1999 Merchant of Venus Results

Finalists (by order of finish)

  1. Stephen Crenshaw
  2. Greg Mayer
  3. Debbie Otto
  4. Edward Wrobel
  5. Bill Crenshaw

Semifinalists

  1. Luke Koleszar
  2. Eric Wrobel
  3. Lee Presser
  4. Kathy Stroh
  5. Eyal Mozes
  6. David Long
  7. Gary Presser
  8. Abby Cocke
  9. Roderick Lee
  10. Joseph Abrams
  11. Richard Irving
  12. Dan Crenshaw
  13. Jason Wagner
  14. Paul R. Bolduc
  15. Crawford Lopez

1st Place Finishers who couldn't play in finals

  1. Duane Wagner
  2. Richard Martin
  3. Steve Koleszar
  4. Jack Jaeger

Everyone else (in order of finish)

  1. Louis (Joe) Gehring
  2. Jay Schlaffer
  3. Dee Ann Gehring
  4. Steve Dickson
  5. Wendy DeMarco
  6. David Metheny
  7. Keith Altizer
  8. Nicholas Anner
  9. Ray Stakenas
  10. Alan Witte
  11. Kevin Wojtaszczyk
  12. Tom De Marco
  13. Gerald Dudley
  14. Rob Eschleman
  15. David Weinstein
  16. Phil Rennert
  17. John Koski
  18. Alan Schwarz
  19. Bill Navolis
  20. Michael Lam
  21. Stephen Munchak
  22. Shantanu Saha
  23. Ken Katano
  24. Olin Hentz
  25. Richard Jones
  26. Eric Olin
  27. Ed Connery
  28. Paul Hakken
  29. Bob Casey
  30. John Zahorsky
  31. Daniel Metzger Sr.
  32. John Zug
  33. Zeke Bergeron
  34. Luann Stubbs
  35. Robert Hahn
  36. Matthew Muir
  37. Jeff Clark
  38. Brian Crowe
  39. Michael Metzger
  40. Richard Amick
  41. Paul Gaberson
  42. Joe Pelliccia
  43. Melissa (Missy) Katano

Summary of 1999 Final:

This year's Merchant of Venus final, which featured the closest finish yet at the convention, was a real family affair. The five finalists included Bill Crenshaw and his son, Steve, GM Greg Mayer and his spouse, Deb Otto, and Ed Wrobel. Greg had squeaked into the final by slipping past Ed's son Eric in their semifinal match.

The final was played to $3000 using the 'Fast Set-up' variant. Bill played first and jumped off to a seemingly insurmountable early lead. Greg played second and was the first to upgrade to a Clipper ship. Deb played third. Steve 'Mr. Relic' played fourth, discovered the Jump Start relic on his first turn and the Mulligan Gear on his second turn. Ed had the disadvantage of starting last, but managed to pick up a shield on the first turn. Steve wandered the galaxy and didn't sell any goods until the ninth turn of the game.

Everyone except Bill had a Clipper by the 16th turn and the pace was picking up. Steve had picked up the Auto Pilot relic and was beginning to close the gap. After 21 turns, Bill and Greg had over $2100 each, Ed had over $1900, Deb & Steve each had about $1600. At this point the general consensus was that Bill would win and Steve would finish in last. The rest were, "Scrambling for second place". But judicious use of his relics (Jump Start / Auto Pilot) allowed Steve to Jump to a very handy Telegate 4 anytime that he wanted and he surged into the lead late in the game.

Bill never managed to get rid of his Scout ship and a couple of bad rolls left him in last place with $2701 when the space dust settled. Going into the last three turns each of the other four players had a chance to win. Steve finished first with $3163 to gain bragging rights in the Crenshaw house (at least until next year!). In second, third & fourth place were Greg (retaining bragging rights in his house), Deb and Ed, respectively. Each had over $2900 and were separated by less than $70.

It was the closest final in nine years at the convention and perhaps the best game of Merchant that I've had the privilege to play!

Greg

Return to the main Merchant page.

Return to traingamer's home page.