Vegas baby, Vegas

I got my first big result at World Boardgaming Championships!

Tonight I collected 2nd place in the Vegas Showdown finals, which has me walking on air.  It was a good game, and I feel great about the result.  It seems kind of ridiculous really since I think the only games of Vegas Showdown I have played in the last handful of years have been the 5 games I played here - 3 heats where I went 1st, 1st, 3rd, the semifinal I won, and the final.  Who needs practice?

The end of the game featured a spectacular finish where I was obviously aiming to buy and place the best building in the game for an absolute truckload of points.  No one could buy it out from under me, but my opponents tried hard to end the game prior to me buying it.  I was in last place at that point, but they were all worried that by placing that building I would win.  It was close - I dropped the Theatre down for 19 points, which is a pretty whopping portion of my 48 point total.  Even though the winner beat me by 4 points there were cards in the deck that could have given me the win on the last turn, but unfortunately they did not make an appearance.

The best part about it was that there were three cards drawn at the end to try to stop me, and one of the possibilities is a card called Pull Strings, which can't itself beat me but could set me up for a fall.  There are three copies of Pull Strings in the deck. The first draw was Pull Strings, which was terrible for me.  The second draw was Pull Strings again, which was even worse.  The last card was ... Pull Strings, and since it could set me up but not knock me down I got to get my Theatre and jump from 5th to 2nd.

I found it doubly hilarious that my semifinal game ended almost exactly the same way.  The game was on its last legs, I got lucky to keep it going, and I dropped down the Theatre at the last possible moment.  In that case of course I won, unlike the finals, but the games were pretty amusing in terms of their similarity.

Now I am in the Thurns and Taxis semi final, the Ra Dice semi final, and the Puerto Rico quarter final.  Will more plaques and showers of glory await?  Tune in next time to find out!