The newest Euro from Rio Grande
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Mexica was introduced as a trial event at this year's
WBC. It is the third game in a series of tile placement games
that include Tikal (a Century tournament) and Java all
by Michael Kiesling and Wolfgang Kramer. Canals are placed to
form districts and buildings are placed to gain control of districts.
Twenty-three
entrants entered the event. The two 15-player heats consisted
of six four-player and two 3-player games. The eight winners
qualified for the semi-final. Five heat winners appeared for
the Saturday evening semifinal/final. An alternate was added
to create two 3-player games. Both semifinal winners and the
closest second-place finisher advanced to the final.
Jeff Bakalchuck, Sean Vessey, and Mario Lanza played at table
1. Jeff gained an early advantage in turn 2. He created a 7-space
district that included the five starting squares. Since no building
is permitted in the five starting squares and the square containing
the district marker, he gained exclusive control of this district
with a single 1-story building. The play was worth an 18-point
advantage in a game that ended in a tie at 114. Jeff had an action
chip left at the end of the game so he was the winner on the
tiebreaker. Sean also advanced to the final.
John Weber, Bruce Bernard, and Barbara Flaxington played at
table 2. They played a close game that John won on the final
turn. He used his position as the last player to secure first
place of an unfounded 22-point district and the 11-point district
and get home for the 5-point bonus to win by six points.
The
final may have been the shortest game ever played. It began with
a strange twist. Jeff drew the first position, one he did not
want. His first play was essentially to skip his turn. He wasted
four canals along the edge of the board. In the early play, each
player founded one of the three largest districts available for
the first half. Over the next few turns, John and Sean created
two more districts and placed a few buildings. Meanwhile, Jeff
placed canal tiles side-by-side to create a large mass of water.
The supply of canal tiles is limited. When the supply runs out
the remaining district markers are removed from the game. Only
five districts had been founded when Jeff made it impossible
to found any more. The result was a huge unfounded district that
would be worth 73 points in the second scoring period. Unfortunately
for Jeff, John was better placed to gain control of this district.
While John and Jeff fought for control of the decisive huge district,
a battle that John won 24 to 17, Sean tried to sneak into second
place. He grabbed control of most of the smaller districts, but
in the end, he could not overcome the difference between second
and third place in the huge district. Final score: John 140,
Jeff 93, and Sean 87.
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