empire builder [Updated August 2000]

EPB   
   19    18
   9   20       
      9 

    Maryland 4   Salon EF    Salon B   Salon EF

Bill Navolis, PA

2000 Champion

2nd: Greg Mayer, MO

3rd: Mark Franceschini, MD

4th: Debbie Garver, GA

5th: Olin Hentz, CT

6th: Ken Good, OH
Event History
1991    None      -
1992    None      -
1993    None      -
1994    None      -
1995    None      -
1996    None      -
1997    None      -
1998    None      -
1999     Steve Okonski     64
2000     Bill Navolis      61
AREA Ratings
 1    Steve Okonski      1634
 2    James Yerkey      1550
 3    Greg Mayer      1549
 4    Cliff Ackamn      1542
 5    Aaron Fuegi      1536
 6    Thomas Dunning      1535
 7    John Clarke      1535
 8    Tim Hitchings      1534
 9    Eyal Mozes      1527
10    Eric Kirchner      1527

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!

 GM      Rich Shipley  [2nd Year]  1241 Linkside Dr., Baltimore, MD 21234
    rich@rtgames.com   NA

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