SpielByWeb

[JokeToy]

It took 8+ months and spanned 3 calendar seasons but the Tikal Winter Olympics finally came to a conclusion yesterday, September 11th I called the finish unexpected because the playoff stage of the tournament did not play out as originally planned.

The 4 playoff contestants, Barra(uda, The Hammer, Saul Pum and JokeToy all competed in the quarter-final game (@TWO-Quarter), which ended on July 29th. The final score was Barra(uda 109 / The Hammer 104 / Saul Pum 94 / JokeToy 93. (uda was in fine form again, like he was throughout the entire tournament. Even though I ended up in last place sucking wind, I'll be the first to congratulate my opponents on outmaneuvering me in what turned out to be a very well played game.

Under the TWO rules I announced last January (uda, Hammer and Saul would have advanced to the semi-final game while I would have been eliminated. Unfortunately both Hammer and Saul could not continue due to time constraints during the busy summer months. When they forfeited their positions only (uda and I were still left in the hunt to chase down the trophy. (uda and I agreed to play the final heads up game (@TWO-Final), which I was very fortunate to win when the Tikal gods allowed me to play 20 Action Points in a row at the end - final score JokeToy 168 / Barr(uda 164.

So JokeToy emerged as the TWO champion*, but with an asterisk due to the forfeits after the quarter-final game. Barra(uda proved himself to be the best all-around player during both the qualifying and playoff stages. So with all that happened that wasn't part of the script, I'm happy to chisel both of our names on the championship trophy. The Hammer and Saul Pum rightfully earned berths in the semi-final game, so I'll cite them both as potential champions. And finally honorable mention to albeitar, daveszum, borisumi and jvick25 for how well they played to make the first half of the tournament highly competitive and most of all fun

I liked the format of the Tikal Winter Olympics but in practice the games took much too long to play out. If I end up hosting another Tikal tournament, I'm going to think about how to streamline the structure to enable faster play. When/if I have a good idea about how to speed things up, y'all will be the first to know. Until then, happy shoveling in that wild and crazy Jungle out there
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thanks for reading this far, JokeToy

[Saul Pum]

Hey Joke toy ty for hosting.

I would probably just do 2 rounds next time, maybe a bigger first round so all games going at the same time. 1 turn a day is going to go slow, that's the way it is. You can make up time by putting all the games together and eliminate a semifinal round.

[Barra(uda]

JT, thanks for great tournament and also congrats to the great win

[The Hammer]

The Tikal Winter Olympics tourney has finally concluded with JT emerging as the Big winner! Congrats to JokeToy. And congrats to (uda for giving JT everything he could handle to pull off the win.

The back to back 10 AC points that JT had the opportunity to take advantage of was the breaking point and winning combo. Was a great game to watch unfold.

Again - as mentioned above by Saul and (uda - we all appreciate your efforts and organization in setting up and running the tourney JT. Super job. We thank you for the time and persistence you took to manage the games.

I would agree with Saul on the point of playing more games simultaneously - and possibly fewer stages. I've run a couple of tourneys myself and have learned a few things by experience. I believe if the tourney had been kept to 6 players vs 8 as you originally intended JT the time table would have been narrowed down regarding the length of the tournament. The auction format dictates slower play - not much you can do about that. But with multiple games for each player going on it will help because once a player is online they will most likely take their turn on all their games - at least common sense says so. Anyway . . .

I have leaves dropping already at my house - in September. Fall is in the air - with those colder months to follow - especially those of you in the north mid-west and northeast part of the country. Doesn't effect me as hard here in Georgia - but the point is that we'll all be indoors more often then not in a few months. And maybe JT will grace us again with another tournament invite! Time will tell. Later on.

Happy gaming - The Hammer

[jvick25]

Congratulations to JokeToy and the others in the final four. All are very mighty players. Thanks JT for running the tourny.