2013 TOURNAMENT SUMMARY

These are some of the top story lines of the tournament. Congratulations to tournament champion Keith Dent.

The Battle of Trevor Oliver and Jason Pisani:

There were 3 sets of duos that had to play each other in three different rounds of the tournament. One of the most notable ones I noticed when looking back over the results was the battle between Trevor and Jason. They played each other in rounds 1, 2, and 5. In round 1 Jason took first place in Power Grid while Trevor took second. Jason and Trevor both tied with 16 cities powered, but Jason won the tiebreaker of remaining Money. This set the stage for an epic battle between these two. In the second round they found themselves sitting across the table from each other again, but this time the game was 7 wonders. Once again it was a photo finish with it coming down to a three way tie between Jason, Trevor, and Brooke over both the games for the 7 wonders round. The tie breaker was % of winning score for both games and it was Trevor getting the edge with 188, Jason in second with 183 and Brooke getting robbed of precious tournament points with 172, despite finishing 2nd in both 7 wonders games for the round. So after two rounds they both set atop the leaderboard with Keith at 10 points. In round 3 they were in different games with Jason spending a whopping 11 bid points to play a game he had never played in Last Will, while Trevor got stuck in a game of Puerto Rico, where he finished last place getting no tournament points. Jason’s gamble paid off though as he used his spending skills to burn through $119,000 and win Last Will. After receiving the 6 pts from winning Last Will Jason sat atop the leaderboard with Keith at 16pts, putting some distance between him and rival Trevor who still only had 10. However Trevor was not to be denied. In round 4 he was in his element winning Medici, a game which he has seemed to master. He even beat eventual tournament champion Keith on his way to this win. Meanwhile Jason’s spending spree of 11 bid points in round 3 came back to haunt him as he got stuck in the only game in the tournament he didn’t want to play in Carcassonne. Jason did manage to escape with a 3rd place finish however which left him with 18 tournament points going into the last round where he would once again face his rival Trevor. After Trevor got 6 points from Medici he was sitting with 16 tournament points going into the final round. Both players were in good position to win the tournament should the leader Keith slip up. Trevor bid everything he had left on Egizia and it was enough to get that game on the table and position him in it. At this point he had to be feeling good about his chances as he had played Egizia twice and twice came away with pretty dominating victories. Jason on the other had was still feeling the pain of his 11 bid spending spree in round 3 as he was the only player at the Egizia table that had not played the game before. However, Jason has a knack for doing well the first time he plays any game and was ready to repeat that performance and take home the title. However, both rivals would learn a harsh lesson in round 5. Trevor learned that this is no typical Thursday night game of Egizia and wins don’t come that easily. This is the Lion in Winter tournament and if you are playing experienced players you had best bring your A game. On a similar note Jason, who seems to almost always do well when he is playing against other players who are learning the game (due to his quick learning ability), learned that it isn’t so easy against veterans. The Bingham brothers lead the game from start to finish leaving no room for a slingshot move by either Trevor or Jason in the sphinx scoring. Tobiah got the victory by 1 point over Isaac, which left Trevor in 3rd and Jason in 4th. This left Jason and Trevor both with 18 tournament points and once again this incredibly close rivalry had to come down to tie breakers with Trevor getting the edge with 238 total opponent points, while Jason only had 222. This put Trevor finishing 4th overall and Jason in 5th. I look for both of these players to be big threats in this tournament for years to come.

The Battle of Keith Dent and Neil Mecham:

Another of the great battles in the 2013 tournament was the one between Neil and Keith. These two were not new to seeing each other around the board game table. Neil and Keith are brother in law’s and had faced each other multiple times in games, and the Lion in Winter tournament would be no different. They played each other 3 times and battled back and forth over the tournament. It was Keith’s consistently strong finishes in games not against Neil that pushed him past Neil to eventually win the tournament. In round 1 Keith captured a huge win in Stone Age capitalizing on a play mistake by Stone Age master Ben Ibershoff, while a play mistake by Neil took him from possibly winning the round to finishing dead last in Power Grid. At this point they were pretty far apart in total points but Neil proved he was a real contender when he beat Keith 104 to 101 in Alhambra to win and get on the board with 6 tournament points. Keith did snag 4 pts from his 2nd place finish though which put him on top of the leaderboard after two rounds. They faced each other again in round 3 with Keith managing a pretty decisive victory in Princes of Florence, Neil finished 3rd to snag a couple more tournament points putting him @ 8, while Keith was still atop the leaderboard with 16. In round 4 they faced off once more and again Keith was the victor as he finished with 102 in Medici while Neil was @ 87. Keith had played the game a few times while Neil was playing the first time and the experience paid off. Both players were outdone by Medici Master Trevor Oliver though but Keith picked up 4 more tourney pts, while Neil picked up 2 more. The last round Keith faced tough competition in Lost Cities, but came away in 2nd which gave him enough points to snag the Lion in winter crown. Neil dethroned the Navagador champ from 2012 Ben Ibershoff and two others to finish 1st in the last round and secure a 7th place overall finish for himself. Both players picked up two wins in the tournament but it was Keith’s ability to finish no worse than second in any round that got him the title. I see big things from these two in years to come in this tournament.

The Bingham Brothers Battle:

Isaac and Tobiah Bingham are brothers and brothers make for good game rivals. These two played each other 3 times in the tournament and it came down to a close finish in the last round that separated them. In the first round a close game of Settlers of Catan could have gone to any of the 4 players but Austin Rathbone eventually got the victory, while Tobiah snagged 2nd with his City strategy. Isaac finished dead last and went to bed the first night of the tournament feeling pretty dim about his chances in this tournament. The next Morning the brothers would face each other again, and Isaac would be avenged as he scored 40 points to win Agricola which was his main reason for playing in the tournament. Tobiah finished last with only 21 points. At this point the brothers were both pretty far from the top of the leaderboard with Isaac @ 6, and Tobiah @ 4. In round 3 Tobiah finished 2nd place in Princes of Florence which was a surprise to me and everyone at the table. This put him @ 8 tournament points which was still far from the tournament leaders who had doubled that total. Isaac bested his brothers performance despite not being in the same game by getting a 1st place win in the classic Puerto Rico. This left Isaac with 12 tournament points which was 4th place. The fourth round they avoided each other again as Tobiah proved he is a very solid Carcassonne player, going 3-0 in the two player games to win the round and get 6 tourney points. Isaac wasn’t so lucky as he played against some Dominion sharks in Greg and Elle and finished last place. This left Isaac with 12 points going into the last round and Tobiah with 14. They faced each other once again in round 5 in the game of Egizia. It was a very close game with Tobiah winning by 1 point over Isaac who finished second. This put Tobiah with 20 tournament points which was enough to capture second place overall. Isaac finished with 16 points in 6th place. Both brothers won 2 rounds of the tournament, but this year the younger brother came out on top. The Bingham Boys should also be competitive for years to come in this tournament.

Play mistakes, dominant victories and the narrowest of margins:

As in most tournaments the 2013 Lion in winter tournament had its fair share of mistakes. When you can’t take back moves and there is a bit more pressure, it’s easier to make mistakes. Some people can’t handle this kind of pressure. Those people shouldn’t play in tournaments. It is ok if you crumble under pressure and it inspires you to do better or be better prepared for next time. It’s ok if you crumble under pressure and you realize that every so often this sort of pressure is good for you and you appreciate it. If you crumble under pressure and get annoyed and frustrated then you really should probably avoid it. I think on some level most people can appreciate it every so often and appreciate how it can push you to your mental limits. When you are able to prevail through this pressure it feels so exhilarating. Ok enough about pressure. The main point is that a tournament sometimes causes this and therefore the player, who may normally be the best in a game, may not be able to handle the pressure and sometimes someone else can win. In the first round alone there were at least 3 major play mistakes that were the difference in positioning for the round and in a couple cases ultimately influenced the whole standings of the tournament. I just think it’s interesting, and thought that it should be mentioned. I didn’t watch every game close enough to have caught everything, but people generally know when they have messed up and it’s ok. It’s all part of it and I hope it was fun for everyone regardless of this and that no one will beat themselves up over it.

I wanted to write briefly about dominating victories. In 2012 there were a few dominating victories, from Matt Musgrave’s 53 point smashing in Agricola in round two, to Phil’s Power Grid domination in the first round. In the 2013 tournament however things were much tighter. I think this means the competition is getting tougher. There were only 3 victories in the entire tournament that I would classify as dominant. Out of 16 games played in total, Ben Ibershoff’s third round win in Thurn and Taxis, Keith Dent’s third round win in Princes of Florence, and Tobiah’s 3-0 victory record in Carcassone in the fourth round were the only dominant victories. Most of the other rounds were close and four of them even had to come down to tie breakers. I think this makes for a very good tournament.

The Future of the Lion in winter tournament:

I’m very happy with how the tournament went. I thought it was smooth. The food went well, and it seemed like the bidding process worked, and mostly people got to play what they wanted. Since the tournament multiple people have suggested that I should have the tournament more than once a year. While this idea excites me, I think that the once a year part of it makes it more epic. Also it is extremely difficult to get 16 or 20 people together from all over the country. I had to change dates 3 times just for this one. I will plan to have game weekends throughout the year to invite folks to come play games. I am currently considering having a much smaller scale “orphans” tournament where we play something similar with all the games that didn’t get voted into the 2013 Lion in winter play list. I would love for everyone to learn more of the games in the field. I’ve also been thinking of doing a single game tournament, such as everyone plays a few games of one particular game or something like that. There are lots of possibilities. I’m glad you all were able to play this year and I hope to see you in years to come. There were some not so great moments like my attempt to amend the Power Grid standings, and the sleeping situation and frustrations some of you had over it being too competitive, but overall I have had good responses and I look forward to doing this again.

As of right now the plan is for the 2014 tournament to look really similar to the 2013 tournament, but possibly with a few games added to the field. I may even add a round Friday for a total of 6, or possibly add one more game to each round or have multiple bid groups for each round. Lots of details on all this will come out as I figure them. There is probably at least going to be 6 new games in the field, and maybe 1 or 2 knocked out from the 2013 field if I feel they are week.

So in closing board games are awesome and I’m extremely happy to be a part of a growing community of people who can appreciate sitting down around a table, and playing a great board game for a couple or 3 hours. I’m never able to accurately describe why it is I love board games so much but lots of random scattered thoughts come to mind when trying to get it all out there so I’ll shoot some of them off at you now. I like how it’s slow. I like how it seems kind of old timey. I like how it makes you feel smart or dumb or part of something. I like making a plan, trying a strategy, trying to piece together how I will do this to get that and use that to buy that other thing with the one discount before I have to discard, and it will get me 3 victory points along the way. I like how great games are the only way in life that I know of to gain Victory points, or prestige points. I like how games can be epic, they can be intense, and they can be social but also quite. I even like having to wait your turn. I like drinking tea while playing a game and feeling like I’m some sort of old English gentlemen. I like saying “well played” when it is deserved. I like the balance. I like how you can get better if you want to and how you can get better with experience. I like how it can pull you away from real life into some sort of fantasy where all that matters is can you get that last bonus point before your neighbor. I like how there are kings, ships, castles, nobles, pirates, farmers, wizards, bids, flags, princes, princesses, rewards, trade merchants, settlements, battles, thieves, monks, palaces, adventures, cubes, and cards. I like how they are fair but there is still an element of luck, chance and intuition. I like how clever it makes you feel when you play. I like the idea that you can take what most would consider to be nothing and make people feel like they are a part of something epic. I even like how not everyone likes board games. Some people just don’t get it. It’s not that they don’t do well, but they just don’t get why you would waste your time sitting around a table playing a game. I’m ok with people not getting it. Those people will just sadly never know what we all know. I hope this yearly thing that I want to try to do will somehow touch whatever inside you that makes you like games, and I look forward to playing games with all of you over the next year. Seeing Matt, Ben, Brooke, and Neil sit around the table playing Navagador under the porch lights as night fell over them in the final round was so beautiful for me. Then looking in the windows into the warm light of the house seeing Egizia, and Lost Cities and Lehavre being played as the tournament came to a close made me feel somehow like I was where I was supposed to be. Seeing the faces of everyone playing made me warm inside. So here is to games, and here is to the heroes and heroines that play them. May they never be lost in the instant gratifications of the modern technology video game world. A good gamer is hard to come by and you’re all welcome at my fire anytime.

Cheers.