We’ve gotten through the heart of winter and have emerged smaller in number but larger in deeds of valor! There are no more raw recruits in this event and it’s fully expected that matches will be increasingly competitive.
- We had 26 matches of which one had to be adjudicated.
- The CP ended up winning 15 and losing 11 matches, continuing the recent trend of the CP having a winning edge.
- Bidding statistics: Theoretically AP winning % should go down as the AP bids more. Sadly, the data doesn’t support that theory.
- Six games went the full twenty turns, eight games ended before turn ten.
- Detailed results can be found here.
Looking ahead to Round 5:
- Round 5 starts NOW, March 1st, and will run through July 17th. You will have 138 days to reach a decision, use your time wisely because you won’t be getting any more.
- We’re now down to six people in the “Undefeateds” that make up Pool A while 25 people in Pool B are fighting to stave off elimination from the tournament.
- 14 of the 31 remaining contestants are based outside of the US. This is ample demonstration of the game’s global appeal and perhaps supportive of the eventual winner’s claim to be the “Best POG Player on Earth”.
- Round 5 match assignments are the following, A-Pool matches are highlighted in blue:
- Review the matchups, if there is anything amiss, let your game moderator know IMMEDIATELY. We’ve tried to make sure that we accurately captured Round 4 winners and did not create any Round 5 matches between prior opponents.
- Nobody indicated they wanted to exit the event; should your circumstances have changed and you no longer want to participate, please contact Tom IMMEDIATELY.
- Please make sure that you document all agreements, including bids, side selection, and usage of supply warnings in your ACTS log. If you need help switching sides, or have any other game questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to your assigned game moderator.
Informational:
- We have an odd number of players in our B-Pool, unless something changes, the last match will feature an eliminator. If we need to reshuffle multiple individual match assignments, we will do so randomly. That eliminator will be assigned no later than tomorrow.
- Other than that last eliminator match, please feel free to start your bidding and your game underway. We have a little more time this round but we do expect holidays to cramp availability at the end of the round.
- We expect many in this round to also attend WBC in July – please be prepared to share your tales of tournament joys (and woys)! The official start for Round 6 will be AFTER WBC so that you can concentrate on POG at Seven Springs.
- Double-sided map with the historical scenario and new map theme now being featured on one side.
- Additional control counters.
- Corrected national borders and city names.
- Alignment of the Rulebook Historical Scenario with the WBC Tournament Scenario.
- Updated cards, including the variant cards.
- A revised rulebook that will change how you play the game.
The answer is, of course, #6.
March Puzzle: Because my well of puzzle ideas is running dry, I’ll pose a question others have asked of me: “Assuming four-month rounds, and no time between rounds, when will this tournament end?” (Note that the format will drive multiple possible answers.)
The Charlottesville tournament took place this past week. Well run as always by Johnny Hasay, fourteen players showed up for some intense face-to-face play. By late Wednesday night it was all over, Alex Gregorio defeated Tom Gregorio to take home the 1st place plaque for the second straight year. Joshua Lowe, Matthew Johnson, and Patrick Duffy rounded out the top 5 positions.
Good luck to all!