A total of 33 aspiring railroad managers turned out for this year's 18xx tournament. Eleven returnees from last year were joined by 22 newcomers. The new players made their presence felt with three advancing to the final game. An added preliminary heat earlier in the week was very well attended, with 25 people in the "1856" heat. The tourney featured the same three games as last year, 1830, 1856, and 1870, with all the preliminary round winners (and enough runner-ups) advancing to a 16-player semi-final.

The first preliminary heat featured two four-player 1856 games, three four-player 1830s, and a five-player 1830. Bankruptcies ended two of the 1830 games and one 1856 contest. In the five-player 1830 (which I participated in), a very cutthroat game of stock trashing and railroad dumping developed as four of the five players owned the B & O at one time or another, with one player getting it twice! The Pennsylvania, B & M, and the NYNH also had multiple owners. The end game deteriorated into a "death spiral" as two players had to trade one permanent train between two railroads, with the resulting erosion in stock values. Finally, I divested myself of both of my railroads (one voluntarily, one involuntarily), and stole the NYNH from another player. The strain of keeping up with train technology adversely affected four of the players, allowing Lane Newbury to run away with this preliminary round game by the largest percentage (over second place) of any of the eleven prelim winners.

The second preliminary round on Thursday was designated for 1870, with a longer period (nine hours) allotted to complete the longest of the 18xx games. Whether due to the popularity of the Wednesday session, or the length of this middle session, only nine players participated. Four signed up for 1870, while five opted for the shorter 1830. The three-hour 1830 was finished by lunchtime, due to another bankruptcy. The other four hardy souls settled in for a marathon session, but crisp play allowed game completion in less than eight hours.

The last preliminary round on Friday night was designated for 1830, with nine players playing in a four and a five-person game, while five players played 1856. This time, careful play avoided personal bankruptcies, though I ended up playing most of the 1856 game with no railroad. The latter was so close, a scoring error affected placement, and the actual rank of the top three players changed upon further review.

Each of the eleven games produced a different winner, with all of the winners and the top five runner-ups qualifying for the semifinals. A number of qualifiers did not attend the semi, so five alternates moved up, yielding four four-player 1830 games. Several of these games were close, with one game decided by only $92. Again, one winner could not attend the finals, so Jason Levine's narrow loss proved good enough for him to make the final as an alternate.

The 18xx final was a four-player 1830, featuring Jon Kwiatkowski, Craig Reece, and David Fritsch, semi-final winners, and Jason. Of these four, only Craig had a preliminary round win, everyone else did no better than second in the prelims. While Jon and David had not yet faced any of the other finalists, Craig had already defeated Jason twice, in a prelim and a semi game. The initial private company bidding had Jason, drawing first position taking three companies, the Camden & Amboy, Mohawk & Hudson, and Schulkyll. David, in second position, took the Champlain & St. Lawrence. Craig, sitting third, took the Baltimore & Ohio private company (as he had in his semi-final game with great success), and Jon, going last, was left with the Delaware & Hudson. David started the New York New Haven public company and Jon got the Pennsylvania railroad going. As he had in the semis, Craig sat on his B & O private company to collect revenue, but the other players bought his stock, forcing it to open. Jason bided his time with his large private revenue and minority share holdings, until the other players began setting up their second railroads. Craig was first to open another railroad, the Boston & Maine, followed by Jon with the Chesapeake & Ohio. As David was starting the Canadian Pacific, Jason finally started his first public corporation, the New York Central. The fear among the other players was that Jason's large private holdings would be used to loot his public company, greatly enriching himself. Therefore, the train buying was accelerated, especially by Craig, as he bought the last "poison" four train and the first five train with his two railroads, throwing a three and a four into the bank when the purchase of the five reduced train holdings from three to two. By the time Jason's turn came around, not only was he unable to sell a single private company (they also disappeared with the purchase of the first five), one of the two six trains had been bought. This left him with either a four or a six to buy for his only railroad. Rather than dive into his personal holdings and buy the six, Jason crossed up his opponents by buying the four instead. On his second turn with the NYC, Jason's revenge came when he was able to run for enough money to trade his four for a diesel, killing all of the other fours in the game. This left both Craig and Jon with only one train and two companies each. Jon attempted to bring in the last railroad, the Erie, to get more cash, but in the end, he had to revert to stock sales to raise enough cash for the last six train. The panic dumping of stock shares sent the B & O from its initial $100 price all the way down to $20. Craig had bought some Erie stock to hasten his demise when he saw he could no longer win. The resulting share price crash meant Craig could not sell enough stock to buy a diesel, so his bankruptcy ended the game. When the smoke cleared, David emerged from the burning ruins with the victory, with only $1407. Jon was in second with 70% of David's total, Jason had 64%, and Craig had 26%. The early bankruptcy ended the game in only three hours.