Can't Stop (CNS) PBeM Reports Updated January 4, 2024

2023 PBeM Tournament
 

A record 84 players signed up for the 2023 Can’t Stop PBEM tournament. Over 10 rounds, 169 games were played. As in previous years, the event was played with two-player games in a double-elimination format. Rounds continued until only one player remained with fewer than two losses.

As was the case in 2022, the early rounds were not kind to last year’s top players. The top six finishers from last year were all eliminated within the first three rounds, so there were no repeat laurelists for the second year in a row.

After seven rounds, the top six finishers were determined. Eric Freeman was the last undefeated player but had fallen to Rob Kircher in Round 7. He picked up his second loss in quick succession, losing a close game to Chris Wildes in Round 8. Rob also lost in this round, with Jim Brown advancing to the next round. In the last Round 8 matchup, Haim Hochboim ended the run of first time laurelist Victoria Wallace.

Jim and Chris faced off in Round 9. Chris’s dice failed him, busting five times, while Jim calmly advanced to the final with an easy 3-0 victory. Haim faced Rob, serving as an eliminator, in the other semifinal. Rob capped the 7 first, but Haim responded by getting to the top of the 4 column. Rob retook the lead two turns later, finishing the 9 and getting three steps away on both the 5 and 6. However on the next turn Haim rolled a 12 to finish that column and eleven 8’s to climb that track in one go, advancing to the final.

The final was a rematch from Round 4 where Haim gave Jim his first loss. Haim’s luck turned at the start of the final game, busting on his first three turns. This allowed Jim to take a significant lead, capping the 3 and getting one step away on the 9. Haim responded with a repeat of his Round 9 heroics, running up two entire columns on each of his next two turns, first the 6 and then the 5, to take the lead. Unfortunately for Haim, Jim’s slow and steady approach meant he only needed three steps (one on the 9, two on the 7) to close out his last two columns, claiming the 2023 Can’t Stop PBEM championship.

Top six finishers were:

  1. Jim Brown
  2. Haim Hochboim
  3. Chris Wildes
  4. Rob Kircher
  5. Eric Freeman
  6. Victoria Wallace

Of the 169 games played in the tournament, 97 of them (57%) were won by the player taking the first turn of the game. This was a higher percentage than in 2022 (51%) or 2021 (47%). Three players achieved a four-column victory: Curt Collins, Rob Kircher, and Oliver Searles.

Congratulations to all of the laurelists and thank you to everyone who participated in the event.

 

2022 PBeM Tournament
  Over 9 rounds of play, 66 players completed a total of 132 games in the 2022 Can’t Stop PBEM tournament. This was the highest turnout for any PBEM tournament I have run to date, thank you to all who participated. The event was played using a single-game double-elimination format with rounds continuing until only one player remained with fewer than two losses.

During the early rounds, Can’t Stop demonstrated its capricious nature as two of the top three finishers from 2021 were eliminated after the first two rounds. Ultimately, no laurelists from last year’s tournament repeated in the top six.

By Round 6, only two players remained undefeated: Bill Masek and Haakon Monson. Bill got two early steps on the 12, while Haakon’s first turn sent him half-way up on the 9, which he then capped on his next turn. Unfortunately for Haakon he then busted on his next three turns while Bill made steady progress and won with 5-8-12.

Both Bill and Haakon lost in Round 7, which awarded Haakon fifth place overall. Two other players were eliminated in this round, with Chris Houle earning sixth place laurels over Laurie Wojtaszczyk on the second tiebreaker (opponent win percentage). Bill’s loss set up a true semifinal with the three remaining players: Grant LaDue, Aran Warszawski, and Dan Elkins.

In the first game, Grant unluckily busted immediately after setting up a 6-7-8 turn. Aran quickly capped the 8, followed by Grant locking down the 7 and 10 on successive turns. On the next turn Aran finished the 2 column and got one away from the top of 12, stopping after only pushing up those two tracks. Both players then tried to make progress up the 6 and 9, but Grant’s dice failed him twice allowing Aran to claim victory with 2-6-8.

The second semifinal started with four straight early busts before Bill was able to stop halfway up the 8 on his third turn, followed by Dan doing the same on the 6. Both players struggled with the dice throughout, and in total nine turns ended in failures. Bill capped the 8, followed by Dan claiming the 6 and moving to three away on the 7. However, Bill aggressively pushed up the 7 to erase Dan’s progress and end the turn one away on the 2. Dan claimed the 9 on the next turn and joined Bill near the top of the 2 column before passing. Dan would not get another turn as Bill found the 2 needed to claim his place in the final.

The dice were extremely unkind to Bill in the final, as he busted very quickly on 6 of his 7 turns. Aran capitalized to make safe and steady progress up the tracks, capping 3-5-7, and claiming the 2022 Can’t Stop PBEM championship. Top six finishers were, in order, Aran Warszawski, Bill Masek, Grant LaDue, Dan Elkins, Haakon Monsen, and Chris Houle

Of the 132 games played in the tournament, 67 of them (51%) were won by the player taking the first turn of the game. Haakon Monsen achieved the only 4-column victory, simultaneously capping the 6 and the 7 on the final turn of his Round 3 matchup.

The craziest finish of the tournament goes to Marc Gibbens in his third-round game. After busting on 7 of his first 9 turns, Marc found himself down 2-0 with his opponent one step away on three tracks. Marc was able to progress up the 2, 6, and 12, completing each one on separate rolls to cap all three in a single turn.

Below is the data for completed columns of winning players, with comparisons to last year’s tournament:

  • 2 was used by 24% of winners (+3% over 2021)
  • 3 was used by 8% of winners (-5% over 2021)
  • 4 was used by 17% of winners (+4% over 2021)
  • 5 was used by 23% of winners (-3% over 2021)
  • 6 was used by 48% of winners (-5% over 2021)
  • 7 was used by 52% of winners (-9% over 2021)
  • 8 was used by 47% of winners (+0% over 2021)
  • 9 was used by 27% of winners (+9% over 2021)
  • 10 was used by 17% of winners (+2% over 2021)
  • 11 was used by 13% of winners (+9% over 2021)
  • 12 was used by 23% of winners (-4% over 2021)

Once again 6, 7, and 8 were the most likely to appear on a winner’s scorecard. However, this year’s winners relied less on the 6 and 7, while 9 and 11 showed large gains. The 11’s improvement is particularly remarkable after it was by far the worst performing number in 2021 and at previous WBC tournaments.

Once again congratulations to all the laurelists and thank you to everyone who participated in the event.

 

2021 PBeM Tournament
  The 2021 Can’t Stop PBEM tournament featured 52 players completing a total of 106 games over 9 rounds. The event was played using a single-game double elimination format with rounds continuing until only one player remained with fewer than two losses.

Heading into Round 6, ten players remained in contention. The last two undefeated players, Dominic Blais and Dan Leader, were guaranteed a spot in the Top 6 and faced one another. Dominic capped the 6 column on the first turn of the game and completed a 6-7-8 victory before Dan could catch up. In the other Round 6 games, Chris Wildes, Alex Bove, Chad Martin, and Eric Brosius all advanced and secured Top 6 finishes.

In Round 7, Chad finished the 4 on his first turn against Dominic, but Dominic immediately answered with the 9. The game was tied 2-2 in turn 5 when a bust on Chad’s turn opened the door for Dominic to win via the 8. Eric got off to a strong start against Chris, but two untimely busts coupled with Chris’s hot run up the 7 column in a single turn led to Eric’s elimination. Alex made steady progress up the 6-7-8 columns in a close game to eliminate Dan after his 5-0 run to start the tournament.

Three players remained for Round 8, with Dominic facing Chris and Alex battling Eric, who was serving as an eliminator. In a messy, 9-turn game in which both players started the game with two busts, Chris ended Dominic’s undefeated run. Eliminator Eric’s unlucky streak continued with three busted turns while Alex continued his steady play en route to victory.

As a result, the same three players remained alive for Round 9, but with swapped pairings. Alex played against Chris while Dominic faced Eric, again serving as an eliminator due to the preference for avoiding repeat matchups. Alex continued his disciplined play and quickly worked to a 2-0 lead. Chris, feeling the need to catch up, risked an extra roll after capping the 5 and was punished for his hubris with a failed roll. On his next turn Alex pushed his 8 to within three spots of victory and passed. Chris was able to finish both the 6 and 10 on his next turn to make the game interesting, but Alex quickly completed the 8 and awaited the results of the other game.

Meanwhile, Eric made the most of going first to get off to a fast start against Dominic, capping the 7 on his second turn while Dominic began with single bumps on 2-8-12. At the end of the fourth turn, Eric had the 6 and 7 under his control and was two away on the 8 while Dominic was still on the bottom rung of the 2, 9, and 12, with five bumps up the 8. Dominic was able to make a run up the 8 to negate the most urgent danger and a few turns later capped the 5 to even the score. However after three straight busted turns, Eric was able to finish the 3 column to eliminate Dominic.

Congratulations to Alex Bove on winning the 2021 Can’t Stop PBEM tournament. Alex’s only loss came in Round 2 (to Dominic) and he finished the tournament with seven straight wins to claim the victory.

Top six finishers were:

  1. Alex Bove
  2. Dominic Blais
  3. Chris Wildes
  4. Dan Leader
  5. Eric Brosius
  6. Chad Martin

Of the 106 games played in the tournament, 50 of them (47%) were won by the player taking the first turn of the game. The average game length fell just under 7 turns (6.73), ranging from a minimum of 4 turns (seven games), to a maximum of 10 turns (eight games). Players averaged roughly 33 dice rolls per game and 5 rolls per turn. Tina Del Carpio achieved the win with the fewest dice rolls, needing only 19 to earn a first round victory.

Peter Stein achieved the only 4-column victory, simultaneously capping the 2 and the 7 on the final turn of his Round 5 matchup.

Below is the data for completed columns of winning players, with comparisons to the most recent WBC tournament (2019):

  • 2 was used by 22% of winners (-11% over last WBC)
  • 3 was used by 13% of winners (+5% over last WBC)
  • 4 was used by 13% of winners (-13% over last WBC)
  • 5 was used by 26% of winners (-3% over last WBC)
  • 6 was used by 53% of winners (+14% over last WBC)
  • 7 was used by 61% of winners (+21% over last WBC)
  • 8 was used by 47% of winners (+8% over last WBC)
  • 9 was used by 18% of winners (-1% over last WBC)
  • 10 was used by 15% of winners (-11% over last WBC)
  • 11 was used by 4% of winners (-9% over last WBC)
  • 12 was used by 27% of winners (+1% over last WBC)

Unsurprisingly, 6, 7, and 8 are the most likely to appear on a winner’s scorecard. The large increase in the frequency of those numbers over the previous WBC event (and corresponding decrease for most other numbers) is likely attributable to the differences between the 2-player and 4-player game. One trend that does hold from Andrew Drummond’s previous event report is the unpopularity of 11, by far the least likely number to be capped by winners, and the only number to appear more often on the loser’s scorecard (4% vs 6%).

Once again congratulations to all of the laurelists, and thank you to everyone who participated in the event.