We had a great showing to finish out the year – 16 players, including 7 (seven!) first timers. 16 makes a perfect bracket, so it was easier than usual to keep play moving – occasional pauses of course and some play faster than others, but when one pair finished a match, I could usually say “go wait for that other match to finish”.<\/p>\n
First timer Rick should have taken the prize for the furthest traveled to come play, driving up from North Bend; but Sharon made an appearance (after about a year absence) from Medford. And of course, Max brought his parents, who were visiting from Philadelphia. So this was about the farthest flung group of players we’ve ever had.<\/p>\n
I had Chris is the first round, in a match that went back and forth, especially in the last game. Then I paired up against Elisa (Max’s mom, who had taken out newcomer Ryan), then Marge (who had taken out newcomers Kamron and Terry), and finally Evan (Max’s dad, who had taken out Max, then Tim, then Sharon). In the first game, Evan beat me by a doubled gammon, putting us into the Crawford game right away. I survived that, and then pulled off a doubled gammon of my own to win the match!<\/p>\n
Here’s the final record for 2019 matches. I’m thinking I should create some kind of top participation prize for Tim and top score prize for a player with 20+ matches for Nate. Maybe some ribbons or something.<\/p>\n