The 1999 Empire Builder / Eurorails (EPB) tournament will use Swiss-Elimination format. This means you can play in one or more of the three first round heats. The top winners advance to the semi-finals. The top semi-finalists advance to the final.

Since these games are not published by Avalon Hill, they were not played at past Avaloncons. Therefore, it is difficult to predict how many people will participate this year, and consequently difficult to estimate how many will advance to the semi-final and final rounds. Empire Builder and Eurorails were in the top 5 most popular "games to add to the WBC" balloting recently performed by the BPA. Therefore, it is likely EPB will be one of the more popular tournaments at the WBC.

In each first round heat, participants may state a preference for either Empire Builder (EB) or Eurorails (ER). We will accomodate these preferences as best as possible, but players should be prepared to play either game. Victories will be treated equally for round advancement purposes, regardless of which game was played. For the semi-final, only Empire Builder will be played. The final will be Eurorails, since it is deemed by many to be the slightly tougher game of the two.

All first round heat winners will advance to the semifinals. Some second place finishers may also be included. Top second place finishers will be determined by cash on hand subtracted by $50 for each city less than the minimum connected.

In the event of a tie in cash values, the player who served a higher percentage of the cities on the map will be ranked higher.

One tidbit of advice: if you bring your copy of the game to the tournament, don't leave it in your car. Baltimore's summer sun will melt the crayons (we speak from experience!).