This year's tournament witnessed 110 settlers despite playing opposite a heat of Puerto Rico. The ballroom was a bit crowded, but settlers are a burly group and staked a claim to appropriate territory. Settlers still continue to attend this event under the "one day pass" that the WBC offers. The draw of the 1995 "Game of the Year" is still powerful a decade later.

The format of this year's contest remained unchanged. Random set up, random dice rolls, random decks were all standard fare. The addition of placing a city instead of a second settlement and placing a third road are all concepts used at the KOSMOS tournament in Germany. I'll continue to use these concepts, along with any others, that they adopt.

The assistant GMs proved vital for the contest this year. While I got to stand on a chair and bellow assignments, they had the task of sorting the assignments by table score. No small feat with the number of folks involved. I truly appreciate their efforts. This year's contest started off on time, with all games starting by 9.20 am. The tournament consisted of three preliminary rounds. Entrants could (and some did) miss a round, but this made it impossible for them to advance to the semi-finals. Still, if you're
coming to play a round or two, instead of pursue the wood, you are more than welcome, as long as you give me the word that you're leaving. First round was set at random, with each subsequent round sorted to keep players with the same level of points playing together, as reason allowed. Each player was awarded Tournament Points for their placement in their games. Five points for 1st, three for 2nd, two for 3rd and one point for 4th place were earned. Ties for a position simply split the points earned. The top 16 scorers would advance to the semi-finals. A published procedure was used for resolving ties. This used a percentage of points earned at the table. With the limit set at 90 minutes per game, including set-up, the KOSMOS format proved vital for keeping the tournament on schedule. A special thanks goes out to Jamie Tang for bringing enough brownies to be offered to every player. I especially hope you'll be back next year!

After the third round completed, my Assistant GMS brought out the calculators. Yours truly was included in the "Sweet 16" until a card was found to have been completed incorrectly. (Once again, foiled by a nefarious Pretzel Boy!) So, I settled into 17th place. The semi-finals saw George Brace as the sole returneee from the 2003 Final Four makng the penultimate round. The Semis also saw people from Israel, Canada, and Germany in the ranks. It does look as if the WBC is emphasizing the "W" at least from the Settlers perspective. The cut off point to advance was 11 points. This required two wins, or a win and two seconds. The winners at each of the four tables advanced to the Final, while the published tournament scoring was used to determine 5th and 6th place. This year, the tie breaking method went to the third level, with the difference between 6th and 7th place being separated by less than 1%. A special mention goes to Mike Backstrom for being on the non-wood side of the split hair that separated him from wood. Pierre Leboeuf finished in 6th with David Burkey taking 5th place wood.

The Final Four table seated the players in random chairs, per their own request. Nearly 30 minutes went by as the players considered their initial set-ups. This demonstrates that this portion of the game is the most over-looked of the game. Initial positions can make or break a player's chances. The game was a tense one, as each player continued to point out how much they were _not_ in the lead with each trade offer. The game had its peaks and valleys. 8s were rolled twelve times in the middle of the game, compared to 6s being rolled only twice. Still, careful trading could have overcome the "skewed" dice, but it wasn't to be. As the final construction phase ended, we had this years champion identified. Aran Warszawski reached the 10 point goal. Michelle Hymowitz placed second with six points. Rod Davidson was close behind to place third with five points. Haim Hochboim grabbed 4th place with four points.

Once again, I congratulate all of you who played in the tournament. I especially thank those of you who had a kind word for the Asst GMs or myself. (Despite the fact that the tip jar was empty!) I'm already looking forward to next year in our new digs.

 21 little Settlers contested the WBC Settlers of Catan Juniors title. The best of these proved to be Sydney Engelstein of New Jersey who won, not only WBC wood, but better yet, braggin' rights over the rest of the famliy including brother Brian who finsihed second. The other finalists, in order, were:

3rd: Jennifer Sutton

4th: Daniel Long

5th: Andrew Wilson