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Beth Raphael, Tom Stokes, and Doug
Smith were part of the surprising overflow crowd for the first
heat. |
Vegas Showdown has gotten good word
of mouth but is no longer new. Attendance doubled our projections
for it. |
King of the Strip
With Vegas Showdown having barely made the list of
games by just one vote in the December voting, there was a great
deal of uncertainty about the possible turnout, particularly
since the game was scheduled in one of the smaller side-rooms,
Host A, that may have been difficult for some to locate. No worry,
however, when 43 would-be hotel-casino tycoons showed up for
the first round, which caused a momentary problem while we located
enough games and table space so everyone could play. There were
a total of nine games in the first heat, then a slight drop to
just six games in the second heat. With 11 winners reporting
for the scheduled semi-final round, that meant one alternate
was needed to fill the field to four games of three, but it also
meant that we had to turn away two other hopeful alternates.
One of the games in the initial heat finished in a three-way
tie, and it came down to the odd dollar after cashing in the
10s for victory points; Brian Jones earned the win by just one
dollar over Robb Effinger, who became top alternate by virtue
of his close second-place finish and thereby advanced to the
semi-final round. GM John Weber, Anne Murphy, Glenn Pearce, Chris
Robbins, Dave Platnick, Max Jamelli, Keith Levy and Tom McCorry
won the other games in the first heat. Glenn Pearce went on to
become the only repeat winner in the second heat, where Beth
Raphael, Kevin Brown, Sceadeau D'Tela, Andy Gerb and Ewan McNay
also won.
Players used to four- and five-player games had to adjust
to three-player games in the semi-final round. In one game, Sceadeau
D'Tela (who had some considerable experience with the game based
on some work helping introduce a computer iteration of the game)
managed to best GM John Weber by four points, with Ewan McNay
in third. John raced to an early lead but Sceadeau husbanded
his resources, filling both his Hotel and Casino while doing
well in other endgame scoring categories to win a relatively
low scoring game. Andrew Gerb pulled out the closest game, 67-66,
over Chris Robbins by having the most money and a filled Hotel
and Casino while Chris scored high in the placement-rewarding
diamond points category. Kevin Brown, who had competed in both
heats, was rewarded with a fourth game by playing a solid game,
scoring 70 points and also the largest margin of victory in any
of the four semi-final games (seven points) over Brian Jones
with Beth Raphael in third. The other semi-final ended in a win
for Robb Effinger, who had actually called himself on having
too much money earlier in the game. Sportsmanship award nominee
Robb proved nice guys don't always finish last, winning the game
by three, 70-67, over Anne Murphy while Glenn Pearce, the only
two-game winner in the heats, fell to third. Diamond points (11
of them) were a big factor in Robb's reaching the Final. Chris,
the closest runner-up in the semis, wound up fifth overall while
Anne, the next closest, placed sixth.
In the Final, Kevin focused on the revenue-producing Slots
machines, often paying a premium price for them as the bidding
among the four finalists was intense. Robb grabbed an early Slots
and then focused on the points-scoring Fancy Slots; however,
as the game developed, he had a problem placing his room tiles,
needing a couple of Renovate actions to smooth things out. Andy
decided to work on the Hotel side first, getting blue-colored
rooms like the Restaurant and Buffet without paying a huge premium
while others fought over the Slots. Sceadeau pinched his pennies,
taking a couple of early publicity actions, which enabled him
to add a Nightclub for 18 when the other players were strapped
for cash. This allowed Sceadeau to build an early points lead,
although he trailed the others in income generation for most
of the game.
A key moment came midway through the game when both Ad Campaign
event cards came out. Andy and Sceadeau were the only two able
to take advantage, each buying 5 VPs and then Andy spent $5 for
two more VPs a turn later, moving him to second place behind
Sceadeau. Kevin took advantage of some cheap prices on blue premium
tiles, buying them before he had the basic pre-requisite, a Restaurant.
A couple of Publicity actions enabled Kevin to get all his rooms
placed, and Robb and Sceadeau also took advantage of the rule
that allows one to place a different room than the one just bought.
Sceadeau bought two Sports Books, a second Nightclub, then focused
on Lounges, perhaps hoping for additional VP bonuses from the
Lounge Lizard event card, which never came out. Andy, who had
bought an early Table Games, won the bidding for both High Rollers
Rooms, then late in the game took advantage of the opportunity
to snag a Fancy Slots and then the Dragon Room. Robb, on the
other hand, bought two Fancy Lounges and then had 52 bucks for
the Theater when it came out late in the game. Kevin filled out
his blue Hotel section and then added on a 5-Star Steak House.
The Final was a long game, as all 30 premier tiles came out before
the game finished. Prior to the endgame scoring, Sceadeau held
a narrow three-point lead over Andy, but Andy had seven points
in diamonds as well as first place in revenue and second in population
for eight more points. Sceadeau had no diamond points but did
manage to fill both his Hotel and Casino plus a connection for
13 more points. While Robb had more diamond points than anyone,
he was unable to complete his Hotel section and thus finished
a point behind Kevin in the race for third place. Final scores
were Andy 69, Sceadeau 61, Kevin 56, Robb 55.
The GM wishes to acknowledge the assistance of Rob Flowers,
Assistant GM, and also Keith Levy and Tom McCorry, who helped
in the scramble to locate games so everyone would be able to
play in the first heat.
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