77 would-be railroad tycoons showed up to take part in the second Union Pacific WBC tournament; up ten from the first year. The event was run as a SE in one evening. The first round mainly consisted of 4-player games although we had to have five 5-player games due to people straggling in as I was making table assignments. If they had come in more as a group I could have made an additional table of four except again we were short of games; we had exactly 18 using my copy although I didn't play. Please don't assume just because it's a multi-player game, that there will be plenty of copies. Since I had more than 16 boards, I decided that 20 players would advance to a semi-final round of 5-player tables. This meant two runnerups would advance. Both of these players eventually lost their respective games by only one dollar. I will have to work up a better system next year either to eliminate the need for runner-ups to advance or to make the system of selection cleaner and clearer.

The average winning score in the first round was 124.2 for the 4-player games and 106.8 for the 5-player games. The average margin of victory was 11.9 and 12.2, respectively. The lowest and highest winning scores and margins were 111 to 139 and 1 to 22 for the 4-player games and 88 to 130 and 1 to 41 for the 5-player games. All games finished in the allotted 1.5 hours.

The table assignments for the semi-finals was random. Surprisingly, play was even faster in the semis; all four games finished within an hour. The average winning score in the second round was 99.3 and the average margin 10. The lowest and highest winning scores and margins were 94 to 110 and 2 to 19.

The Final was another tight match. The final scores were 117, 113, 107, 103. Scott Pfeiffer had a one-point lead after the first golden train. Jamie Tang took a three-point lead at the second golden train. She maintained the same lead after the third golden train before picking up an additional point in the final scoring. Jamie took a guaranteed first place in UP before the second golden train appeared. She then played for control of some of the smaller lines, scoring1st place points in Kansas City Central (8 pts in final scoring), Wyoming & Western (6 pts in final scoring), and Denver Midland (8 pts in final scoring) for the 2nd, 3rd, and final golden trains. The other railroads had the following1st place points in the final scoring: El Paso & Rio Grande (8), Billings Northern Light (13), Miami Southern (6), Sioux Falls Royal Blue (9), United Mexican (8), Empire State (6), Marquette Rocky Road (7), so it was a very balanced game for each railroad.

The final was played in 45 minutes. A comment was made that play was faster because of the scoresheets I provided so that money didn't have to be passed out. This scoresheet will be available on the tournament page in the near future along with a diagram showing exactly how the stock card draw pile is supposed to be made. This set-up is the most confusing part of the entire tournament.

I see a lot discussion of how important UP stock is. In the first round, six of the twelve 4-player and three of the five 5-player games had the player with the most UP stock win, although in three the player was tied for first in UP. In the semi-finals, three of the four winners were tied for the most UP stock. And of course Jamie Tang won with the most UP. So it does appear that going big in UP is important and gives you the flexibility to go for smaller railroads.