Eric Brosius, Lyman Moquin, Lexi Shea and Rob Kircher	Jack Doughan and three-time champ Robert Renaud

Although attendance hit a new low, it was somewhat misleading since the format doubled the number of starts in each heat. The format required players to win just once in four opportunities spanning two heats to advance to the elimination rounds. Heat 1 witnessed ten four-player games for the first round and seven in the second, with players rotating tables to new competition. A few winners from the first round played a second time for the fun of eliminating other potential winners. Heat 2 generated 22 games over the two rounds. The defending three-time champion, Robert Renaud, arrived at the last minute for Heat 2 and found himself in a 5-player game the first round, coming in second to Eric Brosius. Fortunately, Renaud's second game proved to be an easier test, allowing him to advance. Perhaps most noteworthy was the success of Scott Anthony in the heats, where he won three out of four games.

With four qualifiers not showing for the quarter-finals, 28 heat winners played seven games, with all winners and runners-up advancing to the semis. Additionally, two of the third-place players advanced, based on fewest points behind the winner of their table. Eric Brosius continued his winning ways with a 13-pt. advantage over second-place Matt Peterson. Jonathan Barnes and Pei-Hsin Lin tied in their game, just 10 points ahead of Michael Crescenzi. In another close game, Aaron Fuegi beat Doug Faust by just four points and Jack Doughan by five. Scott Anthony's dominance continued, with a four-point victory over Richard Fetzer. Nick Kiswanto advanced by six points over Edward Fu. David Platnick won at the defending champion's table, but Renaud continued his surprisingly challenged title defense by placing second. In the most lopsided quarter-final game, Geoffrey Pounder blew out the competition, leaving Charles Hickok to barely edge Matt Jesser for the right to advance.

In the semi-finals, the bar was raised, with only winners advancing from the four 4-player games. Hickok took advantage of his second life to win at his table by a healthy margin. Renaud returned to form finally by running away with a 20-pt. victory over Pounder. Scott Anthony's impressive 4-for-5 run came to a sudden end in the closest semi, falling short by seven points as he finished last, while Fuegi won by a single point over Pei-Hsin. Kiswanto used a nine point advantage to advance over Platnick.

In the Final, Renaud started with Earth's Lost Colony and pursued a strategy with the Galactic Federation and Galactic Bankers. Hickok had the Alien Factory and played toward the Terraforming Guild. Fuegi started with the Imperial Warlord and exploited trade bonuses and the Prospecting Guild. Kiswanto began with New Sparta and worked toward Imperium Lords and Rebel Alliance. The first three rounds involved a lot of exploration. By Turn 4, Renaud had fallen behind with only three cards down compared to four for the others. Renaud countered on Turn 5 developing PanGalactic Research, but alas there was no Galactic Status goal in this game and Fuegi snagged the Innovation Leader goal. By Turn 7 both Kiswanto and Renaud were two cards behind the nine built by the leaders, and Fuegi had snagged the Research Leader goal. At this point Fuegi appeared to be the favorite, though Kiswanto's military strategy was about to start scoring big worlds, and Hickok was competing neck-and-neck with Fuegi for the Largest Industry goal. On Turn 9, Hickok and Fuegi reached 11 cards, while Kiswanto had nine and Renaud but eight. With one final Exploration and Settle, the game came to an end. When the last satellite had lost orbit, Renaud had 27 points, Hickok had 37, and Kiswanto 38, but Fuegi had 43 to become the first non-Renaud RFG champion. It was his second shield of the week and 12th title overall.

Scott Anthony and Pei-Hsin Lin	Matt Peterson and new champ Aaron Fuegi