BPA Chairman Ken Gutermuth (right) finds that his email ADV championship doesn't mean diddly to Mark Neale and Anne Norton.	Thomas Saal (second from left) recorded the furthest win in the Preliminaries, finishing ten spaces past the finish line.

This year's tournament had changes in format and location. By changing locations to the Paradise room we had rectangular tables for the games, which was much better than the too-large round and oval tables in Ballroom B. But the downside was being in a location off the beaten track for a tournament that can be a good spur-of-the-moment attraction for people looking for a quick and easy game, and may have been a factor in the lower attendance this year. By having only three sets of games played (instead of four) in Round 1, and only one game played (instead of two) in Round 2, the length of the tournament was made two hours shorter. The other change in format was in advancing 20 players instead of the usual ten to the semi-final in order to offset having a one game semi-final.
 
44 played in the first Round, yielding nine games. Among those games Thomas Saal had the furthest win, finishing ten spaces past the finish line (out of a maximum of 13 spaces). BPA Chairman Ken Gutermuth and his daughter Pam, along with siblings Alexandra and Nicholas Henning all chalked up wins. John Weber won a three-way tie at five spaces, beating Matt Peterson with a longer set and Tamara Houde with an older art item.

"A straggling few got up to go, leaving there the rest
With the hope that springs eternal within the human breast."

Well, this wasn't baseball, but the line seemed apropos. Adding both late arrivals and early departures, eight tables played on in the second round. Pam Gutermuth and Tom DeMarco both scored their second win, and led the race to advance with ten points. Ashley Collinson and Philip Yaure's wins, along with Alexandra's 2nd place finish tied them at nine points, while four players (Shea Lawson, Jon Izer, Matt, and Tamara) deadlocked at eight points. Tom and Ashley's wins were both runaways, finishing more than 15 spaces ahead of their opponents, while in the game that had the tightest bunching, Matt finished one space ahead of Alex and two ahead of Ken, Sean Vessey and David Rynkowski.
 
Eight tables soldiered on for the third and final set of qualifying games. Pam continued her winning ways, scoring her third third win and garnering the maximum possible score of 15 to ensure semi-final qualification. Alex, Matt, Tamara and Tom each finished two points back at 13, Jon Izer, Philip, and Ken had 12, while John and Ashley ended with 11. Twelve more players finished with 10 or 9 points, vying for the 10 remaining spots in the semi-final. Among the players tied at nine points, Brittany Bernard, David and Nicholas had more total spaces past the finish line, while Tom Dunning and Kevin Heinz fell just short of the cutoff to advance.
 
In the semi-final, Pam won yet again, vanquishing Paul Weintraub, Karl Henning, Alex and John. Philip claimed victory over Anne Norton, Shea Lawson, Matt and David. Mark Houde bettered Beth Zhao, Jon, Nicholas and Ken. And Jessica Hardesty had a better finish position than Tamara, Brittany, Ashley and Tom. Jon was the brest runner-up at spaces past the finish, and so became the fifth finalist. David had the second best runner-up score and thus earned sixth place laurels.
 
In the Final, Marc started off with a big lead on the opening stretch, but was caught and passed by Jon at the first corner. Jessica then gained the lead at the first purple (2/1) space. Pam took the lead on the back stretch. During this mid-game maneuvering, many thieves were circulating through the jail cells, as players tried to augment their sets. Pam and Jessica led as they passed the second corner, but they were then overtaken by Marc. Marc, the only former laurelist in the Final, led to the last purple space, then to the penultimate space in the 5/3 zone. On the next turn Philip passed him to land on the last space - just short of the finish. All five went to the Castle on the next turn. Marc was the only one to Exhibit, moving five spaces forward and four spaces past the finish, but he lost one piece of art to Jon, who played the only thief. Philip, Pam and Jessica all played a Detective and advanced. For the final showdown, Philip had the largest set at nine cards and advanced eight spaces to finish at +9 spaces for the win. Pam had the next largest set, but the four spaces she gained only moved her two spaces past the finish and third place as she lost for the first time in the tournament while Marc finished second. Jessica finished at +1 space for fourth while Jon took fifth at -3 spaces. Philip took the shield in his first entry into the Adel Verpflichtet tournament.

Although the revised format was quicker with two less rounds, the field shrank in 2009 by more than 25% proving perhaps once again that scheduling is as important as format.	Beth Zhao and Pam Gutermuth share a laugh as Pam played her way into the Semis with three straight wins and then won again to reach the Final with a perfect score.

After 40 games involving 33 participants over five preliminary rounds, two semi-final rounds, and the Final, Tom DeMarco, without a set to his name, emerged victorious by a single space over Greg Thatcher. It started with Bob Hamel racing to an impressive lead only to see thieves whittle away his collection. After piling up a decent set, Tom DeMarco challenged Bob's exhibits until he himself was the leader and near victory. Then he was robbed, burglarized, and purloined to a dangerously low level. Greg, the new set leader, moved up and looked to be impossible to stop. But with a final gasp (and the loss of what remained of his set), Tom moved across the line. Greg also exhibited—but held back when three thieves showed up to enjoy the sites and help themselves. That proved the difference as Greg's set was so hammered that he only collected four bonus spaces—coming up one short. After Tom and Greg, Raphael Lehrer finished third with the best set of 11 cards (one space short of the finish line), Bob Hamel was fourth, and Steve Cameron finished fifth. Sixth place laurels went to Marc Houde as the next best semi-finalist. See all the details at http://www.gameaholics.com/adv_tournament.htm 

Gamemaster Tamara Houde corrals some art peddlers while ...	hubby Marc Houde helps with the household chores.

 Adel Verpflichtet Junior

In the Juniors event twelve kids reported to show and swipe the best refrigerator crayon art. Matthew Roizin-Price proved to be the most promising young art collector. He was followed in order by Jonathan Berry, Nicole Pyshack, Brian Pappas, Andrew Doughan and Katie Breza.