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1997-2013 Tournament Results

Award 1997 Winners 1998 Winners 1999 Winners 2000 Winners 2001 Winners 2002 Winners 1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place 4th Place 5th Place 6th Place 7th Place 8th Place 9th Place 10th Place 11th Place 12th Place 13th Place 14th Place 15th Place 16th Place Jason Wagner Michael Anchors Christopher Bodkin John Pack Louis Gehring Ray Stakenas John Kilbride Stephanie Mayes Gordon Rodgers Jim Matt Scott Sirianna Jack Jeager Dee Ann Gehring Douglas Broud Mike Metcalf Phillip Thomas Stephanie Mayes Pitt Crandlemire Phillip Thomas Daniel Schulman Kevin LeRow Dee Ann Gehring Dan Lawall John Ellsworth Louis Gehring John Pack Kaarin Engelmann Charles Ryder Jack Jaeger Mark E. Hunter Johnny Hasay Mike Ellsworth Pitt Crandlemire Stephanie Mayes Rob Kilroy Jim Rochford Kaarin Engelmann Dan Schulman John Kilbride Mark Boone Peter Martin Jeremy Henrichon Bob Hamel Louis Gehring Forrest Speck John Pack Michael Anchors Jason Wagner Pitt Crandlemire Roger Taylor Nick Smith Al Wong Bob Hamel Gary Presser Jim Rochford Louis Gehring Rob Kilroy Anthony Daw Frank Sinigaglio Paul Saunders John Pack Kaarin Engelmann Jeff Finkeldey Charles Stucker Mark Love Nick Smith Pitt Crandlemire Paul Bolduc Kevin Brownell Kaarin Engelmann Mike Backstrom John Poniske John Pack Kevin Wojtaszczyk Christopher Hensley Matthew Hamel Mike Anchors Charles Stucker Alfred Wong Sean Finnerty John Pack Kevin Wojtaszczyk Nick Smith Bob Hamel Kaarin Engelmann Jeff Ribeiro Paul Bolduc Christopher Hensley Rolinda Collinson Andy Joy Peter Martin Marshall Applestine Jim Mason Wendy DeMarco Steve Greenwood Mark Love Junior Godfather Douglas Broud Pitt Crandlemire Rob Kilroy Roger Taylor Christopher Hensley Jeff Ribeiro Cement Overshoes N/A Stephanie Mayes Jim Rochford Fred Gosnell Kaarin Engelmann Kaarin Engelmann "I think she likes me!" Award N/A Mark E. Hunter N/A Kevin LeRow Mike Anchors Tim Evinger Roadkill Award N/A N/A Dee Ann Gehring Tim Evinger Tim Evinger Nick Smith N/A - Not Awarded that year

Honorable Mention

1997 -- The Gehring/Mayes Family: Louis and Dee Ann Gehring and their daughter Stephanie Mayes all qualified for the semi-finals and shared six wins between them. Any way you look at it, they're quite a mob! (In fact, they all qualified for the semi-finals again in '98 while Stephanie went on to win it all.)

1998 -- Kevin LeRow: The only player to beat Stephanie Mayes during Avaloncon '98!

1999 -- Rob "Moneybags" Kilroy: For scoring payouts of $3,900 and then $5,700 in back-to-back moves to end his semi-final in four turns!

2000 -- Nick Smith: For just missing out on the Junior Godfather award by 2% of the percentage completion tie-breaker! This is the first year that two new players have qualified for the finals!

2001 -- Matthew Hamel, the lowest AREA-rated player: For finishing better than his father, Bob Hamel -- who has the highest AREA rating -- in his first tournament appearance! They are also the first father/son pair to play in the tournament.

2002 -- Bob Hamel: The only player to ever complete a Brown monopoly (in fact, the only monopoly ever not using Red or Blue).  More surprisingly, only two players completed a monopoly of any sort during this tournament!  Bob took advantage of the five-player tournament game that allows Gray buildings to be treated as if they were Brown!

2003 -- Kaarin Engelmann, Rob Kilroy, Steve Zeinski, and Ashley Collinson: For an unusual game that saw a 4 Thug eliminate a level 3 joint (a 7% chance), the most hits in a single game (20), the annihilation of Kilroy's entire gang (though he still ended with $8,600), a near purple monopoly (with the Racketeer in the final joint when the game ended), and Cop #10 mowing down the thugs of two different gangs four times.

2004 -- Steve Cameron, Stephen Quirke, Robert Buccheri, and John Poniske: For the most impressive combined carnage of the tournament.  Twenty-six dead mobsters and another eleven falling to seduction – leaving a paltry 16 gangsters between the four players at the game’s end!  Players even paid $500 to help others figure out how to launch attacks.  The biggest gang at the end of the game?  3/1/1.  The smallest?  0/1/0.  Ouch!  Robert Buccheri didn’t win this bloodfest, but he went on to be the only player this year to play in all six possible games!

2005 -- Ashley Collinson: For being the first player to ever complete a Purple monopoly.  And for being stubborn enough to try it over and over again -- coming up just short, with four of the five purple joints, in two other games in 2005 (including her semi-final) as well as the 2003 honorable mention game!  The Purple monopoly is so difficult to achieve that Mark Love's excellent How to Win at Gangsters recommends ignoring players who try for it!

2006 -- Angela Collinson: For her two unusual near misses.  One heat saw her finish with 10 joints but lose out to Ladykiller, who collected another $3,200 to add to his secret stash of $9,900 while she was trying to complete her gang.  In another game she purchased a total of 18 joints but ended up with only 9!  I'm guessing that winning the Roadkill Award had something to do with why she came up short!  Most games don't last the minimum 16 turns necessary to buy that many joints, and most Racketeers don't move into enough different joints to buy that many even in games that do last that long.  For that matter, most sets of opponents wouldn't be able to take down nine joints (or even five for that matter).  Kudos to Red Rose's opponents for pulling that off!

2007 -- Paul Bolduc: For his unusual experiences with the cops during the "Year of the Cop."  In a single game, Da Spider drew the Untouchables bribe marker twice in just three tries.  In the same game, Paul rolled boxcars (two sixes) with Barney Fife (Cop #2) while wearing the Robocop polo shirt he'd won in an earlier heat.  Barney was doing his best imitation of Robocop!  To win the polo shirt, Da Spider, whose name tag had Robocop on it, had to draw the matching bribe to bend Robocop to his will.

2008 -- David Pack, Jeffrey Hacker, and Peter Staab: For their three-way tie at the buzzer.  Each had seven joints.  The second tie-breaker determined that David would qualify for the semi-final with the most assets ($12,400 vs. $7,550 and $6,300 respectively).  Keith Galbraith wasn't far behind the 70% tie -- he had $6,700 in cash.  More than that, this game set some serious carnage records -- with 22 gangsters dying in shoot-outs and another 21 changing hands due to seduction.  Carnage and vampage!  Peter "Numbers" Staab wrote, "This was a very bloody and 'loving' game."

2009 -- The Monopolists who earned the four monopoly victories scored during the tournament.  Phillip Entwistle and Andy Gardner won with Blue monopolies while Ashley Collinson and Ben Gardner won with Purple monopolies.  Interestingly, all of these but Andy won their victory in the first heat.  Tom McCorry and Jeff Hacker were one joint shy of Blue monopolies in their first heat games as well.

2010 -- Andy Gardner: In a year when Vamps shredded many gangs to pieces, Craig Reece won the "I think She likes Me!" award after losing 8 victims to enemy Vamps in a single game.  The runner-up, Andy, lost 7 victims -- in the very same game!  As Craig later commented, "That game was brutal in the most feminine sense possible."

2011 -- Phillip "Iron" Entwistle and "Dangerous" Doug Galullo:  For winning their semi-finals with Red monopolies in a year that saw five successful Red monopoly attempts -- and in which no other color monopoly was successful.  There have been several recent years with no Red monopoly whatsoever.  Could that strategy be making a comeback?  Rob "Moneybags" Kilroy probably came the closest to another monopoly first -- collecting 8 of 9 Brown Joints in a four-player game.

2012 -- Rolinda "Ma" Collinson:  For successfully laying low.  In her first game of the tournament, she took zero hits in a game where the other players took 20 between them (and one, "Bobby Tweaks," took the Road Kill Award with 12 hits with a gang he built up to 4/1/5 twice).  Ma shows us all one of the secrets to victory on the streets of Chicago!  Ma was also awarded the "Black Rose" for her outstanding performance as substitute GM in 2011 and 2009.

2013 -- Ashley "Angel" Worley (formerly Collinson):  For upgrading the lowly Palace Chophouse to Level Five.  As far as I know, that's the first use of a marker with an x5 on it ever (and to think the game contains an x9 marker)!  Knowing how the Collinsons and Worleys play, I suspect that brand-new crisp x5 marker was sitting on a very worn board.

Cement Overshoes

Each year's winner is nominated for the World Boardgaming Championships' Sportsmanship award -- the most prestigious award at the convention. However, far more importantly, these players are the ones who make you glad you came to the tournament, who make the convention more fun for everyone, and who remind us why we play games to begin with! The following have all been nominated at one time or another (many of them several times) -- please give them a big "thank you!" the next time you see any of them!