Eric Brosius and Mike Fitzgerald check out the newest German Game of the Year winner by Rio Grande Games. It saw frequent play in the Cafe Jay demo tables.	A late entry to the WBC schedule, T&T nonetheless drew well enough to make the 2007 Century but was dropped to Trial status eligibility for GM failure to submit an event report.

The inaugural Thurn & Taxis tournament drew an impressive 37 unique entrants.  Impressive because it was a last-minute addition to the WBC tournament schedule to replace the delayed Gloria Mundi and was not even listed in the program.  Of course, it didn't hurt that the game had recently received the prestigeous Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) in Germany, and, it's just a fun game to play.

The first heat had eight games, mostly 4-player, but one with three players  Winners advancing were: David Gagne, Tim Hall, Jack Jaeger, Eric Brosius, Jarrett Weintraub, Charlie Kersten, Robbie Mitchell and Nick Henning.  The second heat had five games, again mostly 4-player with one 3-player version.  Winners advancing from this heat were: Raphael Lehrer, Ray Pfeifer, Thomas Browne, Anne Norton and Andy Lewis.

The semi-final was four 4-player games.  Since some of the heat winners did not appear for the semi's, a few alternates were advanced in their place.  The winners of the four games were: Eric Brosius, Raphael Lehrer, Charlie Kersten and Anne Norton.

The Final saw Raphael begin with a 7-color route.  Eric followed soon after with the same route.  Charlie fought to keep the Mannheim card out of Anne's hand, taking it from the display and flushing it when need be.  The other players stopped Charlie from shuffling the deck when he "accidentally" dropped two Mannheim cards under the table. (This really was an accident, no cheating occurred).  Charlie also snatched the Ingolstadt card out of Raphael's grasp, leaving him in dire need of it while the other three had it in their routes.  Anne ended the game by playing a 5-route and using the Cartwright to claim the 7 carriage.  Eric was also able to get a 7 carraige on the last turn by using the Cartwright.  Anne & Eric had one house remaining in their supply, while Raphael had none left.  All players played close to optimally, but Charlie was handicapped by a tough first route completion.

Finals scores were: Anne Norton: 28, Eric Brosius 26, Raphael Lehrer 24 and Charlie Kersten 12 pts.  Congratulations to Anne for a well-played win.

Despite its scheduling handicap, the game has qualified for the Century and will return as a tournament next year. I expect attendance to skyrocket.  So come join us!