I believe that this year's attendance increase is due to Don and the WBC producing a wonderful schedule, and my decision to let them schedule Tyranno Ex's heats. In spite of running five sessions of this event (including the semis and the final) I was able to compete in 13 other tournaments. 27 people preregistered for the tournament. There were 11 no-shows and 14 walk-ons.

The first heat included a mix of eight old and new combatants. At one table, Matt Evinger lead for the first four turns. But, as often happens, he was brought down by the others. Mike Backstrom surged from last to first on turn 5 and held on until the finish on turn 6 to win over Mark Geary, Matt Hamel, and Matt Evinger. At the other table Matt Calkins and David Field had
pulled 18 points and more ahead by turn 4. Then Francis Spencer III scored 37 on the fifth and final turn to win while Matt and David were shut out. Tom DeMarco scored 27 on that turn to pass David and finish third.

The second heat had three repeaters and nine new players. At table 1 Kaarin Engelmann led throughout all six turns, beating Bruce Reiff, David Fritsch, and Judy Krauss. At table 2 both Marc Houde and Michael Mahady tried to limit the competition by throwing environments into confusion. No points were scored on turns 2 or 3. On turn 4 Francis used his '5' marker to change the environments an extra time to allow one of his species to be the only one to score, moving him into second behind Daniel Farrow. No one scored on turn 5, leaving Daniel with a winning score of 15, possibly the lowest winning score ever. Table 3 saw the now-infamous Rebecca Hebner get the lead on turn 1, score zero on turns 2 and 3 while Matt Evinger led, then scored big on turns 4 and 5 to win over Robert Eastman, Matt, and Tom.

The third heat had the same three repeaters and 13 new recruits. Table 1 ended in a tie as Craig Reese and Paul Barrett beat Nick Evinger and Francis. Table 2 had the current champion's mom, Katherine Hitchings beat Jeff Finkeldey, Robert Destro, and Victor Hogen. Table 3 saw Edward Kendrick easily defeat Erika Poniske, Matt, and Wendy DeMarco. And table 4 featured the Clash of the Titans as current champ Verity Hitchings and three-time former champ Tom DeMarco traded off the lead, with Tom edging Verity and beating Charles Davis and Brian Mountford.

Six of the ten winners in the heats (Mike, Daniel, Paul, Katherine, Edward and Tom) elected to continue. This allowed the two
alternates who came (Verity and Matt Evinger) to round out two tables. The top two at each table would go to the final. At the first table Daniel scored the most on turns 1 thru 4, winning on turn 5 with 88, almost twice Katherine's 46. Paul was third with 38, and Matt finished with 25. At the other table it looked like a replay of the heat 3 game with Verity and Tom tied for the lead on turns 1 and 3. On turn 4 however, Tom shot himself in the foot by attacking Edward, losing his only surviving species, and finishing third when not attacking would have given him the win. So Edward and Verity advanced while the DeMarco dynasty was denied for a third straight year.

In the final, Daniel attempted to use his '5' marker to change the environments so that his two species would survive. But only his smaller value species scored, giving him 3 to Verity and Edward's 10. On turn 2, Katherine scored 3 to the others' 10 each. Verity took sole possession of the lead on turn 3 as mother and daughter scored 18 each. Edward used his '5' marker for an extra battle and scored 13. Turn 4 was the penultimate turn as Verity scored 29, virtually securing the win. Daniel scored 23 on turn 5 to end with 55 points and finish second, ahead of Edward's 53 points and Katherine's 40. With five extra points from not using her marker, Verity scored a total of 86, easily repeating as champion.

Thanks to all the players in the tournament. I had a good time running it though I feel that I should have done better. I hope to see everyone back here next year.