Nine ladies played Galaxy and two won laurels. Above Joaane Melton and Stefany Speck contemplate their next move.	The finalists share a joke while deciding the fate of worlds. Long suffering GM Mark Mitchell finally won his own event.

War of the Worlds 21st Century Style ...

For all you lurkers out there who have been wondering whether WBC is for ordinary folks too, you can stop. This past August the stars were indeed in alignment during the WBC. I can unequivocably say this because the winner of the Galaxy tournament was yours truly, the beloved GM! I haven't missed a WBC/Avaloncon since 1993 and this is the first time I've won first place wood! Move over Stein ... losers of the world unite ... there is hope! That should convince the last doubters out there hesitant to play in a tournament, they have nothing to worry about. They can now say, "hey, if Stein and Mitchell can win it, anybody can!".

Aa total of 23 games were played this year, and there was plenty to remember. The most amazing fact is in the category of worlds that remained alive at the end of the games. There was an even balance and no single world stood out as the number one choice. Three different worlds were saved ten times and another three survived nine games. That suggests an excellent balance in that no one world is so heavily coveted that any of the planets stands a reasonable chance of survival. Even the two that survived the least (the Cylor and Myrmidon) lasted through six games each.

Despite that, there was some favoritism in choosing secret bases. The Divergence was chosen 16 times and the next highest world was the Imperial with 11 secret bases. There were only three players who won despite losing their secret base in the process. Needless to say, those were some of the lowest scoring games of the tournament. One of those games produced the hard luck story of the event, belonging to Steve Cameron. In his semi-final game he lost nine points at the end of the first round. He had four points in the first world to be eliminated and it also happened to be his secret base. Despite scoring only eight points, he finished second in that game by coming out on the short end of a tiebreaker in the low scoring affair.

For a change, the Final was bereft of former champions, though there were plenty of players familiar with getting to the last round. It was the second consecutive appearance by Danielle Zack, who learned the game at WBC 2007. It should only be a matter of time before we see her take home wood. Marty, Jed, and I had met previously in the 2006 Final.

This year's Final was close, as usual. No clear leader emerged until the final card was played. In the end, the winner had to be determined by tiebreaker, when Jed Shambed and I both had 11 points. (Dave Buchholz only one point behind.) Even the tiebreaker came down to the wire, as Jed had 47 total points in his hand and I had 52! That's the closest finish for a Galaxy Final in it's WBC history.

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GM Mark Mitchell, otherwise known as the old fogey to his charges, puts the teens thrrough their paces.	Danielle Zack, #4, who has laurelled the last two years in Galaxy, was less successful against younger opposition -- proving that us old folks are too predictable.

Galaxy Teens

The Teen Social Hour drew nine young 'uns for an evening of intergalactic card play. Pam Gutermuth proved to have the best career potential as a world conqueror followed by Shannon Keating, Jorge Arambury, and Brian Pappas. Interestingly, Danielle Zack who has been faring very well in the main event the last two years, only placed fifth among her peers.