Ticket to Ride

ticket to ride

Updated 1/20/2009
2008 WBC Report
2009 Status: pending 2009 GM commitment

John Faella, RI

2008 Champion

Offsite Links

Event History
2004	Alan Kaiser	151
2005	Blair Morgen	160
2006	Eric Monte	157
2007	Brittany Bernard	191
2008	John Faella	201

Euro Quest Event History
2004	Daniel Karp	45
2005	Tom Dunning	39
2006	Virginia Colin	49
2007	Virginia Colin	51
2008	Donna Davis	48

Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Virginia Colin     VA    08     64
  2.  John Faella        RI    08     60
  3.  Daniel Karp        MD    04     48
  4.  Brittany Bernard   PA    07     40
  5.  Eric Monte         NY    06     40
  6.  Blair Morgen       NJ    05     40
  7.  Donna Davis        PA    08     36
  8.  Nico Parauda       NJ    08     36
  9.  Robert Cranshaw    RI    05     36
 10.  Tom Dunning        NY    07     32
 11.  Larry Loicano      PA    07     32
 12.  Alan Kaiser        OH    04     30
 13.  Jamie Tang         MD    08     24
 14.  Andrew Metrick     PA    06     24
 15.  Michael Richey     VA    06     20
 16.  Jonathan Izer      MD    08     18
 17.  Tom McCorry        VA    04     18
 18.  Arthur Wines       PA    07     16
 19.  Mike Backstrom     MN    06     16
 20.  Jim Fishkin        FL    05     16
 21.  Tom Stokes         NJ    08     12
 22.  Anne Norton        NJ    08     12
 23.  Eyal Mozes         NY    08     12
 24.  Curt Collins II    PA    07     12
 25.  Jeff Meyer         MA    06     12
 26.  Jean Francis Gagne QC    05     12
 27.  Arthur Field       SC    04     12
 28.  Tamara McGraw      VA    04     12
 29.  Bill Zurn          CA    08      9
 30.  Tom DeMarco        NJ    04      9
 31.  Cathy Kratz        ID    04      9
 32.  Amy Rule           MD    07      8
 33.  Philip Shea        VA    07      8
 34.  Gordon Rodgers     PA    06      8
 35.  Bob Heinzmann      FL    05      8
 36.  Chris Goff         MD    08      6
 37.  Eric Haas          MD    04      6
 38.  Kathleen McCorry   NJ    04      6
 39.  Lee Mewshaw        MD    07      4
 40.  Winton LeMoine     CA    07      4
 41.  Amy O'Neal         VA    06      4
 42.  Bill Duke          MD    06      4
 43.  Barb Flaxington    NJ    05      4
 44.  Marsha Hamel       NJ    05      4
 45.  Philip Taylor      NJ    08      3
 46.  Mark Guttag        VA    04      3
 47.  Davyd Field        SC    04      3
 48.  Michael Thompson   PA    07      2
 49.  Bill Salvatore     MD    06      2
 50.  Chris Entwistle    MD    05      2

2008 Laurelists Repeating Laurelists: 0

Nico Parauda, NJ
2nd

Jamie Tang, MD
3rd

Jonathan Izer, MD
4th

Eyal Mozes, NY
5th

Chris Goff, MD
6th

Past Winners

Alan Kaiser, OH
2004

Blair Morgen, NJ
2005

Eric Monte, NY
2006

Brittany Bernard, PA
2007

John Faella, RI
2008


It takes considerable organization, advanced preparation, and extra hands to keep a major event moving smoothly, especially with a Sunday heat when time is of the essence.	So how many ladies actually brave the male world of WBC beyond lolling at poolside and shopping at the outlets? 70 played in this event ... 35% of the field.

Riding High ...

Ticket to Ride continues to be one of the largest tournaments at WBC. 201 gamers manned 71 games to decide the victor. The original game continues to be a favorite with Europe and the 1910 variant coming in second. At least one game of Marklin was played at each heat.

Scores fluctuated wildly from 2-165 points. Norm Herrick gets the "courage" award for taking ten tickets in his game. Four other folks took nine with two of them making eight of their destinations. Risky stuff that, and it didn't pay off in a first for anyone! Defending champ Brittany Bernard gave it her best but her quest to repeat ended in the semis. No other laurelist returned either.

The five finalists were Eyal Mozes, Nico Paradua, John Faella, Jon Izer and Jamie Tang. Nico built the critical Houston-New Orleans route and Jamie Tang took Nashville-Atlanta. Only Nico, John and Jamie built six train sections, leaving the two 6-train sections in the south open. Jamie took nine tickets and completed seven for a score of 123. That total would have won many games, but in the Final it was only good for third. Eyal made two of five tickets for 5th place laurels with a score of 25. Jon took 4th with a 63 tally on four of five tickets. Nico was the close-but-no-cigar runner-up making all six of his tickets for a score of 129. However, John Faella also made all six tickets for a winning score of 132 and the title.

As a first-time GM I was questioning my sanity during the first heat when a deluge of 133 players appeared. My husband, Eric Brosius, was in a semi-final and couldn't help, so Glen Pearce volunteered and help me log in everyone. Another lady helped as well and I am sorry I didn't get your name, but thank you both very much.

For Heat 2, much thanks goes to Virginia Colin, who graciously helped when I "drafted" her. Due to lack of space in Ballroom B we had six or so games in Terrace and Anne Norton and Tom DeMarco watched over those games for me.

By Heat 3, my reinforcements arrived. Eric and Cally Perry were available to help, as was Tom McCorry, the past GM. Armed with Eric's wondrous spreadsheet that he uses to manage the Princes of Florence tournament, we were all set for the Sunday heat, semi-finals and Final. What a day! Thank you everyone!

In all, I had a "crazy good" experience with Ticket to Ride and I hope everyone had a good time with the last tournament of the Con.


Ticket to Ride is among the most accessible and inviting of games -- leading the WBC heat games in attendance again in 2008.	GM Claire Brosius (right) keeps watch over her finalists as Sunday draws to a close.