LeWinter Wins Inaugural Quirky Quarks Torunament!

This was the first official Quirky Quarks tournament in the world! Quirky Quarks is a strategy and educational game that several WBC members help create. In the game, players bid to collect Elementary Particles and a Quest at some of the most famous particle accelerators around the world. Elementary Particles are the tiniest things in the universe. Quests are built using Elementary Particles and give points and special powers. Quirky Quarks was released last year at SPIEL Essen. 29 players entered the tournament, many of whom had just learned the game at WBC - it's easy to learn and no science knowledge is necessary to play and win!

All tournament games were 3-player. Heat 1 winners were Chris K, Fred R, Steve L, and the GM AJ. In Heat 2, the two highest scores of the tournament were set: Ewan M with a 107, and Devin S with a 93. Andrew E, Chris M, and AJ also won. And Heat 3 winners were Michael T, Carl C, Chris K, Kevin W and AJ, with Philip S barely missing out despite his score of 87.

After 14 games in the Heats, we had 11 winners and 9 of them showed up for the Semifinal. Andrew E led the way, winning 86-83-66 with 73 quest points and 13 eV. AJ faced a stiff challenge from Kevin W and Michael T as he was bid up on a lot of the cards that he wanted but played frugally and won the closest game of the tournament 81-76-75 with 54 quest points and 27 eV. And the last Semifinal was a slugfest between Carl C, Chris K, and Steve L, with all three players having winning paths in the last round; Steve ended up coming out on top 66-63-50.

And so the Final ended up featuring two excellent gamers who had just learned the game at WBC, and the GM who was the most experienced player in the world.

Round 1: The LHC (Photon, Gluon, Anti Quark, Up Quark, Proton Quest) is highly contested due to its extra card PLUS having the only available Anti Quark, which enables lots of early game economy quests. AJ wins it with a bid of 7 eV. Andrew goes to SLAC for 1 (Gluon, Down Quark, Up Quark Annihilation Quest), and Steve gets Tevatron for 1 (Electron, Up Quark, Photon, Gluonium Quest). ESRF is leftover with Gluon, Up Quark, Up Quark, and Positronium. AJ plays a negatively charged Pion from his initial deal. This is a powerful economic card explaining his high bid, as it is worth 3vp and will draw him 6 more cards during the game.

Round 2: Steve pays 4 eV for LHC (Anti Quark, Neutrino, Gluon, Down Quark, Proton Quest), Andrew also spends 4 eV at Tevatron (Anti Quark, Up Quark, Positron, and positively charged Pion Quest), and AJ settles on the ESRF for 1 (Gluon, Up Quark, Neutrino, Proton Quest). SLAC is leftover with Up Quark, Up Quark, and Neutron Quest. and Andrew plays his Up Quark Annihilation and Steve plays a Gluonium, both solid economic cards which will generate eV and Gluons respectively.

Round 3: The LHC has Down Quark, Electron, Electron, Up Quark, and Wigner Crystal Quest; the Wigner Crystal costs 3 Electrons, which works well with the 2 Electrons present. Steve is the only one with an Electron in hand, and he manages to win the LHC for just 2 eV. Andrew pays 2 for ESRF (Up Quark, Gluon, Photon, Proton Quest), while AJ gets Tevatron for 1 (Down Quark, Down Quark, Photon, Neutron Quest). SLAC is leftover with Positron, Anti Quark, and Neutron Quest. The Discovery phase is littered with Positrons and Anti Quarks which are less useful at this stage of the game. Steve's Wigner Crystal is a super easy 7 VP for him and ends up granting him 3 more Electrons during the game. He uses it immediately to play an Electron Annihilation, giving him 9 more eV to bid with.

Round 4: Steve wins LHC for the third time in a row with a bid of 5 (Gluon, Electron, Down Quark, Up Quark, Super Gluonium Quest). Andrew visits ESRF for 1 (Down Quark, Down Quark, Positron, Electron Annihilation Quest), and AJ picks SLAC for 1 (Electron, Down Quark, Tritium Quest) over the more aggressive play of going for Tevatron (Neutrino, Up Quark, Electron, Helium-4 Quest). Andrew and AJ are playing conservatively, while Steve is playing rather ambitiously, taking risks by aiming for quests that he may not be able to complete.

Round 5: No one bids on LHC, which has Photon, Electron, Anti Quark, Electron, and Antihydrogen! Steve spends the most yet again, paying 2 for the Tevatron (Neutrino, Electron, Photon, Hydrogen Quest). AJ gets the ESRF for 1 (Gluon, Neutrino, Gluon, Neutron Quest). Andrew visits SLAC for 1 (Up Quark, Gluon, Deuterium Quest). AJ continues to play conservatively, holding 3 Photons in hand to use as a missing Down Quark for his Tritium. Steve plays more aggressively, discarding 2 Electrons while needing a Photon for his Hydrogen, while Electrons will definitely be available in the Discovery Phase. Andrew also needs a Photon, and no Photons and no Down Quarks were ejected. So Steve and Andrew end up in a bidding war for the last Photon with Steve spending 8 eV on it.

Final Scoring

• Andrew: Up Annihilation (0), positive Pion (3), Electron Annihilation (0), Deuterium (41), and 21 eV = 65 VP
• AJ: negative Pion (3), Gluonium (2), Proton (12), Tritium (57), and 10 eV = 84 VP
• Steve: Gluonium (2), Neutron (14), Wigner Crystal (7), Electron Annihilation (0), Super Gluonium (6+6=12), Hydrogen (20), Hydrogen (22), and 11 eV = 88 VP

Steve's ambitious plays end up paying off! Congratulations to Steve LeWinter for winning the first ever Quirky Quarks tournament!!