Riding the Rails ...
This year each preliminary heat provided a choice of two different
games from the Empire Builder series. On Tuesday, there
were seven games of Empire Builder and one of British
Rails. Wednesday had five games of Eurorails and two
of Australian
Rails. Thursday morning saw four more games of Empire
Builder and two of India Rails. I distributed a ballot
to determine the alternate games for next year and they will
be British Rails, Australian Rails, and Iron
Dragon.
I was assisted again by Greg Meyer and Steve Okonski. Greg
was the only double heat winner this time, but Steve did not
advance to the semis for a chance to defend his title. I even
made the semi-final this year myself.
All heat winners were eligible for the Empire Builder
semi-finals and 16 of 20 chose to participate. A special thanks
to Brian Smith (the first alternate) for graciously stepping
aside when the 16th showed up. The semi-final winners were Bill
Navolis,
Debbie Garver, Mark Franceschini, and Olin Hentz (in a game that
lasted well into the night Thursday). Olin was unable to make
the Sunday final, so Greg Meyer made the finals by having the
highest runnerup finish.
The tax card came out about an hour into the Eurorails
final and revealed Mark at $66 with a line that included
London, Ruhr, Wien, Milano, and went down to Napoli. Greg had
$9 with a line that included London, Holland, Ruhr, Paris, Berlin,
and
reached up to Aberdeen, down to Valencia, and over to Wroclaw.
Debbie was worth $10, and her southern line included Milano,
Wien, and extended to Porto in the west and Beograd in the east.
Bill had $3 and his line included Madrid, Paris, Holland, London,
and went as far north as Newcastle.
An hour and a half later, Bill was at $249, connected to all
major cities except for Milano, and looking for a delivery to
put him over the top. Greg made a delivery of Potatoes to Valencia
for $46 to put him at $250 exactly with all major cities except
for Wien. Mark ended with $241 and all connected but Madrid,
and Debbie ended with $181 and all but Berlin. Bill played last,
and delivered wine to Antwerpen to put him at $259 for the win.
Dave Metheny of Rail Gamer provided a rail game from
Winsome Games that Bill selected as his prize for first and Greg
received a Eurorails t-shirt for second place. Thanks to all
who participated and I hope to see you again next year!
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