This year we had two new players, Bill Duke and Tom Vickery, come to the demo, enter the tournament, and advance to the final match.

On Table 1 Lauren Vessey was defeated in the Pinnacle Adventure as she tried to earn victory points. On her first try she was kicked out immediately. The next try saw her attacked by a phorusrhacos and a stegosaurus, losing some tools in the process. She then rolled the dice and lost half her victory points.

When Bill Duke had 27 victory points and a declared escape card, Steve Dickson attacked him to steal the escape item. Bill rolled a 7 using three dice to Steve's 6, allowing Bill to keep his escape item and to eventually win the board.

On Table 2 Robert Navolis kept exiting adventures early. David Brooks took a long time to get victory points but, at the end of the game, had almost enough to win and was ready to try to earn the remainder in his escape adventure. Abigail Cocke was sent back to camp after an unsuccessful battle, but used an experience card to avoid losing a turn. This placed her next door to the Pinnacle Adventure and victory.

On Table 3 Thomas Vickery gave the appearance of taking an early lead by discovering an escape item and two additional tools. Mark Love and Ken Whitesell, fearing this threat, continually sent the Tyrannosaurus after him. During this time Ken managed to pick up the lost map and Mark, the tarpaulin. Ken managed with three free moves to cross the plateau to the Indian Caves Adventure. There, he hoped to pick up one last victory point to win, but was twice forced out of the adventure. Meanwhile, Mark had enough victory points but, with bad dice rolls, was thrown out of the Geyser Adventure twice. Thomas Vickery had the victory points and enough experience cards and completed the Pinnacle Adventure to win the board.

On Table 4, Katherine Hitchings managed on turn 2 to draw escape card # 23 and discover the rope. During most of the game, the players remained grouped closely in points. When Katherine was three points shy, she decided to take the Pinnacle Adventure, hoping to gain the three points necessary to win and to successfully complete the adventure. She acquired the three points, but then lost them. She then had to take the Lava Pit Adventure to earn the necessary points and rush back to the Pinnacle. During this time, Seth Kirchner went to the Indian Caves to get the last few victory points he needed for a win. Unfortunately, he did not have any gifts or a flashlight to gain experience cards, which caused him to rely on dice rolls. Seth acquired the victory points he needed but, even with numerous tries, was unable to complete the adventure to win. Ashley Dunn tried the Geyser Adventure, hoping to gain the four victory points she needed, but earned only three. She needed to take another adventure to gain the final point and then return to the Geyser. Barry Shutt earned 23 victory points, but had no escape item. Fortunately for Katherine, while Seth was struggling with the Indian Caves, she was able to gain the needed victory points at the Lava Pit, return to the Pinnacle, and escape the Lost Plateau.

The finals this saw saw Katherine, Bill, Abigail, and Tom struggling again to get off the Lost Plateau. Shortly after the game started, Tom discovered the rope and Bill, the lost map and the tarpaulin. That left only the three event card escape items. Katherine tried to draw them by landing on event spaces, but drew only red cards. She then arranged with Bill to trade five victory points for an undeclared event escape card 22. Abigail was on her way to victory with declared escape card 23 when Bill attacked her expedition and took away the card. Abigail then made a rope at the Carnivorous Plant Patch to activate escape card 21, but kept being sent back to camp and losing her turn. Katherine had finally reached the necessary victory point total and was on her way to the Indian Caves when Bill earned the last victory points he needed and escaped the plateau for the win and this year's wood.

 There were 13 pint-sized explorers on Professor Challenger's Lost World this year. Jacob Hebner proved the most successful. He was followed in order by three other winners of first round games:

Initially, we were in desperate straits as five minutes before game time we had only my copy to play with (and its rules seem to have disappeared!) But the word got out and the cavalry arrived in the form of five additional games with no time to spare. A pat on the back to Robert Navolis who offered us the use of two copies and acted as Assistant GM in the bargain.

First round games were boisterous and fun to watch. Girl players revealed their practical side in playing solely for points while the boys tended to attack one another and take each other's "stuff." Which strategy worked? In the end two girls and two boys were represented among the finalists. The average scoring during the tournament was in the high teens, although winning scores tended to be 20+. Jacob Hebner took first place with 27. Second place went to Jessica Finkeldey and third to Suzanne Welker. Congratulations to you all!

Special recognition goes to Daniel Collinson and Jacob Hebner for their excellent sportsmanship. Despite sustaining multiple losses of equipment & victory points AND turns to fellow players, these lads laughed it off and kept playing without rancor. I commend these young men as amazing examples of how to play the game ... any game!

See you next year, Dinosaur Hunters.

John Poniske JR GM