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Players bid for seating order in the elimination rounds. There was a single 1.5 bid for first, with all other bids 0, .5. or 1 point. The average bid for first was .5, and the average bid for last was .27. There was one bid of .5 for third in turn order, with no player bidding to go second. As usual no game had its winner affected by the bid, but this year, the bidding made a difference to the laurels. Eric Speaker lost his Semifinal game 10.5 to 15, While Steve LeWinter lost his Semifinal 15 to 19.5. By percentage, Steve LeWinter was closer, so he took 5th place Laurels. If Eric hadn't bid .5 to go first, and he had lost 11 to 15, he would have been in 5th place. If the bids were unchanged in Eric's game, but Rob Murray had not bid .5 to go first in the game against Steve, there would have been an exact tie for 5th and 6th place laurels.
Ignoring the 3-player games, 26.3% of games were won by the player going first, 22.8% by the player going second, 29.8% by the player going third, and only 21.1% were won by the player going last.
The Final saw Rob Kircher playing maximally efficient routes, Starting with a 5-city route that placed 5 houses, and ending with a 6-house route that placed 6 houses, scoring both the oranges and the world traveler bonus. Bronwyn Woods played next, and cartwrighted a 7 carriage to end the game. She already had the card she needed for her final play in her hand, so her draw was meaningless to her. But she carefully checked that none of the six cards on offer were useful to Rob Murray, who was going next. So, she took a blind draw from the deck of Stuttgart, the one card Rob Murray needed. Had Bronwyn carelessly taken a card from the board, Stuttgart would have appeared on the board just when Rob Murray needed it, and he would have won the game. But Bronwyn's careful play earned her second place, beating Rob Murray on tie-breakers.
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| One smiling face at this table. |
Some of the players look at the camera. |
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| Rob Kircher on way to Championship. |
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Andy Latto [12th Year]