Lyman Moquin, Marc Berenbach, Chris Senhouse, Katherine McCorry, and Andrew Gerb play in a qualifying Heat.	GM Eric Brosius plays in a game with 2008 champ Alex Bove, soon-to-be champ Rob Flowers, 2008 laurelist Dave Platnick, and 2009 champ Thomas Browne.

Many games cast you as a merchant, with victory going to the richest player, but in Princes of Florence, wealth is not the object. Aristocrats care only for prestige. Of course, it takes money to maintain the illusion, and the small inheritance you start with runs out quickly. Often you must sell off the master works of the artists you attract to raise the cash you need to keep pretences up.

Princes of Florence is a "gamer's game" that beginners learn quickly because it has a clear structure and a familiar theme---shopping. There are seven rounds, and in each round you buy one item at auction and carry out two actions---thus, you have 21 opportunities to maximize your winning chances. The game has been out of print, but I understand that a new printing is due from Rio Grande Games soon.

Five newcomers appeared for the demo, and after a rules explanation we played part of a practice game, giving them a feel for play before the real action began.

We had 33 players for Heat 1, so we played five 5-player games and two 4-player games. At one table, Rod Spade and Raphael Lehrer finished in a tie at 53 VP each, but Rod had 100 florins left over to win on the tiebreaker. Another table featured three former champions---Eric Brosius, Alex Bove and Thomas Browne---together with David Platnick, who leads the AREA ratings and is the Guild Master for the game on Brettspielwelt. Of course, the fifth player, Rob Flowers, won the game, buying items at relatively cheap prices and staying out of trouble, even though he drew the supposedly weak 5th seat.

We had exactly 30 people for Heat 2, so I was able to form six 5-player games (I think the game is best with five players.) In another close game, Stu Hendrickson defeated Chris Senhouse by 200 florins on the tiebreaker. Rob Flowers won a second heat to become the only player to do so this year. Rob was vacillating about playing in the semis, since the Final conflicted with the semis for another game he thought he had a better chance to win, but I told him "when you're on a streak, you should keep playing," and he decided to stick with it.

Only 19 people came for the semis, so in accordance with the rules published on the website, I took the top 16 and formed four 4-player semi-final games that would determine the contestants for a 4-player final. Although I prefer 5-player games, several alternates (including me) had done no better than 4th place in either heat, and that doesn't seem like a record that justifies participation in the semis.

In the semis and Final players bid for player order, paying florins to get their choice of seats. This year, the average bids were as follows:

1st: 40 florins

2nd: 60 florins

3rd: 100 florins

4th: 20 florins

Oddly enough, each of the four seats was bid on by someone. Of course, we don't have a lot of experience bidding for player order in 4-player games, so disagreement was not unexpected.

The players in general are less experienced in 4-player games, leading to some groans as people realized they had overbid for an item here or played the wrong action there. In one game, Rod Spade and Andy Gerb were tied with 69 PP, but Rod had an extra 300 florins, enough to propel him to the Final as Andy settled for fifth place laurels. In another, former champion Eric Freeman beat Tom Johnston by two PP, leaving Tom in sixth. Aran Warszawski won his semi by a comfortable margin, and Rob Flowers won his third game in a row.

I wrote a detailed play-by-play account of the Final; you can read all about it at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/553168

The final scores were close, just as they were last year:

Rob 65, Aran 64, Eric 63, Rod 60.

Congratulations to Rob, who won his first Princes of Florence title while winning four straight games. Rob was the only player among the top six to never have earned laurels in this event before. And thanks to all who took part in this year's tournament. If you're interested in Princes of Florence, come to WBC next year and join us. I'll explain the game during the demo and you can try to outshine your neighbors.