Lancaster Rails ...
For the first heat, we had 28 players with four tables of
Empire Builder, one Euro Rails, one Lunar Rails, and the only
game of British Rails played in the event. The scores ranges
between 6 and 261. At the Empire Builder tables, Jim Fishkin,
John Morris, Stephen Squibb, and Mark Kennel recorded victories.
Mark Kennel's table had the largest gap between his final score
and the next highest score of 88, which went to John Clarke.
The lowest score of the day was also at this table with Rich
Curtin ending with 6 and only connecting to five major cities.
John Morris' table had the smallest gap between scores with his
261 (the highest of the day) and Rod Davidson's 128 consisting
of the total range. For the Euro Rails game, Charlie Davis pulled
out a win with 259. He had the closest competitor for the day
with 244 Jen Thomas logging a 244. The designer Bob Stribula
won the Lunar Rails table. For the British Rails game, Jeri Freedman
won her table with a score of 257.
The second heat, had 23 players with three Empire Builder
contests, one Lunar, one Euro Rails, and one Iron Dragon. The
second heat scores ranged between 7 and 265. The Empire Builders
were won by Jen Thomas, Debbie Gutermuth, and Tom Dunning. Jen
had the highest score of the day with 265. Debbie Gutermuth had
the closest game with her score of 262 topping Michael Zorrer
with 255, Mark Giddings with 245, and 216 for Nick Smith. Bob
Stibula won the Lunar Rails game again, but he had much closer
competition this time with Barbara Flaxington close behind with
210. William Duke won the Euro Rails game. Olin Hentz won the
Iron Dragon game. The lowest score of the day was at this table
with Stephen Snyder ending with only 7.
28 players attended the third heat with three Empire Builders,
one Euro Rails, one Iron Dragon, and the only games of Russia
Rails and North America. The last heat scores ranged between
a low of 46 and a high of 286. Ken Good, Wesley Kreger, and Mike
Zorrer won the Empire Builders. Mike's table was the closest
with his score of 252 besting the last place tally of 155 for
Jen Thomas. Mike Backstom won the Euro Rails game and Greg Stripes
the Iron Dragon game. Greg's table hung the lowest score of the
day on Nick Smith. Dan Boyland won the North America game. The
courageous table of four that played the very latest addition
to the Rails series (Russian Rails) was Bill Peech, Ted Mullally,
Inger Henning, and David Metheny. Ted won the table.
There were five tables of four-player Euro Rails for the semifinal
round. At the first table, Tom Dunning won over John Morris At
the second table, Debbie Gutermuth pulled out a win with Jim
Fishkin close behind. Tedd Mullally won the third table with
the closest set of semi scores; Olin Hentz, William Duke, and
Dan Boyland were all closely grouped behind Tedd. Mark Kennel
won the fourth table handily over Jeri Freedman. A very unusual
ending occurred at the last table. On what they thought was the
last round of play, Ken Good and Mike Backstrom both declared
the win only to find they both had the same score (251). This
meant the entire table had to play onto the first to score over
300. Jen Thomas and Mike Zorrer tried to keep up, but Good and
Backstrom had too much of a lead. Backstrom pulled out the win
with 315 while Ken Good finished with 296.
EuroRails was the game for the Final round. Since GM Debbie
Gutermuth qualified for the Final game, Paul Van Bloem stpped
in to moderate. Paul was also instrumental in allowing the players
to concentrate on their game while he handled all the banking
and transferring of the loads/goods. Mike Backstrom was the starting
player. The tax card was drawn early and at that point,Ted Mullally
led with $116M followed close behind by Tom Dunning with $112M.
Mike Backstrom had $73M, Debbie Gutermuth $31M and Mark Kennel
brought up the rear with $4M. From there, Tom drew some great
cards that complimented his track. Cards were being flushed so
much that the tax card soon came out again! This time Tom had
taken a big lead with $224M. This also meant that he had to make
more deliveries than he had planned. Well behind at this point
was Ted with $139M, Mike with $98M, Mark with $88M, and Debbie
with $81M. Tom was able to make his additional deliveries - a
total of 18 - and won the game handily with $253M. Ted had made
up some ground and ended with $186M on 16 deliveries. Mike had
also made some big runs and was able to hold onto third with
$175M from 21 deliveries. Fourth went to Mark who ended with
$127M from 18 deliveries. Debbie took fifth with $111M on 16
deliveries.
Congratulations to Tom for successfully defending his championship.
Good luck everyone next year.
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