Congratulations to the winners of the Wasabi tournament, held yesterday at Game Empire in Pasadena! After two rounds of play, these competitors fought their way to the top chef status.

1st place - Phillip Deutsch, 30 points
Phil is a long standing winner of board game tournaments at Game Empire, having won the very first in our series and earning a large portion of the prize proceeds since then. A CalTech student by day, he shows up whenever he can to beat the living tar out of us. All in good fun and congratulations again to him for his outstanding, Maki-hoarding play!

2nd place - Daniel Winterhalter, 24 points
Dan is a recent transplant to southern California from the Michigan area. He makes chain mail, sometimes out of soda-pop tabs. While playing Wasabi, he often claims to be craving sushi. Good job to Dan for his keen knife skills.

Afterwards, players stuck around for hours of open gaming, including Municipium, Fearsome Floors, Pandemic and a bunch of other games! Hopefully we'll see you out at our upcoming events!

twenty-three-skidoo,

Neil Figuracion
Fad23

Congratulations to the winners of the In the Year of the Dragon tournament, held last weekend at Game Empire in Pasadena.

1st place) Daniel Winterhalter, with a score of 119 points, truly displayed an auspicious nature.
2nd place) Phillip Deutsch, with a score of 102 points, mentioned that when he releases his citizens they're being sacrificed to the Gods.

It was a day of interesting times. From two semi-final games to the final In the Year of the Dragon, two players proved that they had the mettle to weather catastrophes and to bring their villages into good standing.

Afterward, many players stayed for hours of open gaming, including Princes of Florence, Battlestar Galactica, Through the Ages and a wide variety of other games. Thanks to everyone who came out!

Congratulations to the winners of the Pitchcar tournament, held last Sunday at Game Empire in Pasadena. The drivers raced in an initial qualifying round including the base set and the tight corners set. After the first race was finished, the pole positions were set

Pole Positions at the start of the second race
1st Dalton Perry
2nd Phillip Deutsch
3rd Scott Versteegh
4th David Candido
5th Thu Mai

It was a suspenseful, race with a bridge early in the course. After Dalton finished lap 1, the bridge blew up leaving a dangerous open gap. When Scott sailed over the jump and landed safely, he gained a good lead with Phillip and Dalton on his tail. There were tons of edging moves, but only two of these drivers were going to come out on top.

The Winners!
1st) Scott Versteegh - Scott was a first time participant in Game Empire's board game tournaments and won the tournament as a newcomer to Pitchcar as well.
2nd) Dalton Perry - Dalton joined the tournament while waiting for his daughter to finish her play in a concurrent Pokemon gym.

They really earned their racing stripes that day.

Afterward, plenty of players hung around for open board gaming, including Twilight Imperium, Glory to Rome, Tigris and Euphrates, and Municipium.

Thanks to everyone who came out last Sunday. We hope to see you again soon!

twenty-three-skidoo,

Neil Figuracion
Fad23

After two rounds of space-battles and overwhelming attacks, one alien mastermind rose to the throne of the inter-galactic imperium.

At the start of the five-player first round, the players chose their races and tech:

1) Dan Carr - The Gambler, Genesis Bomb
2) Alex Loh - The Hacker, Lunar Cannon
3) Joseph DiMuro - The Clone, Tech Scrambler
4) Phillip Deutsch - The Pacifist, Delta Scanners
5) Dan Winterhalter - The Virus, Precursor Seed

In the first round of the game, The Gambler attacked The Hacker, who called a face-down bet and lost a mess of ships in the process. While The Virus were able to complete their seed to gain the powers of The Mirror, it wasn't enough to keep three races from colonizing the galaxy first.

1) Alex - The Amoeba, Infinity Drive
2) Phillip - The Tripler, Quark Battery
3) Dan C. - The Oracle, Collapsium Hulls

The Amoeba played the psychology game against The Tripler and The Oracle. Each time the Amoeba attacked, the other races backed down against their nebulous fire-power.

Congratulations to Alex Loh, a first-time tournament winner, long time participant, whose crafty work in the first round allowed him to stomp his opponents in the second!

Afterward, we stayed around for hours of open gaming, including Agricola, Buy Low, Sell High, Battlestar Galactica, Tigris and Euphrates, Municipium and many more!

Congratulations to Phillip Deutsch, winner of the Tigris and Euphrates tournament, held this afternoon at Game Empire in Pasadena. In the four-player final, it came down to a tie-breaker between Phillip and Dan Carr, another regular tournament competitor.

Afterwards, we stayed open for hours of open gaming, including Quo Vadis, Municipium, Roll Through the Ages, Ingenious, Supernova and plenty of other games. Thanks to everyone who came out!

Congratulations to the winners of the Glory to Rome tournament, held last Sunday at Game Empire in Pasadena. After two back-breaking rounds, three winners proved that they had what it took in the arena!

Round one - Table 1
1) Phillip Deutsch
2) Stephanie Lawson
3) Alex Loh
4) Pete Van Ettinger

Round one - Table 2
1) Karen Star
2) Joe Landolph
3) Dan Carr
4) Steve Loeb

After a quick concession at table 1 to Phillip's Circus Maximus and double Merchant client combo, there was now an audience building. With only two points between her and Alex, she might have continued. When asked why the first table conceded so quickly, Stephanie said "I don't play for second."

After all was said and done, Table 1 had Phillip (35 pts) and Alex (15 pts) advancing, while table 2 came down to a tie-breaker for second. Joe (21 pts) and Dan (15 pts, after a tie-breaker with Karen) advanced to the final table.


Round 2
1) Dan Carr
2) Alex Loh
3) Joe Landolph
4) Phillip Deutsch

This was a thinking-heavy game. By the end of the match, each player had built considerably, but when Phil completed the Garden to soak the entire pool into his clientele the opponents knew that it would be rough.

The game ended with with many buildings left unfinished.
Dan Carr had finished a Road, but had left the Gate, Forum and Garden incomplete. He also had one concrete in his vault. (5 pts)
Alex Loh completed his sewer, shrine and latrine with a Palisade nearly finished, but the two concrete in the vault insured he would earn a helpful bonus! (15 pts)
Joe Landolph constructed the tower and fountain, while the plans for the dock, archway and foundry were left as only plans. One marble and one concrete in the vault would at least keep Phillip from gaining three more points. (12 pts)
Phillip Deutsch had no unfinished buildings. This master of efficiency completed the bar, the garden, the insula, the palisade, the tower, the palace, the circus the catacomb and the academy and had a single piece of marble vaulted away.(24 pts)

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to everyone who came out to play. Afterward, we stuck around for more fun, including Roll through the Ages, Slide 5, Beowulf the Movie Board Game, Amun Re and many others!

Yay! Congrats to the victorious conqueror!

I so wanted to share a game of Glory to Rome with you guys last Sunday.

Unfortunately, I would've had to share my cold with you guys too. And I'm sure you didn't want that.

Congrats to the champ. See you all another time.

This Sunday is daylight savings time, and I've been asked to send a reminder out so that folks don't miss the tournament!

So please remember to set your clocks forward on Saturday night. It would be sad if we missed you.

Congratulations to the winners of the Agricola tournament, held last weekend at Game Empire in Pasadena! The tournament was our biggest board game event to date, with four full starting rounds filtering down to the high stakes farming final to end all high stakes farming finals!

From the first round tables, we had five players advance. In seating and turn order:

1) Ara Keropian
2) Haik Grigoryan
3) Alex Loh
4) Dennis Lien
5) Vache Ohanessian

All accounts say that it was a denial-heavy game, with some players describing it as "highly competitive." All of the players agreed that they were unable to do what they had planned.

Alex had played the Stone Buyer and denied all the other players their stone. After the game Dennis remarked, "I took 1 stone in three different turns and it turned out to be the right move each time!"

In round 14, Ara was able to play three key spots, all of which might be very popular in a regular game: Family Growth without room, Plow & Sow, and Renovation w/ Fences. With the game as tight as it was, the other players must have really needed what they chose instead.

The final breakdown went like this:

Ara
Fields 2
Pastures 2
Grain 1
Vegetables 2
Sheep 1
Wild boar 1
Cattle 2
Unused spaces -2
Fenced stables 0
Clay hut rooms 4
Stone house rooms 0
Family members 15
Points for cards 7
Bonus points 0

Haik
Fields 3
Pastures 1
Grain 3
Vegetables 3
Sheep 2
Wild boar -1
Cattle -1
Unused spaces -2
Fenced stables 0
Clay hut rooms 3
Stone house rooms 0
Family members 12
Points for cards 1
Bonus points 2

Alex
Fields 2
Pastures 1
Grain 1
Vegetables 1
Sheep -1
Wild boar 1
Cattle 1
Unused spaces -3
Fenced stables 0
Clay hut rooms 3
Stone house rooms 0
Family members 9
Points for cards 5
Bonus points 1

Dennis
Fields 1
Pastures -1
Grain 1
Vegetables 1
Sheep 1
Wild boar 1
Cattle 3
Unused spaces -5
Fenced stables 0
Clay hut rooms 0
Stone house rooms 8
Family members 15
Points for cards 3
Bonus points 0

Vache
Fields 1
Pastures 3
Grain -1
Vegetables 1
Sheep 1
Wild boar 1
Cattle 1
Unused spaces -5
Fenced stables 3
Clay hut rooms 4
Stone house rooms 0
Family members 12
Points for cards 6
Bonus points 0

The final scores:
1st place - Ara Keropian
2nd place - Dennis Lien
3rd place - Haik Grigoryan

Kudos to the winners and thanks to everyone else who participated! Afterward we stayed for more open gaming, including Shadow Hunters, Wasabi, Princes of Florence, A Castle for All Seasons and many other favorites!

Next weekend, I'll be participating in the 24 Hour Cancer Dance-a-thon. Please visit the geeklist and consider a donation. Even just your thumbs would mean a lot. Thanks for checking. Thanks as well to Alex Loh who will be organizing next week's tournament.

This weekend I will be participating in the 24 Hour Cancer Dance-a-thon. Please visit the link, add your thumbs and consider a donation.

Stepping up to the plate to run the event, . Everyone treat him kindly. I'll be back around the following week.

Thanks to Alex for agreeing to run this tournament. Unfortunately, the tournament was canceled due to lack of players. (There were only three of us, including Alex himself. Definitely too few.)

Oh well. The next one should have a better turnout, I hope.

From two preliminary rounds to a semi-final four player table, to a quick face to face race, two players proved that they had what it took to take all comers! These are the winners of the Race for the Galaxy tournament, held last Sunday at Game Empire in Pasadena.

1st) Bing Hsu - worked his mines and the tourist world for a final score of 33
2nd) Benny Leach - used his research labs and numerous alien planets for a final score of 26.

Thanks to everyone who came out!