And Other Equally Unpronounceable
Stuff ...
This year's attendance was down 15% - perhaps a consequence
of stiffening competition from more German games, or at least
an unfortunate collision with Settlers. There were eight
tables for the first and second rounds, and seven for the third
and fourth. For each of the four games in the opening session,
each player scores for their finish position (five points for
first, four points for second, and so on down to one point for
fifth). The ten players with the most points then advance to
the semifinal. Abby Cocke, '98 champ Marc Geary, and Richard
Irving led after two games with two victories each. Larry Kratz
& Carolyn DeMarco finished strong with two wins each in the
third & fourth games. Fourteen out of a possible 20 points
was the cutoff so that ten could advance. Richard Irving finished
with 19 points. Marc Geary had 18 points. Both had three wins
in four tries.
Greg Mayer, Jean Louis DeLattre, Lane Hess, and defending champion
Ray Pfeifer all finished with 16, while Larry Kratz & John
Conlon scored 15, and John Weber, Carolyn DeMarco, & Wendy
DeMarco scored 14 points. John lost out on the tiebreaker, so
the DeMarcos became the final two to advance.
Richard and Marc continued their dominance in the semis, winning
the first two games and advancing to the finals; Carolyn &
Wendy finished second. Jean Louis & Carolyn won the final
two games and advanced, Ray & Lane finished second. Ray's
finish of +3 spaces past the finish line and a set of 12 cards
allowed him to keep his flickering title defense alive, just
edging Wendy's +3 spaces and 11 cards (finishing 6th) and Lane's
-3 spaces and seven cards (finishing 7th).
In the final, Richard was not to be denied, surging ahead
to finish eight spaces ahead of the pack, but with a mere three-card
set. Marc's 11-card set earned him the eight-space bonus, vaulting
him from fifth to second. Ray's nine-card set gave him the four-space
bonus, allowing him to solidify his grip on third and the last
wood. Carolyn had no set at all and fell from second to fourth,
while Jean Louis finished in fifth with an eight-card set.
Stats: The blue player won ten of the 30 first round
games, the yellow & green players won only four times each.
The yellow player finished last in 11 of the games while the
blue player only finished last twice.
Kimberly Mays and Scott Marcotte each finished a game with
a 15-card set. '97 champ Thomas Stokes was the game winner with
the largest ending set of 14. Richard (twice) and Carolyn each
won games where they ended with no set at all.
Lane Hess finished 14 spaces ahead of the competition for
the biggest lead at the finish, while Joseph Wetherell just edged
out John Conlon, ten cards to nine, to claim the closest 1-2
finish.
'93 champ Tom DeMarco won a game in which all five players
finished within a span of four spaces, and Marc won a game
at +11 spaces past the finish line for the most advanced win.
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