circus maximus [Updated August 2001]

CMS  6 prizes Beginners Mult Ent Sing Elim Scheduled 
 Demo 18  Rnd1 Heat1  19  Rnd1 Heat2  10
 Rnd1 Heat3  9  Round 2   9
   Round 3  Final  9

  Salon B

Steve Katz, VA

2001 Champion

2nd: Tom Saal, MI

3rd: Anthony Musella, VA

4th: Alfred Wong, IL

5th: Mike Hazel, SC

6th: Carl Sykes, SC
Event History
1991    Tim Flanigan      54
1992    Jeff Barnum      67
1993    Barry Smith      35
1994    Mike Stanley      47
1995    Mike Pantaleano      72
1996    Bruce Monnin      64
1997    John Jacoby      72
1998    Mike Stanley      84
1999    Frank Sinigaglio     74
2000    Mike Stanley     85
2001    Steve Katz     76

AREA Ratings:

GM: John Jacoby

            

definitely a Hershey fan

A sweet aspect of John Jacoby's Circus Maximus event is that he rewards the first driver into each turn with a Hershey's Kiss. The candies replace the dolphins which were upturned in the Roman Colosseum to record the number of laps run.

Best Quote of the Tournament: "DEAD DRIVERS DON'T EAT CHOCOLATE."

The finals of Circus Maximus had 14 entrants qualified, which should have been a bloodbath. When only eight drivers showed
up, a much more peaceful event was forecast. When the chariots chosen were revealed, there were six light and two medium chariots running. There were NO HEAVY Chariots. It was rumored that the Roman SPCA was the true sponsor of the race. Boy were they wrong.

The race started quietly with all chariots out of the starting gate with no attacks. Turn 2 had the medium White chariot starting the carnage by putting three hits on Blue's left wheel. He also traded a hit on Red's left wheel for one on his own right wheel. On turn 3 White demonstrated once again how to damage two wheels with one attack... two hits on Orange's left wheel
for two more hits on his own right wheel. The other medium chariot, Gold, seeing three hits self-inflicted by White, decided
that horses were safer targets. Blue evaded, but Red found that four hits were enough to kill his #4 horse. The kinder, gentler,
little race was fast turning ugly.

On turn 4 Gold attacked Blue's wheels but managed only one hit on his own left wheel. Gold then put a hit on Blue's
outside horse. White missed the Green chariot wheels. Red failed to cut loose his dead horse. On turn 5 Gold missed the
Green, Purple and Yellow chariot wheels. White put two hits on the Red horse while he could not evade. After cutting loose, Red was down tone and a half horses and was studiously ignored by the medium chariots for the rest of the race for obvious reasons.

On turn 6 Gold successfully (?) attacked Green's wheels: three points of damage were inflicted to Green's right wheel, at a cost of one more damage to his own left wheel. When Gold entered the 9 speed lane at 6 over, his right hand horse strained a hamhock and took one damage. Turn 7 and 8 were spent with all of the light chariots braking out of Gold and White's way.

At the halfway point in the race, Blue, White and Green all had three hits on a wheel and Orange had two. Gold had two hits on both wheels. Red had only one wheel hit but was short a horse and making do with a pony for his third. Only Purple and Yellow had undamaged wheels, but it was not through any lack of trying by other drivers. The Chariot Wheel Manufacturers Guild was torn between thoughts of joy at the profits to be made in repairing all of those wheels, and the thought of a mass chariot flip spectacle since no one was slowing down.

On turn 9 the light chariots joined the fight with Purple, Red and Yellow attacking. The result was a wound on White's
driver. Not much of note happened thereafter until the final turn was entered on turn 12. Orange, in a desperate attempt to take the lead, flipped after entering the turn at 13 over the speed limit. With 10 points on his large muscular driver, he decided to body surf his way home. On turn 13 Yellow lashed White and lost his whip. This turned out to be what lost yellow first place.
Green, threw caution to the wind and went nine over in the 8 lane. Since this ran him out of endurance, he flipped. The surfing
competition was on between Orange and Green. Red seeing a strong driver surfing by with faster horses than his, trampled
Green...but only got two hits. Green still lived and was only two turns from the finish line.

On turn 14 Blue came from the back of the pack and went through lane 8 at 11 over. Unlike the other suicidal drivers, he passed his corner roll with a '6' three-die roll modified to 4 by his CDM. White attacked the second place Yellow unsuccessfully. He then put two hits on the left hand wheel of the leading Purple chariot and followed that with two hits on the Purple horses. Red hit the Gold horses for a point of damage. The Green dragged driver had only two points left but he was only four squares from the finish line. Purple whipped his horses and came up one day late and a dollar short. His horses were over the finish line but his chariot was not.

On the final turn all of White's attacks failed. Gold decided that the only way that he could improve his position was to attack purple's wheels and flip the chariot onto the driver so that the driver would die by being dragged over a wreck. Purple took three more hits on his left wheel for a total of 5 at a cost of two to Gold's right wheel. Both passed their wheel checks. Yellow, who, having lost his whip, could not could not increase his speed over purple, and was helpless to affect the finish when purple went next. The Green driver would have taken 3rd place except that he expired as he passed the finish line. The Orange driver survived his drag to the finish line.

The final result was as follows:
 1st Purple Steve Katz Light
 2nd Yellow Tom Saal Light
 3rd Blue Anthony Musella Light
 4th Orange Alfred Wong Light
 5th Red Mike Hazel Light
 6th Gold Carl Sykes Medium
 7th White Barry Smith Medium
 8th Green Jeff Power Light


The Chariot Wheel Manufacturers Guild was overjoyed with the results of the race. With a total of 21 wheel hits
distributed over eight chariots, not one chariot had flipped by failing their wheel check and testimonials were sung from every chariot dealer. There were many new wheel warranties written the next day for all wheels sold in Rome.

For more details on the game Circus Maximus we suggest you visit: http://pbem.brainiac.com/circmax/


The Junior version drew 17 little charioteers - making it the most popular of the juniors events at WBC 2001. When the dust settled, the winners were:

1st. Jed Shambeda

2nd. Angela Collinson

3rd. Erin Treadway

4th. Erica Kirchner

5th. Jordan Flawd

6th. John Miklos

 GM     John M. Jacoby [3rd year] 102 Deerwood Rd., Charlottesville, VA 22911
   NA NA

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