Babycon XII

Photos from Babycon XII.

Babycon 12 was held over Memorial Day Weekend, at the Jones’ house in Germantown, Maryland. Attendance was up from Babycon 11 with 23 players. We had several first timers to Babycon, Jason’s friend, Paul Bartholomew, Scott Percival, our good friend from the local GCOM sessions, and Ken Cline’s wife, Vasoula Hatzigeorgalis. With six children running around, we definitely had a full house.

For Friday night’s dinner, nearly everyone went to the local Hard Times Café for an all-you-can-eat chili buffet. This particular Hard Times has two huge recreation rooms with pool tables, darts, miniature golf, a wall of TVs and more. As part of the package, we had three pool tables to ourselves and played many games. There was (typically) some screwup on the restaurant’s part and we didn’t get the choice seating we had reserved, but we worked it out and everyone had a good time.

After dinner, we returned to the house and began our weekend of gaming. As usual, everyone started out with fifteen Babycon bucks. One buck was anted each game and the winner took all.

After last year’s complete domination, Alex Ruvinsky had an average year. High scorers on the Tote Board were Paul Czarnota with 42, Dan Korn with 38, Bill Ruvinsky with 28 and myself with 23. I guess it was the year of the “approaching middle-age” guys.

On Friday night, we committed to playing the new edition of Twilight Imperium. TI is an epic space civilization game where you expand your empire, conduct diplomacy, invest in research and battle it out with other empires. More people wanted to play than the game could support so we drew lots to see who would play. When the game ended on Saturday morning, they had played for about eight hours! The “winners” of the drawing certainly got their money’s worth.

The most played games of the weekend were Spinball, Einfach Genial, Lost Cities, Ticket to Ride: Europe, Octi, and Diamant. All told, 79 games were played.

Thanks to everyone who attended. Special thanks to everyone who brought food, helped cook, and helped to keep things running smoothly. Hope to see you at Babycon 13!

• St. Petersburg John, Joe, Rachel J
• Blokus Marvin, Eric, Bob, Kimberly
• Manitou Joe, Eric, Bob, John
• Twilight Imperium Jason, Paul B, Dave, Eric, Scott, Alex
• Einfach Genial Vasoula, Noreen, Stephanie R, Kimberly
• Santiago Bill, Glenn, Marvin, Bob, John
• Wiz War Carol, Joe, Ken
• Wiz War Ken, Joe, Carol
• Blokus Kimberly, Noreen, Vasoula, Stephanie R
• Munchkin Glenn, Marvin, Kimberly
• Munchkin Paul C, Glenn, Marvin, Kimberly
• Louis XIV Bob, Carol, Rachel J, John
• Medici Bob, Glenn, Paul C, Marvin, Rachel J, Kimberly
• Attika Paul C, Glenn, Bob, Rachel J
• Fibonacci Eric, Marvin
• Diamant Dan K, Dave, Marvin, Eric, Bob
• For Sale Dan K, Dave, Marvin, Eric, Bob
• Boomtown Marvin, Dave, Eric, Rachel J, Dan K
• Einfach Genial Paul C, Noreen, Bob, Kimberly
• Spinball Bob, Rachel J
• Goldland Bob, Ken, Dave, Rachel J
• Spinball Rachel J, Ken
• Spinball Dave, Bob
• Taj Mahal Dan K, Paul C, Marvin, Eric, John
• Ticket to Ride: Europe Carol, Andrew, Noreen, Vasoula, Kimberly
• Metro Bill, Noreen, Eric, Alex, Jason, Stephanie R
• Spinball Jason, Eric
• Octi Jason, Eric
• Einfach Genial Paul C, Alex, Bill, Stephanie R
• Octi Eric, Jason
• Lost Cities Kimberly, Carol
• Das Zepter von Zavandor Dave, Ken, Marvin, Vasoula, Bob, John
• Fibonacci Eric, Jason
• Octi Jason, Stephanie R
• Around the World in 80 Days Alex, Joe, Paul C, Noreen, Eric
• Metro Rachel J, Carol, Bill, Rachel R, Kimberly
• Blokus Jason, Stephanie R
• Around the World in 80 Days Paul C, Joe, Noreen, Carol, Kimberly
• Dragon Delta Marvin, Joe, Ken, Rachel J, Kimberly
• Ticket to Ride: Europe Bill, Eric, Alex, Jason, Stephanie R
• Show Manager Carol, Paul C, Dave, Vasoula, Bob, John
• Octi Eric, Marvin
• Metro Eric, Ken, Marvin
• Bohnanza Paul C, Eric, Bob, Carol, Rachel J, John
• Lost Cities Eric, Paul C
• Lost Cities Paul C, Eric
• Lost Cities Eric, Paul C
• Diamant Bob, Joe, Paul C, Marvin, Eric, Carol, Rachel J, Kimberly
• Royal Turf Dan K, Joe, Carol, Kimberly
• Lost Cities Stephanie R, Dave
• Amun-Re Paul C, Marvin, Eric, Bob, Rachel J
• Manila Bob, Ken, Dave, Vasoula, Rachel J
• Maharaja Dan K, Noreen, Dave, Eric, Bill, Kimberly
• Ticket to Ride: Europe Marvin, Paul C, Carol, Scott, Stephanie R
• Traumfabrik Paul C, Bob, Carol, Rachel J, Stephanie R
• Diamant Jason, Eric, Dan K, Alex, Bill, Kimberly
• Power Grid Marvin, Ken, Dave, Vasoula, Scott
• Spinball Eric, Alex
• Spinball Rachel J, Rachel R
• Lost Cities Alex, Stephanie R
• Spinball Jason, Alex
• Einfach Genial Dan K, Noreen, Eric, Bill
• Quo Vadis? Dan K, Noreen, Eric, Bill
• Lost Cities Alex, Paul C
• Amazonas Dave, Carol, Scott, Kimberly
• Patrons of Venice Ken, Marvin, Vasoula, John
• Niagara Paul C, Bob, Alex, Jason, Stephanie R
• Einfach Genial Rachel J, Ken, Vasoula, Stephanie R
• Traumfabrik John, Paul C, Eric, Jason R, Kimberly
• Einfach Genial Kimberly, Joe, Vasoula, Jason
• El Grande Alex, Dave, Marvin, Bob, Carol
• Ra John, Ken, Eric, Rachel J
• Diamant Eric, Marvin, Bob, Carol, Jason, Kimberly, John
• Hansa Bob, Marvin, Eric, Jason
• Wings of War Eric, Dave, Noreen, Bob
• Tikal Bill, Carol, Rachel J, Stephanie R
• Einfach Genial Bill, Noreen, Carol, Rachel J
• Rheinländer Dave, Paul C, Bob, Stephanie R
• Ticket to Ride: Europe Paul C, Bob, Carol, Rachel J, Jason

May 14, 2005

Hey everyone!

Below are the results of our gaming and Texas Holdem event last Saturday. We saw some old friends, met some new ones and had a wonderful time. Thanks to everyone who contributed food and drink. We certainly had more than enough! What’s left will undoubtedly be eaten at Babycon.

Special thanks to Dave Fair for setting up and running the Holdem game and to Noreen Fair for dealing the remainder of the game once she went out.

We were happy to have Mark Erickson as a first time guest to our game room. We were also very happy to meet Steve Bramer’s wife, Jackie, and Ken Cline’s wife, Vasoula, and her son, Angelo. It was a real pleasure to see Ken and Steve with their new families. I hope we’ll see you all again at future events.

We started playing board games around 2PM. We ate dinner around 6PM and started the Holdem tournament at 7:30PM. Eric Haas came by for the boardgaming part and kept the records. Thanks, Eric.

* * * * * *

Here is the tote of regular gaming (winner listed in bold):
Tote Board

• Spinball Bob, Eric
• Spinball Noreen, Carol
• Spinball Noreen, Rachel J
• Around the World in 80 Days Rachel J, Dave, Noreen, Carol
• Ticket to Ride Europe Eric 129, Bob 115, Ken 108, Vasoula 101
• San Juan Dave 32, Noreen 30, Carol 26.
• Circus Flohcati Dave, Noreen, Rachel, Carol
• Einfach Genial Ken, Rachel, Eric, Vasoula
• Dragonland Bob 43, Noreen 41, Dave 40, Carol 33

Texas Holdem

This was our first Texas Holdem night and, personally, I thought it was a blast. With twelve players, we started with two tables of six. Once two people were eliminated, we combined the rest into one table of ten and played until we had a winner. Each player bought in for $10 and received 1000 points in chips. The top four players won prizes of 50%, 25%, 15% and 10% of the pot. One player bought in again after an early bust so the total pot was $130.

The tables were:

Glenn Bramer, Dan Korn, Mark Erickson, Beth Bramer, Carol Jones, Noreen Fair

And

Bob Jones, Ken Cline, Jackie (Steve’s wife), Steve Bramer, Vasoula (Ken’s wife), Dave Fair

Of the twelve players, only five had played in a Texas Holdem tournament before. Inexperience was apparently not an issue. Unfortunately, with so many players, some of them are not going to get a good hand the entire night and are likely to go out just because of the attrition from the blinds. This happened to at least three players.

At the first table, after some early domination by first time player, Beth, Glenn dominated. He came to the big table as the chip leader. At the second table, Ken and Steve had some early winnings, but didn’t sustain them. Vasoula went bust within the first 30 minutes so we allowed her to buy back in. It proved momentous as she skillfully used her second stack of chips to finish in third place. I had the big stack from this table when we merged.

The players went out in the following order:

• 12. Steve Bramer After some early success, Steve couldn’t get a good hand.
• 11. Dan Korn Dan never got a good hand.
• 10. Jackie Coming to the big table short-stacked, Jackie didn’t last long.
• 9/8. Noreen and Mark Noreen and Mark were both knocked out in the same hand.
• 7. Carol Carol didn’t get many breaks.
• 6. Ken Ken was way ahead at one point at his 6 player table. Alas, it didn’t last.
• 5. Beth For her first time playing, Beth played very well.
• 4. Bob I came to the big table with the second biggest pile of chips. On the first hand head to head with Vasoula, she took half my stack. Later, Glenn took me out with a lucky card on the river. $13.00
• 3. Vasoula Easily the most improved. From an early bust, she came back, played very well and finished third. $19.50
• 2. Glenn With 4 players left, Glenn had the big stack. After he busted me out, he then lost a couple of big hands to Dave. After Dave knocked Vasoula out, Dave and Glenn went head to head. $32.50
• 1. Dave At a couple of points while on the 6 player table, Dave was nearly broke with all his chips on the line. He managed to hold on and after several hours of play, grabbed the win from Glenn. $65.00

I thought everyone played very well and I hope everyone had a good time. I would love to make this a semi-regular event. Elimination games are tough (which is why we play so many German games that aren’t elimination), but fun nonetheless.

Here are Dave Fair’s comments about the play of the final four:

It came down to Glenn Bramer on the big stack, Vasoula after that, and Bob and I both had less than 15 black chips each.

Glenn Busted out Bob, then I doubled up on Vasoula. I doubled up on Glenn two hands later, then tripled up on both of them.

I then knocked out Vasoula, and took on Glenn. He was still big stacked, but I was able to steal the lead, lose it, then steal it again. Finally, after many hands of aggressive raises from the button by me, I was able to take him down when he went all-in after making top pair (K-K) on the flop when I made 2-pair on the flop (8-8 & 7-7).

Attached are some pictures for your enjoyment.

Bob