This year we had 79 players, 25% up from last year. And since many of the players were new to the game (or hadn't played in a few years), the prospect of reaching the glory days of yore may soon become a reality. While the option to use the new version of the game (Fantasy Flight's Colossal Arena) was available, all of the games ended up using the Avalon Hill version.

23 preliminary games occurred over three heats, producing 22 winners (Dan Eshleman won two heats). Of those, 17 came to test their mettle furher in the semifinal, with three alternates who took second in a heat filling the remainder of the field. The semifinal matches were grueling. In one, Joe Burch used the Head Referee to expose David Burkey's secret bet in Round 2, sealing the fate of both David and his Dragon, and helping Harry Flawd to advance to the Final.

Joining Harry at the Final table were Carmen Petruzzelli, Morio Taketori, Rob Kirchner, and Dan Eshelman. The first round was friendly; everyone made a secret bet, and the un-bet upon Dragon was the first to fall. The second round appeared just as friendly; the Hydra died without any chips. But the third round was going to get ugly, with each player having bet on one of the creatures in the first round, another in the second round, and yet different ones in round 3. As the majority of players had some interest in most creatures, there was quite a lot of jockeying done before the Troll (bet on by Morio, Dan, and Harry, in round order) finally died. The fourth round was similar, with the Titan (the one creature with no first-round bet) succombing, taking another token from Morio and Dan.

As the only finalist without an undefeated record, Rob had the chance to stay under the radar as they targetted each other, and largely it worked - only his third-round bet on the Warlock was lost in round 5. He did forget to bet his last chip, which could have proved crucial. The three surviving creatures each had at least three different colors, so the visible bets were all close. As usual, it came down to secret bets. Morio's and Carmen'·s secret bets did not survive, putting them out of the running. Robert managed to win by one point over Dan and Harry, so he hadn't needed that forgotten chip after all.

Congratulations to our 2005 Champ, Robert Kirchner, and thank you all for playing. I hope to see you all next year!

Only twelve little Titans were on hand Tuesday night for the first regular Junior's event slot, but they waged a colossal battle nonetheless. The finalists were:

1st: Tommy Miklos

2nd: Carolyn Strock

3rd: Zack Dunn

4th: Daniel Collinson

5th: Tim Keating