Collecting by another name ...
Auction, the game of acquisition, saw its participation
level drop by 10% (Down four from 40 to 36 !!!) The game is
only an hour long and each year has to be revoted in by its die
hard following Sort of the 1776 of the Euro game world
Five boards of 4-player games were played in the first round
Walking away with the victors laurels were Bruce Reiff, Kathryn
Taillon, Alex Bell, Cliff Ackman and Doug Galullo. Interesting
to note that Kathryn (the wife of someone who shall remain nameless,
however The FIELDS are alive with the sound of music) finished
first but did not declare for victory.
The second round had six boards. As for problems a GM could
expect to encounter, a new one was added to the list. About halfway
through a game it was noticed that the game deck had been miscollated
at the factory and that the players were playing with a loaded
deck !!! Extra cards of different sets were included in the
game. This happened to be the second deck like this that we have
encountered. So Auction fans CHECK YOUR DECKS !!! The
game was restarted. However, one player had to drop to make his
next event and the GM filled in as he had not played in a game
of his own tournament thus far Winners were Vassil Kyrkos, Jeff
Mullet, Ken Guttermuth, David Platnick, Andy Joy, and Mike Hazel.
The 11 winners converged upon the semis and five alternates
who had garnered the most cash in their games were also on hand
Random selection of seating positions found ex-champs BRUCE
REIFF, KEN GUTERMUTH and ARTHUR FIELD with six plaques between
them, on the same board for the second consecutive year. The
fourth was Tim Kelley. Bruce battered his opponents into submission
to advance. George Sauer, Jeff Mullet, Cliff Ackman and Andy
Joy found their way onto board 2 of the semis Andy Joy walked
all over this crew to advance. Mike Hazel, Doug Galullo, David
Platnick and Kate Taillon faced off on board 3 and Doug managed
to punch his ticket for the next round. Ken Good, Vassili Kyrkos,
James Tyne and Alex Bell sat in on board 4. Columbusite James
Tyne snuck by Ken Good to make it into the Final.
Doug Galullo, Andy Joy and two Columbusites Bruce Reiff and
James Tyne would face off in the Final. James Tyne overcame TWO
bank refuses to pay on the last turn to turn a loss into a great
comeback victory.
All in all, each of the four rounds took only an hour and
only 16 games were played so it looks like AUCTION will once
again need member votes to return in 2006. The game is quick
to play, easy to learn and difficult to master.
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