This year, the Map Labs folks had a great idea – bring back the Hammer Cup, but in mini format! So this Cup was another great partnership with Map Labs that consisted of three mapping challenges, each with a different theme.

Entrants received points for each challenge they entered. At the end of the event, the best 2 points totals from the challenges they entered were added together for each entrant. These totals decided who won the Grand Prizes.

This means that entrants did not have to enter every challenge to win the grand prize but they needed to have entered at least 2 to have a chance of winning the prizes.

Jean Knapp AKA XBLAH

Maps: Weighing Nine Cinderblocks, Combine Supermax

Maki

Maps: Always Greener, Breenstein

Tiop (with 1UpD)

Maps: Accidental Disclosure (with 1UpD), The Knot

Full points for each entry can be seen on The Hammer Cup 2022 Spreadsheet.

The Hammer Cup 2022 was composed of 3 consecutive Map Labs challenges – 2 Test Tubes (short challenges) and 1 full Map Lab in the middle. Each challenge’s theme and winners are outlined below.

DeceptionVille simply asked mappers to make a map with something that isn’t what it seems.

Submitted: 14 entries plus 2 bonus maps

The Winners:
Weighing Nine Cinderblocks by Jean Knapp AKA XBLAH: 88.8 points
Accidental Disclosure by 1UpD and Tiop: 81.3 points
U. C. by Cvoxalury: 80.8 points

CrossoverVille 2 was of course a sequel to 2015’s CrossoverVille, and asked mappers to cross over with another piece of media for their maps.

Submitted: 7 entries plus 2 bonus maps

The Winners:
Something Legendary by Xinus22: 87.5 points
Madness Combat by Tacarish: 81.3 points
Reality Meltdown by Matt71490 AKA Event Horizon: 77.5 points

EscapeVille asked authors to task the player with escaping something or somewhere.

Submitted: 8 entries plus 4 bonus maps

The Winners:
PATH TO SALVATION by Caleb West AKA CW3D: 93.3 points
Combine Supermax by Jean Knapp AKA XBLAH: 91.7 points
Liberation by Coralilac: 79.2 points

It turns out the random prizes weren’t random after all. Originally prizes were to be given away to 3 random mappers who entered all 3 Hammer Cup challenges. However, only 3 mappers total entered all the challenges, and one of the three chose not to receive a prize.

Each entrant below received a copy of Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar:
Coralilac
Matt71490 AKA Event Horizon

First, a hearty thank you to all the participants of the Hammer Cup 2022. These challenges wouldn’t exist without your interest, time, and dedication.

And thank you to Map Labs for partnering for another successful bunch of mapping challenges! As always, if you’re interested in learning more about Map Labs and maybe even participate in their upcoming challenges, visit the Map Labs Discord.