So the games have come and gone...
Tis sad but true.
But the events themselves brought smiles to the faces of all involved!
Well at least I was smiling because it turned out to be an action packed day of 'work'.
The board game blitz was four rounds of intense game play.
Players warmed up with a brusque 5k run around the Kingston city limits and a quick swim to race the Kingston ferry across to Wolf Island. Once we had dried off we para glided from 10,000 feet down to city hall where the 2012 ceremonial torch was set ablaze. Streaking through the streets (some minus a few articles of clothing) we fought off scores of dozens of thousands of dangerous ninja in order to at last enter the store's battle arena. Once safely there the gamers changed into their tournament uniforms. The super heroes of the gaming community all gathered in one location...the stage was set for a clash between titans.
We had visitors from both Toronto and Ottawa as well as many of the most famous Kingston locals.
The fighting was fierce, taunts and gaming insults were hurled about and then in short order the games began. Two Minotaur staff slipped in to trade punches with the other gamers, Gaming Guru Michael White and yours truly. After a few savage exchanges from round one and two the lunch break settled upon Minotaur...like the eye of a hurricane.
The gamers stalked off to hunt their hamburgers and sandwiches before returning revitalized to do battle once more!
There was no flashy score board to let players know what had transpired in the first half but the reality was that after the first two round there were still many people vying for the leadership position. BUT! There was already a pair of leaders to catch up to.
The scores after the break stood with Esther Guttman at 14 Points tied with...well me. =D
Next came Jeffrey right on our heels at 13 with Shawn and Patrick tailing close behind at 12.
Marc was behind the pair at 11 squeaking ahead of the tie between Calvin and Adam B who sat comfortably at 10.
Randy was at 9, Robert at 8 with our 2nd place sitter Michael tied at 7 with Katrina.
Dallas held onto a one point advantage at 5 over the 3way tie at the rear of the pack Awesome Abi, David, and Stephen all sitting at 4 points.
Everyone knew that it was still any ones match despite the 10 point spread from 1st to last. The final 2hour game was worth 10 points and would be a crucial moment to decide the ultimate champion.
Round 3 started with a vengeance and as the dust settled I found myself sitting facing Esther across a board of Ticket to Ride Europe. The two leaders locked in an epic stare-off! We both knew what it meant... (Subconsciously anyways)
Only one of us would be the victor in this round and the other would slip back amongst the pack to jostle for position.
I watched her like a hawk... carefully analyzing her seasoned calls of 'I'll take those two cards' or 'I'll claim this route.' It became obvious that she was one serious TtoR player!!
Helen Baumander, who had not entered the blitz but observed the round, commented from ringside that "Esther never loses at Ticket to Ride...not ever." It proved to hold true as she just crushed the table. Dismayed by the defeat I did not even manage to secure 2nd place.
Going into the final round it was a spread out pack now.
Esther sat at 19 points.
Shawn 17 Patrick 17
Jeffrey 16 Henry 16
Calvin 13 Marc 13
Randy 11 Michael 11 Katrina 11
Robert 9 David 9 Stephen 9
Dallas 6
Abi 5
For those sitting at 13 they would have to win their match and Esther would need to place last in whatever table she played at. Esther settled in for a game of Peurto Rico and Patrick chose to confront her head to head. Shawn and Jeffrey, both within striking distance of 1st place chose their battle arena of Power Grid and I opted for Princes of Florence.
Hopes remained high that someone, or preferably a couple of people, might place ahead of Esther to give that chance for a tournament win but the game was over 1st out of the 4 games with Esther quickly having secured first place. Since her final score was a 29 it was announced then and there that the winner and ultimate champion of the Blitz was incontestable. Everyone now was simply playing for runner up positions.
Overall Esther placed 1st in 3 of her matches and the round she didn't win she placed second.
A mere one point shy of a perfect score of 30!!
Well done Esther, you deserve a round of applause for your cunning wins and with the support of your friends you have secured a spot to Fan Expo in Toronto!
Here's hoping you have similar results against another crowd of gamers in the big T-dot.
Included here are two photos, one of the majority of the players involved (some had to leave early) and the final 4 winners holding their gift certificates or showcasing their championship crown.
Here are the final scores.
Tis sad but true.
But the events themselves brought smiles to the faces of all involved!
Well at least I was smiling because it turned out to be an action packed day of 'work'.
The board game blitz was four rounds of intense game play.
Players warmed up with a brusque 5k run around the Kingston city limits and a quick swim to race the Kingston ferry across to Wolf Island. Once we had dried off we para glided from 10,000 feet down to city hall where the 2012 ceremonial torch was set ablaze. Streaking through the streets (some minus a few articles of clothing) we fought off scores of dozens of thousands of dangerous ninja in order to at last enter the store's battle arena. Once safely there the gamers changed into their tournament uniforms. The super heroes of the gaming community all gathered in one location...the stage was set for a clash between titans.
We had visitors from both Toronto and Ottawa as well as many of the most famous Kingston locals.
The fighting was fierce, taunts and gaming insults were hurled about and then in short order the games began. Two Minotaur staff slipped in to trade punches with the other gamers, Gaming Guru Michael White and yours truly. After a few savage exchanges from round one and two the lunch break settled upon Minotaur...like the eye of a hurricane.
The gamers stalked off to hunt their hamburgers and sandwiches before returning revitalized to do battle once more!
There was no flashy score board to let players know what had transpired in the first half but the reality was that after the first two round there were still many people vying for the leadership position. BUT! There was already a pair of leaders to catch up to.
The scores after the break stood with Esther Guttman at 14 Points tied with...well me. =D
Next came Jeffrey right on our heels at 13 with Shawn and Patrick tailing close behind at 12.
Marc was behind the pair at 11 squeaking ahead of the tie between Calvin and Adam B who sat comfortably at 10.
Randy was at 9, Robert at 8 with our 2nd place sitter Michael tied at 7 with Katrina.
Dallas held onto a one point advantage at 5 over the 3way tie at the rear of the pack Awesome Abi, David, and Stephen all sitting at 4 points.
Everyone knew that it was still any ones match despite the 10 point spread from 1st to last. The final 2hour game was worth 10 points and would be a crucial moment to decide the ultimate champion.
Round 3 started with a vengeance and as the dust settled I found myself sitting facing Esther across a board of Ticket to Ride Europe. The two leaders locked in an epic stare-off! We both knew what it meant... (Subconsciously anyways)
Only one of us would be the victor in this round and the other would slip back amongst the pack to jostle for position.
I watched her like a hawk... carefully analyzing her seasoned calls of 'I'll take those two cards' or 'I'll claim this route.' It became obvious that she was one serious TtoR player!!
Helen Baumander, who had not entered the blitz but observed the round, commented from ringside that "Esther never loses at Ticket to Ride...not ever." It proved to hold true as she just crushed the table. Dismayed by the defeat I did not even manage to secure 2nd place.
Going into the final round it was a spread out pack now.
Esther sat at 19 points.
Shawn 17 Patrick 17
Jeffrey 16 Henry 16
Calvin 13 Marc 13
Randy 11 Michael 11 Katrina 11
Robert 9 David 9 Stephen 9
Dallas 6
Abi 5
For those sitting at 13 they would have to win their match and Esther would need to place last in whatever table she played at. Esther settled in for a game of Peurto Rico and Patrick chose to confront her head to head. Shawn and Jeffrey, both within striking distance of 1st place chose their battle arena of Power Grid and I opted for Princes of Florence.
Hopes remained high that someone, or preferably a couple of people, might place ahead of Esther to give that chance for a tournament win but the game was over 1st out of the 4 games with Esther quickly having secured first place. Since her final score was a 29 it was announced then and there that the winner and ultimate champion of the Blitz was incontestable. Everyone now was simply playing for runner up positions.
Overall Esther placed 1st in 3 of her matches and the round she didn't win she placed second.
A mere one point shy of a perfect score of 30!!
Well done Esther, you deserve a round of applause for your cunning wins and with the support of your friends you have secured a spot to Fan Expo in Toronto!
Here's hoping you have similar results against another crowd of gamers in the big T-dot.
Included here are two photos, one of the majority of the players involved (some had to leave early) and the final 4 winners holding their gift certificates or showcasing their championship crown.
Here are the final scores.
(PS. I've probably misspelt a ton of your last names. Which I'll say in my defense is due to everyone's scribbly handwriting on their player sheets. But secretly it's so you'll post all outraged to the blog which will make me feel like folks are reading this =P )
Esther Guttman: 29 (winner)
Patrick McInalle: 25 (1st runner up)
Jeffrey McCarthy: 24 (2nd runner up)
Calvin Chan: 23 (3rd runner up)
Marc Lanctot: 21
Henry McCulloch: 20
David Edwards: 19
Shawn Keown: 19
Adam B. : 19
Stephen Hamel: 19
Randy Scott: 15
Michael White: 15
Katrina Sauve: 13
Robert Armstrong: 11
Abi The Awesome “A”: 9
Dallas Dyck: 8
But enough of the blitz!
On to cribbage!!
We had a great turnout again for our February cribbage tournament and I never posted the pics of the winners as promised.
I case my wily readers thought I'd forgotten.
Really though my reader base consists of a large number of cats checking to see if their lawl pictures made it to the blog -_-
The winner was Kyle and the 1st runner up was Tim seen below holding their winnings!
With continued turnouts of a dozen or more players you will need to get signed up fast if you intend to play. I know the sign up sheet last time was completely full and we have about a dozen spots left for the next coming cribbage tournament at the end of this month on March 31st.
As always it will be 10 dollars to enter and you will gather at the store at 7pm!
7 matches will determine the winner and the money entered by the players will be pooled towards gift certificates for the top players.
Here's hoping to see you out here on the 31st and as always I'll keep everyone updated on new and exciting things to come at the store. That's all for now play safe everyone and as always...
I'm Henry McCulloch and this has been the Labyrinth. Game On!
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