Attendance has returned to triple digit fields since abandoning the 2-player format used in 2007-2011.	Uh oh ... Jim Kramer could lose his wargamer badge if Dockter spots him playing euroweenie games.

Norman Rule was the top qualifier with three wins and a second place finish in the preliminary heats. He went on to win his semifinal by an impressive margin of 17 points and took command of the Final with a 22-point spread. He was a man among boys in the Carcassonne world. Also posting three wins in the qualifying heats were Jon Gemmel, Chris Kreuter, and Thomas Strock. Each of these triple winners went on to earn laurels in the event. Of the six players with more than one win last year, Chris Kreuter and Joe Millovich were the only ones to repeat that feat in 2014 and laurel again.

Several changes were made this year, not the least of which was the addition of a fourth qualifying heat. In combination with the 7% increase in the number of Carcassonne players, the number of games played in the qualifying heats increased by 40.4%. 13 players entered all four heats and ten of these played in the semifinal round.

Another important change was the awarding of "tournament points" to players. The calculation of tournament points will not change in 2015. In a 4-player game, first place earns 9 points, second place earns 5 points, third place earns 2 points, and fourth place earns 1 point. In a 5-player game, 1st place earns 10 points, second place earns 6 points, third place earns 3 points, fourth place earns 2 points, and fifth place earns 1 point. At each table, the game owner earns an additional tournament point. It is important to note that this point is not an in-game point and has no effect on the scoring of the game itself.

The sole purpose of tournament points is to be the first tiebreaker after most wins in determining eligibility for the semifinal round. This new tiebreaker worked very well in achieving its dual purpose of reducing ties and determining semifinalists. Only a few ties remained after Heat 4 and no die rolls were needed to determine eligibility for the semifinal round. By contrast, in 2013, 24 players tied for the last 19 qualifying positions of the semifinal by playing only one game and winning. Fortunately, there were enough no-shows that we did not require a die roll tiebreaker. Also, we noted that last year's tiebreakers qualified each of the 24 one-game players ahead of anyone who won their first game and played another finishing second. With tournament points as the first tiebreaker, a player with one win who plays in multiple heats will qualify ahead of a player with one win who played in just one heat.

The purpose of awarding the bonus tournament point to the game owner at each table was an attempt to eliminate any unnecessary 5-player games this year. The 2013 qualifying heats included eight more 5-player games than necessary due to a lack of games brought to the heats. We note that there were no unnecessary 5-player games this year and, while this bonus point shifted the ranking of players to a small extent, the field of 16 in the semifinal would have been exactly the same.

Which brings us to another change. Due to an overwhelming preference to 4-player games over 5-player games, the semifinal & Final were changed to 4-player boards. Further, more time was allotted between the last qualifying heat and the semifinal round to allow the qualifiers and alternates to be determined and posted on the kiosk. The number of no-shows was reduced to just two. The last alternate to make the semifinal had one win and 21 tournament points.

Since only three of the 16 semifinalists had less than two wins, players who wish to qualify for the semifinals had best have at least two wins. If there is room in the semifinal for players with only one win, they will probably have to participate in multiple heats to increase their number of tournament points to qualify for the semifinals.

As a point of clarification, the WBC Carcassonne tournament uses the 3rd edition rules. This means that all cities are scored two points/tile (even the small "football" 2-tile cities). Also, farmers only earn three points per completed city. Farmers are scored by field, not by city.

Please see the GM or Assistant GMs for any game or tournament rules clarifications.

Defending champ Joe Millovich overcame 2004 champ Dan Hoffman and Thomas Strock at this semifinal table to reach the Final for the second year in a row.	GM Jennifer Visocnik with her four male finalists. After a run of female champs that she started in 2005, the men have held the throne since 2011.
Watch out Norman - they're going to be gunning for you soon.	Racing between tables at this age level is a job for the Flash.

 Carcassonne Junior 2014

Running a major event like Settlers of Catan with five rounds for over 100 adults is a lot of effort, but it pales in comparison to keeping tabs on two dozen little people so when a GM of such a gateway event also steps forward to pull duty in the "rugrat" room on Friday evening it is going above and beyond the norm.

Rich Shipley pulled that double duty this year to the delight of 27 little Carcassonneans. The best little people peeple mover was Caiden Baralo, age 11. He was followed in order by:

~ 2nd: Bailey Bardett, age 9

~ 3rd: Andrew Freeman, age 7

~ 4th: Alex Freeman, age 10

~ 5th: Charlotte Parauda, age 10

~ 6th: Adrianne Navolis, age 11