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Matt Calkins qualified for the
Final with a single win in Heat 2—his only heat entered. |
Paul Sampson, Eric Raymond,
Jim Savarick and Jason Ley study the power plants up for bid. |
100+ x 9 ...
Thanks to all the gamers who brought Power Grid over the 100-player threshold for the ninth straight year. The three heats produced 38 Preliminary games and enough of the winners remained motivated to fully staff the semifinal tables with no need for alternates.
Trash powered both France and Italy in Heat 1 as four of the seven winners on each map ended with the 30 trash plant. The second most popular plant among winners was the 25, owned by two of the French victors and four of the Italians. Only one winner on each map managed to win without powering all of their cities.
It pays to count! Three of the five winners on the Benelux map in Heat 2 finished the game with under ten electros left, and four of them were able to power their entire network. On the other map, Central Europe, low starting plants paved the way to victory for all but one player as only one victor did not start the game with the 3 or 4 plant. Coal also proved helpful for the Central Europeans after all five winners won with either the 20 or 25 plant.
The third heat was played on the UK/Ireland and Northern Europe maps. The 4 plant proved once again a good way to start after four of the five winners used it to power their first cities. Despite powerful coal plants once again showing their prowess with three of five winners possessing the 36 plant, the 34 nuclear plant also helped three players win in the UK. In Northern Europe, on the other hand, trash powered players to victory with every winner having either the 24 or 30 plant.
In the semifinal on the Spain and Portugal map, coal still reigned supreme but in the form of the more powerful 31 plant: half of the top players ended the game with the plant powering six of their cities. four winners spent almost all their money and ended the game with 16 electros or less; the other two had an even 58 at the game's end.
The Final, played on Australia between Matt Calkins, Jim Savarick, Chris Kalmbacher, Chris Gnech, and Woolly Farrow, proved as interesting as anticipated. Things got off to a quick start when everyone built two cities, followed by Matt buying the 25 for 33 electros and Chris G. getting the 24 at cost in Turn 2. After three nuclear plants were bought in Turn 3, Matt was the only player without a plant paying him from the uranium mines. Competition for the mines amongst the other players would ultimately help Matt win the tournament, as he maintained the lead for all but the last turn when he built his network from eight to 15 cities.
I am hoping to see everyone and more back in the tournament next year at Seven Springs!
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Ken Riznyk and Chris Gnech are among
the merrymakers
in the always well manned Power Grid heats. |
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