Tough Year

With stiff competition from Puerto Rico and Royal Turf, attendance dropped off a bit from last year. Thirty-one people sat down to compete in four grueling rounds of Facts in Five. After the first grid was evaluated, one player dropped out due to difficulties with our language.

A new (actually, the first) GM helmed this year's edition, simply to give long-time GM Richard Irving a well-deserved break. Based on the groans heard as categories were announced and scores were tabulated, it may be time for another GM next year (if Richard doesn't want to reclaim it, Winton Lemoine has volunteered). Nonetheless, all 30 who completed the first round played to the bitter end.

The first grid was comprised of the following categories and starting letters:
Retired Hurricane Names
US National Parks
County Names in 10 or More US States
Dr. Seuss Books
Constellations
A C G H M

For those familiar with this packaged version of the parlor game Categories, the goal is to correctly select one answer for each combination of category and starting letter. A perfect grid would garner 250 points, and is typically not an infrequent feat at the WBC. Such was not the case with this particular grid. Francis Spencer's 158 tally was tops, and only three others bested the century mark. Average score for the round was 55.

Mr. Spencer was also the only person to come up with the lone "M" retired hurricane name (Marilyn). He also ran two categories (giving a correct answer for all five letters)--hurricanes and Dr. Seuss Books. Luke Kratz and Doug Hoylman also ran a category--US National Parks. This grid also saw our second-most consistent answer of the night: 27 people chose "The Cat in the Hat" for the Seuss/C combination, while the other three simply left their answer block empty.

The second round was a little better, netting an average score of 60. The categories and letters were as follows:
Jane Austen Novels
First Names of First Ladies
Artists with a 10+Million Selling Album
Forbes Income Sources for Rich Folk
Hall of Fame Pitchers
E M N P S

In the past, along with being called American-centric, this event has been accused of being unfriendly to our female participants. Hence the addition of the Jane Austen category. Well, one person did, in fact, run this category--and it happened to be a woman--Jeri Freedman. But the other women in attendance came up with only one title amongst them. The easiest category in this batch seems to have been the First Ladies' First Names, with an average of three correct picks per person. Even so, Jessica Greenwood was the only participant to run this category. Too many people were stymied by the fact that Eleanor Roosevelt's first name was Anna. The only other perfect category belonged to Irving (Income Sources for Rich Folk).

Other interesting tidbits: Aaron Silverman had the top score with 112 points and Stephen Glenn was the only person who failed to recall Nancy Reagan, making this the biggest single common answer in any round.

At this point, three players had 200 or more points (Hoylman, Winton Lemoine, and Spencer). The next round could shake things up a bit. The grid:

Tournaments at AvalonCon I
Top 100 Girls names of the 1960s
Katharine Hepburn Films
League of Nations Signees
Permanent Baskin-Robbins Flavors
B G P R W

This round saw our least popular category, another one stereotypically designed to thwart the men in the audience--Films of Katharine Hepburn. Though three of the answers (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Philadelphia Story or Pat & Mike, and Woman of the Year) seemed like gimmes, the average player nailed only 0.8 of the five choices and 14 people skipped the category entirely. Maybe old films aren't so appealing anymore. In fact, only Paul Bean selected Woman of the Year, and more surprisingly, Hoylman came up with A Bill of Divorcement. And maybe Kratz worked at a Baskin-Robbins in a past life; he was the only person to know the sole "G" permanent flavor (Gold Medal Ribbon). That, along with running the AvalonCon I Tournaments category led Luke to the round championship (112 points). Mr. Spencer ran the '60s Girls Names category. Average score for the round: 59.

By now, everyone seemed resigned to the fact that scores would be low, yet the final preliminary round would see our best scores of the night--an average of 109.

2-Letter Scrabble Words Ending w/ Consonants
Top 100 Boys Names of the 1910s
Top 50 US Newspaper (by circ.) Names (like "Times")
Emmy "Best Comedy Show" Nominees
British Monarchs, not last names
E H M O S

Only Jason Levine's brain cramp (he listed only words ending in vowels) kept the letters "E" and "I" from being correct on everyone's Scrabble Word entries. No player missed coming up with a popular 1910s Boy's Name starting with H. That's partly due to the fact that there was significant overlap between Monarchs and 100-year-old boy names (again, Levine kept us from going 30-for-30 on the H's with his remembrance of King Harris). Another perfect category went to Monarchs/E, with Edward listed on 17 grids and Elizabeth on 13. All totaled, the Boys Names category turned out to be our best-scoring category of the evening (3.6 correct entries per player).

Several players ran a category. In 1910s Boys Names, Lemoine (high score for the round, 174), Irving, Bob Cranshaw, Bean, Stephanie Greenwood, Michael McKibbin, and Mr. Glenn were all perfect. Eight players missed no monarchs: Hoylman, Irving, Cranshaw, Bean, Meyer, Matthew Mason, Freedman, and Gordon Rodgers. And Mr. Hoylman also ran the Scrabble category.
Doug was the only person to come up with "Express" for a newspaper name and young Tyler Shaeffer was the only person to come up with a legitimate "M" answer (Morning News).

Per the structure of the event, the top six players, plus anyone else within 100 points of the leader advance to the fifth and final round. Thus, eight players made the cut to tackle this grid:

People Who Have Walked on the Moon
National Flags with a Lone Star
Top 100 20th Century English Language Novels
Top US Grad Schools (medicine, law, business)
Pampered Chef cooking/kitchen items
A C I M S

What seemed like the only obvious moonwalker selection, "Armstrong", was answered by seven of the eight. Doug Hoylman went outside the norm and selected Buzz Aldrin, also a correct answer. He and Francis Spencer were the only two to come up with Astronaut James Irwin, too. Paul Bean showed off with the only valid Flags/S answer (Senegal). Doug and Paul also were the only people to answer with a legit Pampered Chef item for a couple of our letters--Doug got the "I" (Ice Cream Scoop) and Paul the "M" (Masher). Finally, in this round with an average score of 65, four people ran the Grad School category: Hoylman, Meyer, Silverman, and Lemoine.

As it turned out, the victor of the round was also the leader heading into the finals--Doug Hoylman. His 90 points easily held his position at the top, and allowed him to be a repeat winner of the WBC Facts in Five plaque (he and Aaron have now alternated as champs for the past four years). Complete Standings follow:

Name	Score
Finalists
Doug Hoylman	       558
Richard Irving	     490
Winton Lemoine      478
Francis Spencer    	458
Aaron Silverman    	450
Rich Meyer	         450
Luke Kratz	         448
Paul Bean	          444

Cut Line =          368

Michael McKibbin	   344
Bob Cranshaw	       338
Matthew Mason	      304
Roderick Lee	       292
Jeri Freedman      	290
Bill Cleary	        278
Jeff Ladd	          278
Ted ?	              272
Gordon Rodgers	     268
Stephanie Greenwood	264
Bill Beckman	       242
Mark Oldfield	      242
Jason Levine	       238
Vassili Kyrkos	     238
Ilan Wall	          236
Ray Stakenas II	    212
Barry Barnes	       198
Jessica Greenwood	  192
Stephen Glenn	      164
John Kratz	         154
Ed Bielcik	         152
Tyler Shaeffer	      82

Congratulations to all who endured this event and good luck next year, when we will surely have a more forgiving set of categories.