power grid [Updated January 2008]  

2007 WBC Report  

  2008 Status: pending 2008 GM commitment

Patrick Shea, VA

2007 Champion

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Event History
2004    Eric Brosius       84
2005    Jim Castonguay       94
2006    Jim Castonguay       79
2007     Patrick Shea     121

Euro Quest Event History
2005    John Downing     25
2006    David Houston     36
2007     J.J. Jaskiewicz     41

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Jim Castonguay     PA    06     80
  2.  Patrick Shea       VA    07     60
  3.  Richard Meyer      MA    07     48
  4.  Eric Brosius       MA    04     40
  5.  Rod Spade          PA    06     39
  6.  J. J. Jaskiewicz   MD    07     30
  7.  David Houston      MD    06     30
  8.  John Downing       VA    05     30
  9.  Robert Sohn        NJ    06     28
 10.  Bill Crenshaw      VA    06     27
 11.  Jeff Bowers        UT    07     24
 12.  Gerald Lientz      VA    05     24
 13.  Evan Tannheimer    MA    04     24
 14.  Bill Salvatore     MD    07     23
 15.  Bill Crenshaw      VA    07     18
 16.  Bill Murdock       NY    07     18
 17.  Leigh Eirich       MD    06     16
 18.  Matt Calkins       VA    05     16
 19.  Tim Swartz         MD    04     16
 20.  Barb Flaxington    NJ    07     15
 21.  Tom McCorry        VA    07     12
 22.  Raphael Lehrer     MD    06     12
 23.  Luke Koleszar      VA    06     12
 24.  Perrianne Lurie    PA    05     12
 25.  Steve Koleszar     VA    05      8
 26.  Frank Hastings     MD    04      8
 27.  Sandra Scanlon     MD    07      6
 28.  Craig Trader       VA    07      6
 29.  Tom Browne         PA    05      6
 30.  Phil Rennert       MD    06      4
 31.  Marshall Phillips  VA    04      4
 32.  Joe Ward           MD    07      3
 33.  Lyman Moquin       DC    05      3

2007 Laurelists

Rich Meyer, MA
2nd

Jeff Bowers, UT
3rd

Bill Murdock, NY
4th

Tom McCorry, VA
5th

Craig Trader, VA
6th


Past Winners

Eric Brosius, MA
2004

Jim Castonguay, PA
2005 - 2006

Power Grid has always drawn well but broke the 100-player barrier for the first time in 2007 while becoming a level 6 event.

The move to the larger confines of the Marietta room in 2007 was well timed as all three heats drew well - as did Thurn & Taxis - another Euro which surprised with triple digit entries.

Even More Power ...

Thanks at least partly to Eric Freeman's Euro scheduling initiative, we saw a 50% increase in attendance over 2006. The first heat had 65 entrants, for 13 5-player games. The map choices were Benelux or the United States; eight chose the US map. The second heat, with a choice of Germany or Central Europe, had 56 entrants with an overwhelmingl choice of Germany (ten games, vs. two). The last heat offered France or Italy for 61 attendees; again, the choice of map was lopsided, with only four of the 13 games played on the Italian map.

The higher attendance affected not only the size of the heats, but the requirements for advancing to the semi-final. Whereas in 2006 all 22 winners were eligible (along with a few alternates) for the 25 semi-final positions, in 2007 there were 37 winners. Twenty-two won their first heat, and one person (Rod Davidson) won two games although not his first heat; but with only 22 first-heat winners he was certain to have a spot in the semi-finals. There were some no-shows at the semi-finals, of course, but all twho advanced had won a game. The semi-final map choices were France and the United States. France was used in only one of the semi-final games.

The Final was played in Germany, and lasted only eight turns. The second turn, Jeff Bowers got the #30 plant for $32 and Tom McCorry got the #32 plant for cost. This kind of move early in the game can either be very good -- getting an end-game plant early -- or very bad -- leaving a player too cash-poor to keep up with the opposition. In this case, it made no difference because the very next turn the other three finalists (Rich Meyer, Bill Murdock and Patrick Shea) purchased similar plants (#39, #26, and #36, respectively). For most of the game, Patrick was the only person purchasing coal, which worked in his favor because that's the only type of fuel he used all game. He managed the coal well and was able to win the game powering 12 cities -- the same as both Rich (2nd) and Jeff (3rd ), but Patrick had the most cash. Tom finished 4th with 11 cities, and Bill 5th with 10.

Patrick earned the most over the first seven turns (the payments aren't made on the last turn); he earned $522, followed by Rich ($484), Bill ($463), Tom ($415) and Jeff ($398). Jeff paid the least in resources throughout the game ($67); Tom and Patrick paid $90 each and Bill and Rich paid $85 and $76, respectively. The city costs were close: Rich spent $294 for 15 cities (average cost: $19.60); Jeff spent $241 for 12 cities (average cost: $20.08); Patrick spent $236 for 12 cities (average cost: $19.67); Tom spent $227 for 11 cities (average cost: $20.64); and Bill spent $220 for 10 cities (average cost: $22.00). Patrick only purchased three power plants throughout the game; the others bought four except for Bill who purchased six.

The most paid for a power plant was $47, for the #36 plant (by Patrick). However, there were several games, including one of the semi-finals, where multiple plants were auctioned off for more than $100. In fact, on the last turn in one 3rd heat game, four plants went for $100 or more!

The most common starting plant was #5 (chosen 40 times), followed by #4 (36 times), #8 (30 times), #9, #10 (23 times each), #7 (22 times), #3 (20 times), #6 (11 times), #13 (twice), and #18 (once - on the Benelux map). The starting plant chosen by the game winners followed a similar pattern: eight chose #5, seven the #4 plant, six chose #8, five chose #7 and #10, four chose #9 and #3, and one chose the #18. The ten most common plants at game end were: #30 (41 games), #20 & #32 (37 games each), #28 & #31 (34 games each), #25 & #26 (33 games each), #29 & #34 (29 games each), and #21 & #24 (25 games each). Several people finished with starting plants still in their hands: #4 (twice), #5, #7, #8, #9 (once each), and #10 (five times). Among the winners, the favorite plant was, again, #30 (14 times), then #25, #26, and #21 (ten times each), #32 (nine times), #20 & #34 (seven times each), and #31, #33, #35, #36, #40, #46 (five times each).

For the record, Patrick Shea, the champion had these plants at the end of the Final: #10, #15, #36. Rich Meyer (2nd) had #16, #23, and #39. Jeff Bowers (3rd) held #27, #28, and #30. Tom McCorry (4th) had #20, #22, and #32. Bill Murdock (5th) had #21, #24 and #26.

I will not be able to GM Power Grid in 2008 so another volunteer is solicited.


2007 Euro Quest Laurelists

J. J. Jaskiewicz, MD
1st

Bill Crenshaw, VA
2nd

Bill Salvatore, MD
3rd

Barb Flaxington, NJ
4th

Sandra Scanlon, MD
5th

 GM      Craig Trader  [1st Year]   NA
   craig@trader.name   NA

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