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In the United States, unambiguous circles (e. g. circles in cultivated crops similar to the UK crop circles) appeared in increasing numbers from 1990 onwards, mainly in Mid West states such as Missouri and Kansas. Whilst a lot of American researchers have directed their attention at UK formations, the phenomenon continues in the United States, with the International Research Centre of Unexplained Phenomenon (IRCUP) listing at least 16 sites in 1998. A particularly fine pictogram was found at Charlottesville, Virginia of a form not previously seen. It comprised a central circle with three arms, each of which had a small circle at mid length and a larger one at the end. Other pictograms were found in Oregon, including another highly original design, a circle with hieroglyphic-type attachments. Japan circles and researchers have travelled to the United Kingdom to see the circles there at first hand. As described in Chapter 5, they have also been at the forefront of attempts to examine the phenomenon in a scientific manner. Research into plasma balls has produced evidence from two sources, the laboratory and the underground system, to back up the case for the plasma vortex theory for crop circle production. A number of circles have been reported in Japan, mainly in rice crops and of simple forms. Europe Circles have been reported from several European countries including the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Bulgaria and Hungary. One case from Hungary is notable for involving, what seems to be, a unique prosecution of circlemakers. In 1992 two teenagers made a (36 metre (118 foot) circle which, in due course, was declared to have been made by UFOs and was visited by thousands of people. Subsequently, the teenagers went on national television and produced ‘before and after' pictures to prove that they had constructed it. The farm collective then sued them for Fts. 630, 000, (roughly £5, 000) an amount later reduced substantially in court. The Hungarian Skeptics provided the teenagers with financial support and, the following year, they were awarded the James Randi prize, which he had founded on a visit to the country, for the best scientific investigation of a paranormal phenomenon. Germany too has had a circles case which caused long-running controversy, beginning with the spectacular set of circles at Grasdorf, in Lower Saxony. This formation was one of 26 found in Germany in 1991 and comprised 13 circles, with cross formations, the whole set measuring 91 by 46 metres (300 by 150 feet). Like many UK circles, it was on a site of archaeological importance and accompanied by reports of unusual lights in the sky. The site attracted many visitors, one of whom located metal objects beneath the ground in three of the half-ringed circles. The finds were spectacular: three large plates, one of which bore a design identical to the pictogram. The finder disappeared from the scene, later contacting a newspaper and then visiting a jeweller with the editor, where the three plates were identified as being made from gold, silver and bronze respectively. Allegedly, the gold plate was sold and investigations by FGK, a German circles group, The Japanese have been among the first outside the United Kingdom to take an active interest in the