the mountain. Van Rooijen had managed several satellite phone calls that may have helped pinpoint his location. He would ultimately have to spend a second bivouac out on the mountain, suffering third-degree frostbite to his feet. Wilco van Rooijen is one of only a few people to survive two days above the 8000m "Death Zone".


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: On Saturday, Van de Gevel and Gyalje made contact with van Rooijen on the Česen route early in the morning; the three managed to get down to the base camp at 10:00 p.m. The next day, Van de Gevel and van Rooijen were evacuated from base camp by helicopter, to Skardu. Confortola reached Camp II, the advance base camp. Pakistani authorities released a list of names of those killed and injured. Confortola was evacuated by helicopter the following day.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: The Pakistani military started a rescue operation early on 4 August 2008, using two helicopters. They rescued two injured and frostbitten Dutch climbers from the base camp, located approximately 5,000 metres (16,400 ft) above sea level. Four climbers, including an Italian, were making their own way down the mountain. The four were flown to Skardu for treatment. Van Rooijen was found using GPS coordinates sent out by his Thuraya satellite phone when he used it to call his brother.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: One of the three Koreans either died during the incident that caused their original fall and tangled the ropes, or the morning after before the others were freed. Some sources claim there were three Koreans tangled in the ropes, whilst McDonnell and Confortola were trying to rescue them. Others have the number at two Koreans and Jumik Bhote. What is certain is that only two Koreans were alive to encounter Pasang Bhote before the last serac fall.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: There were no summits in 2009 and 2010, during which the renowned skier Fredrik Ericsson fell to his death in the Bottleneck. K2's summit was not reached again until 23 August 2011, when Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner (Austria), Maxut Zhumayev and Vassiliy Pivtsov (Kazakhstan), and Darek Zaluski (Poland) topped out via the North Pillar.


title: 2008 K2 disaster

text: According to AdventureStats, the last 17 fatalities on K2 have all occurred in, around, or above the Bottleneck, once again proving the deadly nature of K2's upper slopes.


title: Siege of Marawi

text: The siege of Marawi (), also known as the Marawi crisis (), and the Battle of Marawi (), was a five-month-long armed conflict in Marawi, Philippines, that started on May 23, 2017, between Philippine government security forces and militants affiliated with the Islamic State (IS), including the Maute and Abu Sayyaf Salafi jihadist groups. The battle also became the longest urban battle in the modern history of the Philippines.


title: Siege of Marawi

text: According to the Philippine government, the clashes began during an offensive in Marawi to capture Isnilon Hapilon, the leader of the IS-affiliated Abu Sayyaf group, after receiving reports that Hapilon was in the city, possibly to meet with militants of the Maute group. A deadly firefight erupted when Hapilon's forces opened fire on the combined Army and police teams and called for reinforcements from the Maute group, an armed group that pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and which is believed to be responsible for the 2016 Davao City bombing, according to military spokesmen.


title: Siege of Marawi

text: Maute group militants attacked Camp Ranao and occupied several buildings in the city, including Marawi City Hall, Mindanao State University, a hospital and the city jail. They also occupied the main street and set fire to Saint Mary's Cathedral, Ninoy Aquino School and Dansalan College, run by the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP). The militants also took a priest and several churchgoers hostage.


title: Siege of Marawi

text: The Armed Forces of the Philippines stated that some of the terrorists were foreigners who had been in the country for a long time, offering support to the Maute group in Marawi. Their main objective was to raise an ISIL flag at the Lanao del Sur Provincial Capitol and declare a "wilayat" or provincial IS territory in Lanao del Sur.


title: Siege of Marawi

text: On October 17, 2017, the day after the deaths of militant leaders Omar Maute and Isnilon Hapilon, President Duterte declared Marawi was "liberated from terrorist influence". Then on October 23, 2017, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana announced that the five-month battle against the terrorists in Marawi had finally ended.


title: Siege of Marawi

text: The Battle of Marawi was a consequence of the Philippines' long struggle against terrorism, in the aftermath of September 11 attacks in the United States, against the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) then linked with Al-Qaeda and now with the Islamic State. But the Battle of Marawi has been associated with the Maute group being its stronghold. The Maute group had established a stronghold in Lanao del Sur since February 2016 and was blamed for the 2016 Davao City bombing and two attacks in Butig, Lanao del Sur, a town located south of Marawi, in 2016. Since the militant group's founding in 2013, the Philippine government has downplayed the threat of ISIS in the Philippines. Following the February 2016 Butig clash with the Maute group, then-President Benigno Aquino III discounted the possibility of the Islamic State's presence in the country. He said that those behind the attack were just mercenaries wanting to be recognized by the Middle East-based terror group.


title: Siege of Marawi

text: The Abu Sayyaf group, blamed for deadly bombings and kidnappings in the past, had also pledged allegiance to the Islamic State movement in the summer of 2014. One of its leaders, Isnilon Hapilon, was listed as among the world's most wanted terrorists by the US State Department with a reward of up to for his capture. Following the abduction and subsequent beheading of Canadian businessman John Ridsdel in April 2016, Aquino disclosed that he had received death threats from the jihadist group, and that the Abu Sayyaf also plotted to kidnap his sister Kris, and Manny Pacquiao. Aquino also identified Hapilon behind attempts to convert and recruit inmates at the New Bilibid Prison to their cause, and embark on a bombing campaign in Metro Manila, which he said was "part of their effort to gain favor with ISIS."