empire builder [Updated August 2001]

EPB  3 prizes Beginners Novice Mult Ent Sing Elim Scheduled 
  Rnd1 Heat1 20 Novice   Rnd1 Heat2 18
  Rnd1 Heat3 9  Round 2 13 Semi      
     Round 3 9 Final

   Rnd1 Heat1  Rnd1 Heat3 Salon CD  Rnd1 Heat2  Salon A  Round 2  Salon EF  Round 3 Polo

Jim Yerkey, MD

2001 Champion

2nd: Paul Van Bloem, MD

3rd: Steve Okonski, MD

4th: Donna Balkan, ONT

5th: Harald Henning, CT

6th: Tom Dunning, NY
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
2001     Jim Yerkey      44

AREA Ratings:

GM: Rich Shipley

Riding the Rails ...

It was great to see the returning faces in this third Empire Builder Series tournament. Special thanks to assistant GMs Steve Okonski and Greg Mayer. There were ten games of Empire Builder, five of Eurorails, two of British Rails, two of Iron Dragon, and one of Australian Rails played in three heats.

Notables qualifying for the Eurorails semis were 1999 champion Steve Okonski with a record of 2-0, Jon Kwiatkowski & Debbie Garver with records of 2-1, and 2000 champion Bill Navolis. Close contests produced four finalists: Steve Okonski, Paul Van Bloem, Jim Yerkey (alternate for Harald Henning), and Donna Balkan. The first three were finalists in 1999 and Donna made the Empire Builder final after getting to the semis each year.

Jim's starting network went from Denver through Kansas City to Atlanta and up to Knoxville where his first delivery of lead earned $19. Donna started with a line from Philadelphia to New York through Chicago to Kansas City and delivered imports there for $19. Steve's initial rails went from San Francisco through LA and east to Kansas City where he delivered sugar for
$28. Paul began with track from Detroit through Chicago and Kansas City and down to Tampico, Mexico where a load of cars earned $29.

When the tax card came an hour later, Jim had $19 and his track went to Mexico City and over to Phoenix. Donna had $0 with track that extended to Mexico City. Steve also had $0 and had worked his way up the coast to Seattle. Paul was in the lead with $40 and a beltway between KC, Chicago, Atlanta, and Houston. Two hours into the game Jim had $115 with six cities, Donna had $14 with five cities, Steve had $29 with six cities, and Paul had $12 with five cities.

Jim won with $259 thanks to a delivery of textiles to Portland, Maine for $37 and what he said was "the best set of cards I ever had." His track went to all major cities except Seattle. Paul came in second with $217 also bypassing Seattle, Steve was third with $206 skipping Mexico City, and Donna was fourth with $159 without LA.

 

                    Finalists (left to right): Jim Yerkey, Donna Balkan, Steve Okonski and Paul Van Bloem

Eden Studios provided a license for their excellent computer version of Iron Dragon to the winner. In 2002, the alternate games will be British Rails, Iron Dragon, and India Rails. Hope to see you there!

 GM      Rich Shipley  [3rd Year]  1241 Linkside Dr., Baltimore, MD 21234
    rich@rtgames.com   NA

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