Endgame Points Propel Craig To Victory!

I first attended WBC in 2005 and GM’ d my first event in 2009 (Caylus, which I ran through 2012). I’ve run other events since then (Spyrium in 2014, Navegador in 2022-23, and Lost Ruins of Arnak in 2023-34). I feel rather comfortable in running events, but I must admit that this year, taking over for the legendary Eric Freeman (I stand by my use of “legendary”) gave me at least a few butterflies in my stomach. Nonetheless, I took over for Vegas Showdown this year.

Renegade Game Studios, recently published a reprint generously donated 5 copies of the game, which were distributed to the Finalist of the tournament.

In Vegas Showdown, players bid for and place basic and specialty rooms in an effort to build the best Hotel/Casino on the Las Vegas strip. Four-player games were used in the Heats except when the number of total players required some 5-player games.

Highlights of the Heats

A total of 79 different players competed in at least one of the three Heats, barely eclipsing last year’s total of 78. A total of 32 games were played over the course of the three Heats (10 games in Heat 1, 12 games in Heat 2, and 10 games in Heat 3). 28 players won at least one game, with 4 players winning twice each: John Corrado, James Freeman, Rob Kircher, and Eric Peffer.

The closest overall game featured a three-way tie for the win (62 points), with Michael Swinson edging out Matt Lahut, Glen Pearce, and Eric Freeman (who was only 2 back with 60 points). Coincidentally, Michael Swinson and Eric’s father James were also involved in the second-closest game, with James winning 69 to 67 to 66 to 65 over Michael, Rich Irving, and Ricky Boyes.

On the other hand, players eclipsing the 80-point mark in double-digit winning efforts included Jeff Wu (82, helped by all 4 Fancy Restaurants and the Five-Star Steakhouse), Byung Chun (86, including the Theater and Space Age Sports Book), and Steve Lewinter (also 86, acquiring all three of the Theater, Space Age Sports Book, and Five-Star Steakhouse).

Low income (no points scored for population or for revenue) are in general fairly frequent, but this year only DJ Borton and Scott Saccenti were successful in winning a game in that fashion. Incredibly, both of them won their respective games on a 1-coin tiebreak!

Conversely, only one player won with “dominating income” (the full 10 points for having the lead in both population and revenue): Lexi Sheaburns, in a 1-point win. Rich Irving lost on the tie-breaker while securing the full 10 for income. He lost to DJ in the game mentioned just above!

You want Slots? Rob Kircher won a heat with 9 Slots and Fancy Slots. Not so interested in Slots? Andrew Drummond won a Heat with only a single Slots built. Andrew’s focus was more towards the culinary arts, as he and Jeff Wu both won a game with 5 Restaurants and Fancy Restaurants and the Five-Star Steakhouse.

Prefer Lounges? Aran Warszawski won a heat with 5 Lounges and Fancy Lounges as well as a Nightclub, while Andrew Martin won a heat with 5 Lounges, none of which were Fancy.

Lastly, how do you feel about diamonds? Steve Lewinter’s heat win was aided by an astonishing 15 points from diamonds alone! Byung Chun almost equaled this feat in his Heat win, racking up 14 points from his diamonds. Perhaps not surprisingly, these were the two highest-scoring games as both won with 86 points.

Highlights of the Semifinal

After the three Heats, there were 28 players who had won at least one game. Two alternates, each with multiple 2nd-place finishes, also showed up for the Semifinal. With five ‘no-shows’ among the winners, this meant a precise 25-player Semifinal, perfect for five 5-player games.

The closest Semifinal match featured a 7-point range from first to fifth. Brian Schott (60) edged out Ray Wolff (59) for the win, with Rob Kircher (58), Micah McCormick (56), and Aran Warszawski (53) not far behind. Ray’s close 2nd was enough to secure 6th overall for the event.

On the other end of the spectrum, James Denam (55) enjoyed a double-digit won over 2nd-place, though it was a tight race for 2nd between Erel Warszawski (44), James Freeman (42), Lexi Sheaburns (41), and Luke Koleszar (41).

The lowest winning score in the Semifinal came from Ryan Feathers (46), who won a close game against Sceadeau D’Tela (44), DJ Borton (42), Jeff Wu (41), and John Corrado (29).

Eric Peffer eschewed blue tiles altogether as he won his table with a score of 63, besting Andrew Freeman (55), Steve Lewinter (55), Cary Morris (47), and Haim Hochboim (42).

Finally, Matt Craig put up 60 in a winning effort against Eugene Yee (56), Ricky Boyes (56), Mike Kaltman (51), and Michael Swinson (37).

Highlights of the Final

Initial turn order: Matt, Brian, Ryan, James, Eric.

‘Convention’ popped to begin the game, giving everyone an additional $3 to begin the game. Matt would grab a Restaurant on Turn 1, which worked in his favor when both ‘Thanksgiving’ and ‘Famous Chef’ got flipped as the next two events.

The two ‘Ad Campaign’ cards hit in Turns 7 and 15; both proved untimely for Brian and James, who were each cash-poor as the others paid heavy for points.

Of the ‘Big Four’ tiles, only one was bought by James, paying $42 for the Theater in Turn 14 (right before the aforementioned 2nd ‘Ad Campaign). Both the Space Age Sportsbook and Five-Star Steakhouse flipped, but neither was bought before the game’s end; the Dragon Room never came out.

A run of ‘Medium tile’ events (4 out of 5 in Turns 15-18) ended the game abruptly, which hurt Eric in particular as he neither connected his hotel and casino sides nor filled in either.

Eric led with 49 points going into final scoring and still with no blue tiles, just as in his Semifinal, Matt had 41, James had 34, Ryan had 30, and Brian had 19.

Ryan would make a furious comeback during final scoring. He had highest population and 2nd-highest revenue to earn 8 points and was also the only player to both connect his hotel and casino sides and fill both sides to score the maximum 13 points. However, he scored zero for diamonds while Eric earned 5, James earned 4, and Matt earned 1 off diamonds.

Matt’s balanced endgame points (4 in total from population/revenue, 8 from completing the hotel side and connecting, 1 from a single three-quarter diamond, 1 from leftover money) brought his total to 55 points which just edged both Eric (54) and Ryan (53) for the win; James finished 4th with 47 and Brian finished 5th with 36.

Renegade Game Studios, recently published a reprint generously donated 5 copies of the game, which were distributed to the Finalist of the tournament.

Before I wrap this report up, I want to give a special thanks to my wife Claire, whose assistance and artistic know-how I could not have done without!

Thanks to all who made this event a success! I hope to run this event again in 2026.

Renegade Game Studios, recently published a reprint generously donated 5 copies of the game, which were distributed to the Finalist of the tournament.