Staab Holds On For Title!

2023 saw a total of 45 art collectors gathered at Seven Springs, PA in a race to become the most noteworthy among the bunch. After three heats of two games each only two individuals entered the Semifinal undefeated, John Pack and Cary Morris. Another 14 scored well enough to qualify. Since we had fewer than 50 competitors the Semifinal consisted of only three tables of 15 players, Rounded out with a couple alternates due to a few no shows.

All winners and the top two second places moved up to the Final table. Victors Owen Kryollos, Peter Staab, and Zacary Morris advanced, as well as Cary Morris and Brady Detwiler. Michael Shea managed a second place but ending two spaces short of the finish line had to settle for 6th overall in this year's competition.

At the Final table Peter Staab started out strong showing an exhibit the first two turns with no competition. By the fifth turn his pawn had rounded the first corner on the board. The other collections had a slower start, Owen Kyrollos and Brady Detwiler making some progress thanks to a solo exhibit and decent detective work. Cary Morris joined the race by turn eight moving up five spaces after an exhibit, leaving Zacary Morris on the starting square till his detective finally caught a thief four turns later.

By the halfway point only three thieves were in jail and no one yet enjoyed the benefit of a solo trip to either the auction house or the castle. Owen was finally able to visit the auction to spend $5K without any thieves or being out bid on turn 14. Turn 15, again saw Peter Staab exhibiting uncontested for the 5th time this game. The following round revealed the first detective convention of the final (every player in the castle played a detective making it a zero-point turn).

Turn 18 was an all castle round and Zacary Morris played a thief while all other players played detectives and advanced along the track. It looked as though maybe the jail would be filled yet. The next round Peter exhibited, again, uncontested but at a price - two thieves picked apart his exhibit as he entered the final stretch.

The last handful of turns leading up to the final showing were a mix of thieves, detectives and exhibits as the Auction house was mostly ignored. The jail was filled and stakes were high as Peter ended turn 23 one space from finish. Then Owen, Peter and Cary exhibited while Brady detected nothing and Zacary snagged one last card from the Auction. Owen moved up five spaces for the larger exhibit and Peter managed a second place to trigger the end of the game.

Final exhibit points were awarded to Brady for a 10-card set moving him up another eight spaces. Second came Zacary, winning the tiebreaker against Owen with the oldest in an eight-card set, moving four spaces forward.

Despite best efforts no one was able to catch up to Peter Staab who ended the game three spaces past finish despite no final exhibition points being awarded. Owen Kyrollos placed second with two spaces past the finish line. Brady ended one space shy of the finish line despite an impressive final set. Cary and Zacary Morris ended in fourth and fifth, respectively.