Natasha Metzger and Chris Kizer move meeples.	April Alfieri and Dave Bohnenberger check out the giant meeple.

We continued to use tournament points as the first tiebreaker after most wins in determining eligibility for the semifinal round. This tiebreaker works very well in achieving its dual purpose of reducing ties and determining semifinalists. Only a few ties remained after the fourth heat and no die rolls were needed to determine eligibility for the semifinal round.

As such, the calculation of tournament points will not change in 2016. In a 4-player game, first place earns nine points, second earns five points, third earns two points, and fourth earns one point. These points are increased by one in a 5-player game. At each table, the game owner earns an additional tournament point for providing the game. 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 wins were distributed more evenly this year. Of the 15 multiple game winners last year, Joe Millovich was the only one to repeat that trick in 2015. There were no 3-game winners and two fewer 2-game winners than last year. That meant that seven of the 16 semifinal qualifiers had only one win, but there were 47 players (eight more than last year) with a win. The last regular qualifier for the semifinal had one win and 16 tournament points. However, three qualifiers opted out of advancement and alternates were selected from those present. The last alternate to make the semifinal had one win and 15 tournament points.

Playing in multiple heats certainly improves your chances of advancing All those playing in the semifinal with only one win had entered at least three heats. Of the nine players who entered all four heats, six played in the semifinal round.

Chad Martin, Hope  and Joe Millovich, and Kevin Quirk each won their semifinal matches to advance to the Final which would be played using a giant set of tiles four times larger than the normal set furnished by defending champ Norman Rule. Joe and Chad were returning to familiar turf, having finished second and third last year. Joe was also the 2013 champ so he was appearing in his third straight Final. His 83 points would gave him a 17-point margin of victory and vault him into first place on the laurels list. Second place was a tossup though as Chad and Hope each scored 66 points with no unused meeples and two farmers! The thought of having a die roll decide the matter did not appeal to either contestant, so it was decided to play one more game “one-on-one”, wherein Chad earned his runner-up status. Just for fun, Chad and Hope then rolled dice to see what would have happened with that tiebreaker… Chad won again! Next year, any ties in the Final will be broken by the rank of the tied players after the qualifying heats. So, stack those preliminary wins and tournament points to avoid the agony of defeat later. Had this method been in place this year, Chad would have still been second without playing an extra game or risking a die roll.

Fifth and sixth place laurels were awarded to players who participated in the semifinal, but did not advance to the Final. Performance in the qualifying rounds is adjusted for the result in the semifinal to determine these places. After the qualifying rounds, our top qualifier with two wins and 33 tournament points was Dusty Usner. Dusty’s runner-up finish in his semifinal garnered him fifth place.

The battle for sixth place was much closer. Hindsight revealed four players competing for the spot from four different semifinal tables. Henry Allen, ranked third after the qualifying rounds with two wins and 21 tournament points, managed to take it with a third place finish in his semifinal, because none of the other three finished higher than third.

As a point of clarification, the WBC tournament uses the third edition of the 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.

For any game or tournament rules clarifications, have your meeple call my meeple or please see the GM or Assistant GMs.

Katie McCorry makes sure Dave Meyaard doesn't flick any meeples.	GM Jennifer Visocnik with her finalists.
Multi-talented ... no one trick pony here.	My meeple has super powers.

Carcassonne Junior 2015

Running a major event like Settlers of Catan with five rounds for 100 adults is a lot of effort, but it pales in comparison to keeping tabs on three 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 again this year to the delight of 36 little Carcassonneans. The best little people peeple mover was Andrew Freeman, age 8, improving on his third place finish last year. He was followed in order by:

~ 2nd: Aubrey Powers, age 9

~ 3rd: Holiday Saccenti, age 12

~ 4th: Brandon Wines, age 9

~ 5th: Madison Ritchie, age 12

~ 6th: Jay Schoenen, age 10