Daniel Long and Jon Lockwood enjoy a challenge.	Ivanhoe has become entrenched as an end of day nightcap.

GMing Ivanhoe this year seemed to go much smoother for me the second time around. I refined the process of registration by using individual player sign-in cards instead of sign-in sheets. Not only did it make sign-in go faster and smoother, but it also allowed me to sort through the cards after each heat to see the order from top winner through to the end. Last year I spent a lot of time typing the stats into a database. It took up some time that I could have spent gaming. I'll still probably enter it all into a data base, but I can do it at my leisure. Until then I can manually sort the cards to produce whatever stats I need. I apologize to any geeks who see this as a return to the dark ages.

One thing remained unchanged, people seemed to have a good time with Ivanhoe. It seems to be a nice game to end a long day. This year the schedule put it opposite some other popular games that weren't rivals for the time slot last year, so we lost a few players some nights. But we still had quite a few new players who learned the game the same night they played. So many, in fact that we set a new attendance record. In one instance a father taught his son, and the son won in his first heat. There were several people who took it upon themselves to teach newcomers each night. I thank each and every one of them since I did not have the time to teach after the demo. If I'm involved in this next year, I think I'll see if I can find some designated 'splainers to show up early each heat and teach the game as a Class C event but one person can't really do that without help in an event this size.

I had to ask for help on the second heat since both my assistant GM and I wanted to compete in St. Petersburg. Brian and Nessa Mongold acted as GM and said that the card sign in was easy to use and they had no problems. They may GM Ivanhoe for me next year since I may not be able to come for the entire week.

12 of the top 16 players appeared for the semi-finals, allowing four alternates to step up. The competition was stiff but marked by much laughter and merriment each night. All that wss missing was a court jester. Surviving to move on to the Final were David Rohde, Timothy Keating, Michael Shea, and Sam Atabaki. The game seemed to go back and forth with the lead changing hands frequently. Several times three players combined to block someone who looked like he would get the last chip. Finally, the winner was declared and the plaques were given out. I didn't want the last person to feel left out so I gave a DVD of the movie Ivanhoe for fourth place.

What did I learn this year? Computers aren't always the most efficient way to keep track of the rankings. Also, people are very helpful when needed to assist in training and running the game. Ivanhoe is a very family friendly game. We had a lot of parent/child and sibling groups playing. There were family members in the semi-finals. All of them insisted on not playing against other family members if possible, even when one family member had just learned the game.

To sum up, I had a great time, and this...my second year as GM...was a lot less stressful and more fun. I would definitely do this again if asked.

Donna Balkan, Dale Long, Carol Haney and Carmen Petruzelli have at it.	GM Mewshaw oversees her finalists at tourney end with wood on the line.

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 Ivanhoe Junior

Kirk Harris ran a Junior version of Ivanhoe for 12 little knights. Three Prelimary 4-player games with the intention of feeding into a 5-player Final played until five players had four tourney wins. Official winners of the three prelimary matches included Dacey Collinson, Luke Morris, and an adjudicated ending with Adam Wojtaszczyk and Taylor Rish as the victors. Alexander Metzger also advanced based upon the next runner-up player to get four tourney wins.

In the Final, Dacey jumped out to an early lead, but was disgraced back to the pack when she lost with a Maiden. Luke then was the first to win three tourneys but had spent most of his cards to get to that point. Eventually Taylor, Adam, and Alexander got to two tourney chips, with Luke and Dacey sitting with three, setting up an amazing back-and-forth finish.

Adam started the Red tourney with a good set of red cards that would have been his third chip. Luke and Dacey stayed in the tourney - both with a chance to win the event with a victory. Adam "stunned" Dacey to temporarily gain the upper hand. But Dacey was able to respond with "Outwit" to actually place the "Stunned" card back on Adam. Dacey then changed the weapon of the tourney and Adam had to withdraw. It came down then to Luke and Dacey, with the winner, if the color was not changed being the Champion.

Luke, unable to keep up with Dacey's numbered cards, smartly played to "Drop Weapon" which would have resulted in a Green tournament that no one could get another chip on - and thus extending the game). But Dacey had the infamous "Ivanhoe" card to prevent the drop weapon. Luke, with no other options, then had to withdraw and Dacey collected her fourth chip and the Ivanhoe Jr Championship.

Final Standings
1st - Dacey Collinson (4 chips)
2nd - Luke Morris (3 chips)
3rd - Adam Wojtaszczyk (2 chips Yellow-Blue)
4th - Taylor Rish/Alexander Metzger (2 Chips Green-Blue)

Little knights and fair damsells abound in the junior version.	GM Kirk Harris keeps the little jousters in line.