The Curse Of The Third Seat IS Broken!

Turnout this year held steady at 65, from 67 in 2023 and 55 in 2022.

Turnout this year dropped somewhat to 48, down from the previous 3 years of 65, 67, and 55, respectively. Perhaps there was a new conflict this year that I didn't notice, or perhaps the game is simply losing steam. If we're back next year, I may experiment with scheduling it later in the week, since it seems to me the beginning of the week is actually starting to get overloaded compared to later.

Last year, a fun coincidence appeared in turn order statistics, not a single game was won from third seat. This year, it largely continued during the Heats, with first seat winning four-player games 7 times, second seat winning 5, third winning only 1, and fourth picking up 6 games.

Bidding in the Semifinal was interesting this year. Each year, my rule has been that the default rule is that bidding occurs before the card row is dealt, with my reasoning being to balance first turn advantage against making bidding more difficult for casual players as well as a more lengthy process.

But my first rule is that if a table agrees to do anything differently, any and all of the house rules and conventions can be altered. This year, every single Semifinal table agreed to see full information prior to bidding. Given that that appears to be the consensus on what players want, I will make that the default going forward.

For the first time, a bid in the Semifinal changed the result. Patrick McGuire saw something on the card row he liked and bid 8.5 points for it to go first. It was a tight game though, and those 8.5 points took him down from first to fourth. Nick Henning won that table, with a bid of 1 for third seat. The other Semifinals were all won from first seat by Carl Chauvin, Dalton Versak, and Mike Swinson, with bids of 6, 6, and 5.

Like all the Semifinal games, bidding in the Final was agreed by everyone to happen with full information. The first card row had a lot of good stuff on it, with a 2 quarry above the sphinx, and then a 3 green field, another 2 quarry, the +2 sphinx card, and a 3 quarry near the bottom. The bids that resulted from this were Carl going first for 8, then Michael for 4, Dalton for 2, and Nick last for 0.

It quickly becomes apparent that Carl was a little too optimistic, when he goes to the sphinx first, hoping to wheel the +2 sphinx card close to the bottom, which is picked up immediately by Michael, who is successful in wheeling the 3 quarry right after it. Carl does pick up the 2 quarry as well as a few extra crew strength. Dalton picks up the 2 quarry, a sphinx slot, and the 3 green field. Nick gets a yellow field, and slots on all building sites, planning to try to front run the game.

Carl is the only one to starve in the opening round for a modest 4, securing his turn order going into the second round with -1 points, followed by Michael at 0, then Dalton with 5, and finally Nick with 13.

The second round has less exciting stuff on the card row, but there's a couple nice pickups. There's a 2 green field, the crew improver, the field improver, and finally a juicy 3 quarry in the very last slot, with the final 3 quarry being out of the game, promising a lower scoring game.

Everybody jumps on the Sphinx except Dalton, who first picks up 2 bumps on the stone track, followed by a doubled Edfu, to complete the stone track immediately. Nick, after picking up the 2 green field and not yet having a quarry ends up jumping for the 3 quarry at the bottom. Carl picks up both the crew and field improvers.

Nobody starves this time around, and at the end of round 2, Carl is going first with 3 points, then Michael with 15, Dalton with 16, and finally Nick with 18.

In the third round, the coveted move upriver card doesn't appear, so Carl settles for first picking a 4 quarry that is sadly after the Sphinx. Michael needs Edfu for stones and to help make his Sphinx card to finish the grain track. Dalton gets to pick up a 4 green field above the Sphinx. Nick only gets a 2 green field and decides to solve his food problems by pushing the water ring to brown fields. Then in the middle of the building the pyramids, we get an exciting intermission in the form of a fire alarm!

Once that gets sorted and everybody is back inside, we finish the round with Carl still possessing the right to go first with only 14 points, followed by Michael at 30, Nick also at 30, and Dalton now in the lead at 33.

In the fourth round, there's a 3 quarry and 3 green field above the Sphinx, but both Carl and Michael pass on them to go directly to the Sphinx. Nick picks up the 3 quarry as well as the 3 green field when Dalton passes on that as well. Nick ends up going slowly enough that he actually gets locked out of all building sites, which costs him quite a few points. Carl ends up with the upriver card.

At the end of the fourth round, Nick is now the one lagging behind, still at 30 points, while the others scored as much as they could to go into the final round, with Carl at 34, Michael at 50, and Dalton at 52.

In the final round, Michael picks up the 9 brown field to complete that Sphinx card, while the others all fish for another card. Nick gets 6 points out of the points per Pyramid and column card, while Dalton gets 6 points out of the Obelisk and Graves card. Michael moves the water ring to yellow, which forces Carl to spend his upriver movement to bring it back to brown.

After all the building, the final points on the board are Michael with 73, Dalton at 71, Nick at 69, and Carl at 53.

Final Scoring:

• Michael Swinson:
  • 73 board points
  • 1 sold stones
  • 5 grave points
  • 4 boss strength
  • 5 blue strength
  • 4 finished grain track
  • 8 most brown fields
  • -4 bid
  • 96 total
• Dalton Versak:
  • 71 board points
  • 5 grave points
  • 6 most green fields
  • 7 number of players finishing grain track
  • 10 two stone in all building sites
  • 0 8th level of the obelisk
  • 0 one column complete
  • -2 bid
  • 97 total
• Nick Henning:
  • 69 board points
  • 0 sold stones
  • 2 grave points
  • 5 black strength
  • 6 four stone in columns
  • 0 six stones in pyramids
  • 4 finish stone track
  • 0 Pyramid complete
  • 0 bid
  • 86 total
• Carl Chauvin:
  • 53 board points
  • 2 sold stones
  • 5 grave points
  • 0 four stones in obelisk
  • 7 seventh level of the obelisk built
  • 10 two points per permanent
  • 8 yellow strength
  • 9 number of players finishing stone track
  • -8 bid
  • 86 total

With a total of 97 points, congratulations to Dalton Versak for winning Egizia, especially from the apparently difficult third seat.

The Semifinal was the first time bidding altered the winner, and the Final was the second time. Michael Swinson bid 2 points more than Dalton, and Dalton needed both of them, as prior to the bids being applied, Michael was ahead by a point as well as the tiebreaker.

Hopefully Egizia makes the Century again and I'll see you all again next year.