The end of a legend???
The third WBC Die Macher tournament started off at
a new time Saturday morning with ten total contestants (including
three fresh faces) to vie for the plaque. The biggest complaint
the GM received was that the time conflicted with many other
games that potential entrants were playing, including several
semifinal rounds. In the future because of the length of the
game rounds (4-5 hours), it may be advisable to hold multiple
heats (including very late night heats since most people can
be found playing pickup Die Macher games very late anyways)
to increase the field. Of the players entered, 30% were women,
a statistic that most WBC competitions fall far short of having.
Less than half of last year's finalists returned, including
the GM, Tom DeMarco. But, Tom did drop by often to see how it
was going and snap a few "candid photos. Next year, we
eagerly look forward to Tom reprising his role as Die Macher
GM (although there are rumblings that twice runner-up, Paul Skrabut
may be talked into taking on that role).
 We
also saw several rules disputes, including whether Party Contribution
cards should be revealed simultaneously (which the GM ruled they
should) and whether Opinion Cards are bid on with the active
region first or last (incorrectly ruled to be last in the preliminary
rounds, but fixed for the final game and bid on first). Each
of these have an important impact on the game. Party Contribution
cards have a bonus roll earned for the person giving up the largest
contribution which is negated if two players give up the highest
contribution and Opinion Cards bid on last in the round usually
go for less as players expend their cash on earlier polls.
The first preliminary table saw what was probably one of the
lowest scoring and closest scoring finishes ever. Paul Skrabut's
Green party garnered 269 total points, pulling out the victory,
despite only winning one region (worth 26 mandate, the third
lowest in the game). Eventual tournament winner, Roger Whitney's
FDP party earned 261 total points. FDP pulled out wins in the
first and second region (worth 24 and 32 respectively) and lost
by a nose the 4th region which was won by the Green party. Lyman
Moquin finished third with 248 points to sneak into the final
round with 91% of the winning score. In fourth place was newcomer
Susan Cornett's CDU party at 246 points and Kenneth Pinder's
PDS rounded out the table.
The second preliminary game was a fun game, congenially played
by all (despite being delayed to accommodate a late arriving
fifth and being hampered by having to accommodate the GM's presence).
Doug Smith,s PDS party dominated the table (despite claiming
to have "very little experience with the game) and easily
ran away with the victory. Second place went to Jamie Tang's
SPD party, but since she was unable to play in the Final, Mike
Ryan's Green party in third place advanced instead. The GM duked
it out with William Lentz for fourth place. There were a lot
of high-mandate regions (272 total) and several surprising Party
Contribution acceptances. After winning the full 54 and 60 mandates
and earning $54 and $60 respectively, several players took party
contributions rather than adding to their presence on the national
board. This proved to be a strategic play, as the ability to
afford pricier opinion polls may actually be more useful than
hoping for a couple lucky die rolls.
Especially if you roll like the GM did
The final match saw another dearth of any large mandate regions,
with a 15, 50, 24, and 22 on the board to start. Finishing out
the regions were 32, 54, and 20. Players were to be cash-poor
and required to lean heavily on special interest contributions
to keep their parties in contention the whole game.
The ability to match the final opinion makeup of the national
board proved to be the winning factor for Roger who easily outplayed
the rest of the finalists. Besides taking the most mandate (164
to Mike's 147 and Lyman's 140), he took 55 points for having
matching opinions whereas both Mike and Lyman matched for only
10 points. That 45 point difference not only solidified Roger's
win but also sunk both Mike and Lyman to 4th and 3rd place, respectively,
below Paul's Green party who matched for a whopping 70 points.
Next year, Die Macher may be a Continuing Trial tournament
again unless elevated to Century status in the BPA's voting for
the 2005 Century additions. If you want to ensure that there
will be such a tournament in 2006, please renew your membership
before Dec 31st and vote for Die Macher! Thanks to all
who came out to make this year's tournament successful.
CDU: Lyman FDP: Mike Green: Paul SPD: Doug PDS: Roger
Mandate 140 147 113 100 164
Media 20 52 32 40 45
Pty Membership 44 39 58(+10) 37 51(+6)
Nat/Pty Match 10 10 70(+5) 20 55(+5)
Total Score 214 248 288 197 326
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Ann Cornett [1st Year]
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acornett26@yahoo.com
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