power grid

Updated Nov. 16, 2015

2015 WBC Report

2016 Status: pending 2016 GM commitment

Matt Calkins, VA

2015 Champion

Event History

2004 Eric Brosius 84
2005 Jim Castonguay 94
2006 Jim Castonguay 79
2007 Patrick Shea 121
2008 Eric Brosius 123
2009 Jim Castonguay 129
2010 Kevin Garber 137
2011 Bob Woodson 161
2012 Matt Calkins 112
2013 Justus Hibshman 127
2014 Rob Murray 127
2015 Matt Calkins 110

Euro Quest BPA Event History
2005 John Downing 25
2006 David Houston 36
2007 J.J. Jaskiewicz 41
2008 Lyman Moquin 42
2009 Kevin Garber 55
2010 Doug Galullo 49
2011 Daniel Eppolito 57
2012 Bill Crenshaw 43

Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Jim Savarick       PA    15    269
  2.  Matt Calkins       VA    15    136
  3.  Eric Brosius       MA    09    103
  4.  Bill Crenshaw      VA    12     93
  5.  Kevin Garber       VA    10     90
  6.  Robert Woodson     NV    11     72
  7.  Richard Meyer      MA    09     72
  8.  Bill Murdock       NY    08     72
  9.  Wooly Farrow V     PA    15     60
 10.  Rob Murray         NJ    14     60
 11.  Patrick Shea       VA    07     60
 12.  Doug Galullo       MD    12     60
 13.  Steven LeWinter    NC    14     54
 14.  Justus Hibshman    PA    13     50
 15.  Daniel Eppolito    CA    11     40
 16.  Rod Spade          PA    06     39
 17.  Tim Horne          PA    12     36
 18.  Jason Ley          WA    11     36
 19.  Jeff Cornett       VA    10     36
 20.  J. J. Jaskiewicz   MD    10     36
 21.  David Platnick     VA    09     36
 22.  Lyman Moquin       DC    08     33
 23.  Barb Flaxington    NJ    08     33
 24.  Chris Gnech        PA    15     30
 25.  David Houston      MD    06     30
 26.  John Downing       VA    05     30
 27.  Robert Sohn        NJ    06     28
 28.  Lexi Shea          CT    10     27
 29.  Cissi Astrom       NC    11     24
 30.  Blair Morgen       PA    10     24
 31.  Raphael Lehrer     MD    10     24
 32.  Jeff Bowers        UT    07     24
 33.  Gerald Lientz      VA    05     24
 34.  Evan Tannheimer    MA    04     24
 35.  Bill Salvatore     MD    07     23
 36.  Keith Levy         MD    09     21
 37.  Vien Bounma        NJ    13     20
 38.  Tim Horne          PA    14     18
 39.  Chris Senhouse     MA    14     18
 40.  Phil Becker        PA    12     18
 41.  Mark McCandless    LA    11     18
 42.  Kenneth Horan      PA    09     18
 43.  David Bohnenberger PA    09     18
 44.  Chris Kalmbacher   PA    15     17
 45.  Michael Brazinski  MD    12     17
 46.  Pat Onufrak        VA    11     16
 47.  Leigh Eirich       MD    06     16
 48.  Tim Swartz         MD    04     16
 49.  Michael Shea       CT    13     15
 50.  Steve Koleszar     VA    15     14
 51.  Eric Hufford       PA    14     12
 52.  Eric Raymond       PA    12     12
 53.  Henry Dove         MD    10     12
 54.  Randy Solberg      MD    09     12
 55.  Kathy Stroh        DE    08     12
 56.  Ian Miller         MA    08     12
 57.  Tom McCorry        VA    07     12
 58.  Luke Koleszar      VA    06     12
 59.  Perrianne Lurie    PA    05     12
 60.  Eyal Mozes         MD    13     10
 61.  Sandra Scanlon     MD    08      9
 62.  Frank Hastings     MD    04      8
 63.  Alex Gesing        NY    11      6
 64.  Shivendra Chopra   MD    09      6
 65.  Peter Eirich       MD    08      6
 66.  Phil Shea          FL    08      6
 67.  Craig Trader       VA    07      6
 68.  Tom Browne         PA    05      6
 69.  John Barringer     MD    11      4
 70.  Phil Rennert       MD    06      4
 71.  Marshall Phillips  VA    04      4
 72.  Scott Fenn         MD    12      3
 73.  Mike Richey        VA    10      3
 74.  Joe Ward           MD    07      3
2015 Laurelists Returning Laurelists: 1

Woolly Farrow, PA
2nd

Jim Savarick, MD
3rd

Chris Gnech, PA
4th

Chris Kalmbacher, PA
5th

Steve Koleszar, VA
6th

Past Winners

Eric Brosius, MA
2004, 2008

Jim Savarik, PA
2005-06, 2009

Patrick Shea, VA
2007

Kevin Garber, VA
2010

Robert Woodson, NV
2011

Matt Calkins, VA
2012, 2015

Justus Hibshman, PA
2013

Rob Murray, NJ
2014

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!

Ken Riznyk and Chris Gnech are among the merrymakers
in the always well manned Power Grid heats.
GM Kevin Broh-Kahn [2nd Year] NA
kbkrunner@Gmail.com NA

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