Game Convention Info

 

Since 1997, I have hosted an annual railroad board gaming convention called the Chattanooga Rail Gaming Challenge.  It is currently held in January and we draw 50+ players from as far away as England. It is a very friendly gathering and a great place to learn new games. There are actually two different tournaments held during the weekend and it is possible for players to move between the two during the weekend.  A brief report of the previous conventions appears below and details of the 2006 convention to be held on January 13-15, 2006 will be posted below:

 

2006 Convention Info: The 10th annual Chattanooga Rail Gaming Challenge will be held January 13-15, 2006 at the Country Suites just off I-75 at exit 5 in Chattanooga Tennessee. The general format will be very similar to that from 2005.  For details, I would recommend scrolling down to the 2005 info section.  I continue to have problems with a large cheerleading competition on this weekend.  I have received reports that the Country Suites have already run out of some of the room types in my room block which I was able to get increased from last year.  Other than the room availability and maybe the mall and restaurants being busier, there is no real impact to the event.  Nonetheless, I will probably move the event to February in 2007 if my problems with hotel availability continue.

 

It’s hard to believe it has been ten years since this convention started.  I will try to think of some special surprise to celebrate this anniversary.  I attended the Essen Game Fair in Germany and I created my first ever bi-lingual information flyer to try to attract even more foreign players.  It is no secret that the majority of the attendees travel more than 300 miles to play and I am grateful for the loyalty that represents, especially in these days of higher airfares and traveling costs.

 

It is more important than ever for players who drive to the event particularly to bring a copy of their favorite games to assure that there are always copies available.  This year there have been a number of new games of games released including several 18xx games, Ticket to Ride Europe, a new edition of Australian Rails and more.  There will be a variety of games to play, both old and new.

 

I plan to mail flyers to those on my mailing list around Thanksgiving as usual and I will try to email an update in December 2005 to those I have emails for.  If anyone wants to be added to either of these lists, please email me with the information.  I look forward to seeing you in 2006!

 

2005 Convention Report: The 9th annual Chattanooga Rail Gaming Challenge was held January 14-16, 2005 and drew 53 players.  There was a Ticket to Ride tournament Thursday night for the early birds and it was won by Richard Sheaves-Bein.  The general train gaming tournament which was scored using the Puffing Billy system was won by Chris Hagen.  Jeff Jackson finished second, Dave Lionett came in third and Cheryl Orosz was fourth.  The 18xx Grand Prix was won by Anthony Carver.  Barry Beavis from England came in second and Jeremy Vipperman finished third.  Once again, we had games that did not finish on Sunday before the 2 pm cutoff for determining the overall winner.  This continues to be a problem and will need to be dealt with in 2006.

 

Once again, the Country Suites proved to be a great host hotel.  With another large convention now on this same weekend, rooms are scarcer and a bit more expensive.  The hotel had a very nice manager’s reception on Thursday night featuring free munchies and beer and soft drinks.  This was appreciated by the early birds and hopefully it will become a permanent feature!

 

There was a small 3-man 18xx team tournament held which was won by the Mongrels.  They won special embroidered ball caps and I hope to try this again next year.  The event ran very smoothly and I’d like to thank the tournament directors, Mike Monical, Jeff Jackson and James Orrison for their assistance.  I look forward to seeing everyone return in 2006.  Here are a couple of pictures of the winners.

  

 

2005 Convention Info: The 9th annual Chattanooga Rail Gaming Challenge will be held January 14-16, 2005 at the Country Suites just off I-75 at exit 5 in Chattanooga Tennessee. The general format will be unchanged with two tournaments throughout the weekend. There will be a general rail gaming tournament scored in the TGA's Puffing Billy system as well as a separate 18xx tournament. There will also be open gaming space throughout the weekend for other types of games.

The big news this year is that a major cheerleading competition is being held in Chattanooga the same weekend as our convention. As it is expected to draw 5000 competitors, I expect all hotels to sell out, including the Country Suites. The annual science fiction convention, Chattacon, is moving back to avoid this weekend. We'll have to see what the effect is for us. If anyone is thinking on attending, I strongly recommend that you make a reservation NOW, even if you have to cancel it if your plans change. I could only get a small room block of 15 rooms from the Country Suites and I understand that they are mostly gone. Here are some phone numbers for nearby hotels in case the Country Suites is sold out:


Country Suites 423/899-2300
Fairfield Inn 423/499-3800
Hilton Garden Inn 423/308-4400
Ramada Limited 423/855-2090
Hampton Inn 423/855-0095

Of these the Hampton is probably a 5-10 minute easy walk and I think all offer airport shuttles except the Ramada. The Ramada would likely be the cheapest and there are also a few other hotels such as the Microtel, Holiday Inn Express and a Sleep Inn. You can Google them for contact info.

In a further effort to de-emphasize the competitiveness of the 18xx tournament and to encourage more casual play, I plan to scrap the percentage win prize and substitute a playtester award for the player who plays the most unpublished games. I think there will be plenty of new designs for players. I am also thinking about some kind of team competition between US and European players since I have drawn at least 3 or 4 players from Europe for several years now. Here's my idea, what do you think?

Within the main tournament, I will designate maybe the first game on Friday and Saturday as a game for exactly 3 European players and 3 US players. Perhaps the Friday game will be 1844 and maybe the Saturday game will be either 1854 or 1826, I'll leave that up to the players. That game will be scored as normal for the overall tournament, but I will also track the combined score for the team over both games with the highest score over two games being declared the winner. The US team will have to be selected by lot from among those willing to play in this manner. If we draw more than 3 European players, we'll do them the same way. This will mostly be done for bragging rights rather than some major prize, though I am open to ideas. Maybe I could offer a gift certificate for a nearby restaurant for the winners to share Saturday night. I understand that Peter Eldridge from England and Jeremy Vipperman (who is an American but is stationed in England for the next couple of years) are planning to attend. If you are from Europe and thinking about attending, please let me know ASAP. I can offer some advice on getting to Chattanooga. We would need a name for this (maybe the unofficial 2005 18xx world championship?!) I think something like this could be fun, what does everyone think?

 

One of the most popular train games to come out lately is Ticket to Ride.  If you like Union Pacific, you’ll like this new game by Alan Moon.  It is perhaps a little shorter than UP and has great components.  I expect to award a copy of this game as one of the prizes in the Puffing Billy tournament. As in the past, it would be a good idea to bring a copy of your favorite games so we’ll be sure to have enough copies.

 

Once again, the admission cost is only $25.00 in advance and $30 at the door.  Daily memberships will be available and I would expect to once again offer Thursday night gaming for the benefit of the early birds.  James Orrison will once again be called upon to direct the puffing billy format tournament and Mike Monical will direct the 18xx tournament.  Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

 

 

2004 RESULTS and REPORT: The convention was held Jan. 16-18, 2004 and we drew 51 players, including a new player from England.  As always, there are two tournaments and this year we had two new winners.  Jeri Freedman from Massachusetts won the general rail gaming tournament and Paul Hakken from New Jersey won the 18xx Grand Prix.  The most played 18xx game was the new design set in Switzerland called 1844.  It was played several times each day despite it being a very long game.  Randy Pletzer brought his new Middle Earth 18xx design where it was played on Friday.  In the general rail gaming tournament, Mayfair’s new Lunar Rails was played quite a bit but players still seem to prefer Eurorails and Empire Builder.  In the 18xx Grand Prix, we had a number of games run late into the afternoon which prevented a proper awards ceremony.  Next year, we will need to be clearer on when games must end Sunday in order to count them in the tournament. As usual, games continue into the night Sunday for the benefit of those players who stay over until Monday. Here are some pictures:

2003 RESULTS and REPORT: The 2003 convention was attended by 55 players including two local players who could only play for one day. As usual, there were two main tournaments held as well as an informal Thursday night mini game tourney for the early birds.  The Puffing Billy tournament was won by Dave Lionett from Massachusetts and the runner up was Ed Hewlett from Michigan. Here are their pictures:

 Conductor James Orrison with winner Dave Lionett

 Conductor James Orrison with runner up Ed Hewlett

Every year we “salute” the first player to go bankrupt.  This year our "It wasn't my fault" award was won by George Callen in the puffing Billy tournament in an 1830 game (those diesels sure are expensive!). Below, we all bow down to the “winner”:

About 35 different players played at least one 18xx game in our 18xx Grand Prix tournament.  To give you an idea of which games were played, here is a breakdown of the games reported for scoring in the Grand Prix. This list doesn’t include games of 1830 and 1870 played in the Puffing Billy tournament.  1841-4, 1830-2, 1856-6, 18VA-1, 1851-2, 18EU-4, 1870-5, 1850-2, 1854-4, 18C2C-2, 1853-2, 18MX-2, 1826-2, 18GA-1, 1890 (Japan)-1. Some game sheets were not turned in and I noticed this year a little less emphasis on the tournament with some people only there to play and some who didn't seem to care if their games were scored. I think this is great and one reason why I try to emphasize the games and opportunities to play newer games. In some ways it increases the enjoyment for the players.

If I recall, each of the four 1854 games played at the tournament ended in a player bankruptcy.  I think that because the incomes are so much lower changes the tactics and it may take some adjustments to get used to it.  I wasn’t able to play in the 18C2C game this year although both games were filled by the start of the tournament.  Here are some more pictures:

 The super rare 1890 game was played in Chattanooga this year.

 The 18C2C game finished in only about 12 hours!

 The prize table

 The 18xx Grand Prix

The 18xx Grand Prix tournament ended Sunday afternoon and the top two finishers finished ahead of a large group of players that were bunched together just behind.  Simon Craddock from England would have finished very close to the top except that he only played Pot Luck games. He said that he didn’t mind and that his priority was to play newer games. The top finishers were:

Jeremy Vipperman 22.64 points (winner)

Mark Geary 21.85 points (runner up)

Close behind: Michael Monical, Mark Derrick, Frank Barlow and Rick Westerman

 Winner of the biggest percentage win award for an 1826 game, Mike Bennett

 Your humble organizer with winner Jeremy Vipperman and runner up Mark Geary

2002 RESULTS and REPORT: Well, the sixth annual Chattanooga Rail Gaming Challenge is history. We drew a new record of 52 players over the three days. Two separate tournaments were held.  One was a general rail games tournament scored using the TGA’s Puffing Billy format.  We also held an 18xx only tournament featuring rare and unpublished games.  Here are more details.

The general rail gaming tournament was won by Anthony Carver.  Runner up was Dave Lionett and third place went to Ed Hewlett. George Callen finished just behind in fourth place. Once again, Queen Games' Metro was popular with new players and Rio Grande's Union Pacific surged back with renewed popularity. It may have been the most played game this year. The tournament was scored using the Puffing Billy system. The winners won games and engraved plaques. Other prizes were donated by Winsome Games and Rio Grande Games.

 

 

The 18xx Grand Prix was won by Ken Gutermuth with a score of 21.06. Dave Blanchard was the runner up with a score of 20.45 and Mike Melanson came in third with a score of 20.28. Close behind were Robin Barbehenn, Kelly Willis and Rick Westerman. A total of 22 players qualified by playing a minimum of four 18xx games in two categories. A number of other gamers also participated but didn't play enough qualifying games.

 

A total of 34 18xx games were submitted for scoring not counting the Thursday night early bird session. Nine of these 34 games were unpublished designs. Kelly Willis won the "It wasn't my fault" award for the first player bankruptcy in a game of 1856 (Hartmann variant).  BTW, the consensus is that the Hartmann variant is dumb. It makes it too easy to run a RR into the ground to funnel assets into a second railroad with no risk of losing control of either company.

 

 The lucky “winner”

 

Mark Frazier's huge 18C2C was played Saturday night. Six players started around 5 pm and gave up around 1 am with the first "8" train about to come out. We estimated that it would have taken about another 5 hours to complete the game.

2001 RESULTS and REPORT:  The fourth Annual Chattanooga Rail Gaming Challenge was held January 19-21, 2001.  We attracted 50 players and set a new attendance record including three players from England. The winner of the general rail gaming tournament was Dave Lionett from Worcester, Massachusetts.  Runner Up was Anthony Carver from Chicago.  Others who were close were Ed Hewlett, Jeff Cornett and Jeremy Vipperman.

The 18xx Grand Prix was won by Mark Geary from Ohio. Chris Boote from England was Runner Up and Steve Thomas from England finished third.

Overall, the tournament ran very smoothly. With our sharp increase in turnout, we almost didn't have enough room and I was able to book a second room for the 18xx games. One of the biggest hits at the tournament was a German game called Metro. Everybody who played it seemed to like it and I have obtained a copy to provide as a prize at next year's tournament. In the 18xx tournament, the competition was extremely tough. A number of scarce rarely played games were played including a Japan based game that mostly in Japanese! Thanks to Rio Grande Games, Winsome Games, and Rail Gamer Magazine for providing prizes. The coveted(?) wooden loco award for the first player bankruptcy was claimed by Russell deCastongrene in an 1830 game I think.

I am very proud of the overall sportsmanship and level of play this year. Here are some pictures.

2000 RESULTS and REPORT:  The fourth Annual Chattanooga Rail Gaming Challenge was held January 14-16, 2000.  We attracted 29 players including several new players, one who traveled from New Mexico to attend.  The Overall winner was Ed Hewlett from Detroit.  Runner Up was Anthony Carver from Chicago.  Others who were close were Dave Lionett from Worcester, Massachusetts, George Callen and Allen Hammack, both from Birmingham AL.

I also conducted a separate 18xx only tournament called the 18xx Grand Prix for the 2nd year.  We had an increase in the number of players in it from last year.  The Grand Prix winner was Ken Gutermuth from the Atlanta Georgia area.  Dean Washburn from Thornton, Colorado was the runner up.

I guess the big news this year was the new games from Rio Grande, Union Pacific and Stevenson’s Rocket, played 5 times and 4 times during the tournament respectively.  Both were also played quite a bit Thursday night when we had 10 early birds arrive for some open gaming.  Both games seemed to be popular with the players though most seemed to favor Union Pacific slightly.

We received generous prize donations this year from Mayfair Games, Rail Gamer Magazine and David Hecht.  The “It Wasn’t my Fault” Award for the first player bankruptcy was not claimed until late Saturday night by Dave Lionett in an 1830 game.  The soon-to-be-published 1826 (France) game was played twice with one game being a six player affair.

We had menu service at our gaming tables from the Denny’s restaurant on Friday though they were too busy at other times to provide this service.  I was a little disappointed that the host hotel was unable to provide airport shuttle service during the weekend again.  This is a big issue since I draw so many out of town players.  I continue to be grateful for the strong out of town support my convention draws.

 

1999 RESULTS and REPORT: The 3rd annual Chattanooga Rail Gaming Challenge was held January 15-17, 1999 in Chattanooga at the Best Western Heritage Inn. We drew 28 gamers from as far away as England and included a new separate 18xx only competition with an international flavor which I called the 18xx Grand Prix.

All of the features our fans loved returned including some new ones. Steve Thomas brought over some special commemorative Chris Lawson 18xx game kits featuring the Chattanooga Rail Gaming Challenge logo. We moved to a larger meeting room and Denny's once again provided menu service at our gaming tables.

The "coveted" wooden loco and suitable for framing "It wasn't my fault" award went to an unlucky player in 1841 (Those Italian "8" trains sure are expensive!). Your humble organizer would have won this award a few hours later in a game of 1849 (Sicily) if it hadn't already been claimed!

Several of the winners won commemorative T-shirts printed exclusively for this year's tournament. I added several smaller prizes to liven up the games. For example, I gave a package of Walker's shortbread cookies to the first player to connect London and Glasgow in a game of British Rails. In another game, I gave a Frisco key chain to the player who paid the most for the Frisco private. Note that paying the most for the private in order to win the prize may not have been in the player's best interest but it did add a little more greed factor to the game. Steve Thomas from England says "These Yanks must not get to play too many of these good Euro-18xx games!"

Puffing Billy: Here are the results in the Puffing Billy tournament which have been submitted to the TGA for sanctioning:

1

Dave Lionett

12.373 points

2

Anthony Carver

12.276 points

3

Jeremy Vipperman

11.578 points

4

Ed Hewlett

11.527 points

5

Richard Sheaves-Bein

11.078 points

Close: George Callen, Frank Battles, Allen Hammack, Mary Susan Sheaves-Bein, James Orrison.

The Puffing Billy had 28 participants

The Grand Prix

This one wasn't really close. Russell deCastongrene from Knoxville blew the field away for the easy win, winning every game he played in (At least now we know who to get next year!). Russell won a copy of 1835, a T-shirt and a plaque. Steve Thomas finished 2nd, I finished 3rd and Andy Lipscomb finished 4th. 12 other participants played Grand Prix games during the weekend.

We had several unpublished 18xx games played in the Grand Prix. They were David Hecht's 1826 (France, 2 tables), Robin Barbehenn's 1846 (US Midwest), and my own 18AL (Alabama based). The Chattanooga newspaper sent a reporter and cameraman and ran a nice story of the convention. Thanks to Rail Gamer magazine and Winsome Games who provided additional prizes this year. Here are more pictures!

1998 RESULTS and REPORT: The second Chattanooga Rail Gaming Challenge is now history. It was held January 23-25, 1998 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We drew 29 competitors from as far away as Minneapolis, Minnesota. A large group of Birmingham area train gamers also attended. The Puffing Billy champion was Anthony Carver from Chicago. The final Puffing Billy scores for the top five finishers are shown below:

Anthony Carver 12.414 (Champion)
Dave Lionett 12.318 (Runner Up)
Ed Hewlett 12.318
James Orrison 11.865
Jeremy Vipperman 11.556

We had a number of new players and all of them qualified in at least one train game category. Carl Burger brought his 1831 game and ran a game to conclusion on Saturday. It is a big game and only took 14 hours! In addition to the Puffing Billy awards, we also recognized four other winners. They were the 18xx champion, the Crayon Game champion, the Winsome Games champion and the winner(?) of the first annual "It Wasn't My Fault Award" given to the first player to go bankrupt in one of the tournament games. It was a lot of fun and I hope to bring it back next year.

I had an evaluation copy of my 18GA game which was played quite a bit at the con. The reception seemed to be positive and it may be ready for formal publication later this year. Dan Chinnery brought his 1857 design for playtest. It is set in his home State of Wisconsin and will be large in scope with several new concepts when it is finished. Additional prizes were provided by Rail Gamer magazine, the Train Gamers Association, Winsome Games, and Mayfair Games. Chris Lawson provided a number of his kits to be sold and made up commemorative editions for the convention.

1997 RESULTS and REPORT: Sorry, I can’t find many records from the first convention in 1997. I remember that the hotel I was going to use closed for renovations about 3 weeks before the convention and didn’t bother notifying me. I had to scramble and we landed at the East Ridge Holiday Inn next door.  It was the only time the convention was held in April. Heather Barnhorst attended the convention and acted as the first puffing billy conductor.  We drew about 25 players. I seem to recall that James Orrison from Birmingham won the overall tournament.