TGA News Archive
July, 2007
We had a great turnout at Origins 2007, with 320 players in more than 350 games. Congratulations to the following champions:
Overall Puffing Billy Champion - Jeff Jackson Puffing Billy Challenger Champion - Kevin Jaekley
Eurorails Champion - Kevin Jaekley EBI Champion - Ed Hewlett
Ticket to Ride Champion - Joe Orosz Railroad Tycoon Champion - Franklin Haskell
1830 Champion - Dave Hooton Silverton Champion - Mike Zadnik
18XX Champion - Spencer Hamblin Rail Baron Champion - Tom Brincefield
Express Champion - Chris Meyer Union Pacific Champion - Jeff Jackson
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Congratulations to all!!!
September, 2006
Railcon 2006 was once again a pleasure. This Railcon held many close games, and a few surprises! Approximately 50 of the best Railgamers attended, and as in the past, rules disputes were nearly non-existent!
Prior to Railcon proper starting, we had a warm up tournament called The Short Line played on the Thursday evening. We had a good turnout with about 20 people playing Union Pacific, Express, Ticket to Ride and Railroad Tycoon. It was a tight contest, with Ron Marr managing to grab the Short Line inaugural title.
The following are the results for the other trophy tournaments:
Express: Jeff Jackson (Top Board; Jeff was unstoppable and went out every hand.)
1830 Kenneth Boucher
Rail Baron Jeff Jackson
Silverton Bart Pisarik
Eurorails Bart Pisarik
Railroad Tycoon Wayne Williams
Union Pacific Randy Pletzer (Top Board)
Ticket to Ride Debbie Gutermuth (Top Board)
The two most hotly contested finals were 18XX and the Empire Builder International. The scores for both were so close that all the participants deserve to be listed:
18XX playing 1870
Jonathon Flagg 9000
Ian Booth 8628
Ken Gutermuth 8181
Dave Lionett 8148
Mike Coyne 8135
Congratulations are well earned by Jonathon Flagg for winning a tight game in such a competitive group!
Empire Builder International playing Aussie Rails
Trella Bromley 252
Debbie Gutermuth 242
Brian Tipper 229
John Puddifoot 216
Daniel Schuster 197
Again a tight game right the way to the end. Trella Bromley played flawlessly and deserves the win.
The Ironman title goes to the versatile Wayne Williams who was the only player to hammer out wins in all of the nine categories: Bart Pisarik, in second place, only had 7 category wins. Very impressive Wayne! Here are the top 11
Wayne Williams 27.2762
Bart Pisarik 23.671
Jeff Jackson 22.5595
Anthony Carver 21.6999
Ken Gutermuth 20.6801
Ken Bachman 20.1787
Trella Bromley 19.5809
Kevin Jaekley 18.575
Randy Pletzer 16.853
Brian Tipper 15.2092
Peter Bromley 15.1986
The overall Puffing Billy was hard fought from the beginning. Jeff Jackson was an early favorite winning two of the three initial finals. Indeed the top five finishers often faced each other over finals throughout the tournament. A new name was added to the plaque this year. Bart Pisarik, following up on his victory at Origins, managed to clinch the title and become only the fifth person to get their name on the perpetual trophy. Here are the scores of the top 11 players:
Bart Pisarik 16.2168
Trella Bromley 16.1456
Jeff Jackson 15.9396
Ken Bachman 15.8383
Ken Gutermuth 15.8152
Wayne Williams 15.7056
Anthony Carver 15.3287
Kevin Jaekley 14.8634
Dave Lionett 14.6890
Randy Pletzer 14.4501
Peter Bromley 14.3860
Remember at Railcon we count the top 5 categories.
Once again thanks to:
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Tacticon for being so easy to deal with and running such an organized and efficient parent convention.
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The sponsors of the individual tournaments: Days of Wonder, Rio Grande Games, and Mayfair Games.
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The transporters of the games: Trella Bromley, Wayne Williams and especially Peter Bromley. All of whom went to great trouble and effort to make sure we had the games to play.
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Darwin Bromley for doing a major rewrite of the database scoring system and making it easy to see who was winning.
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My co-conductors: Wayne Williams, Jeff Jackson and Trella Bromley without whom many slots would not have started on time and the games would not have been scored.
We had such a good time in Denver this year that we will be back next year! Look for Railcon 2007 again at Tacticon over the Labour Day long weekend. Hope to see you all there!
John Puddifoot � Head Conductor: Railcon
Last Updated ( Monday, 25 September 2006 )
RailCon 2006 results
Written by Allen Stiles
Wednesday, 20 September 2006
We're very pleased to report that this year's RailCon tournament had 49 participants. Over the course of the weekend, the following were the winners of the corresponding events:
Ticket to Ride: Debbie Gutermuth
Railroad Tycoon: Wayne Williams
Union Pacific: Randy Pletzer
1830: Kenneth Boucher
18XX: Jonathon Flagg
Eurorails: Bart Pisarik
Empire Builder International: Trella Bromley
Express: Jeff Jackson
Rail Baron: Jeff Jackson
Silverton: Bart Pisarik
Overall winners were:
Ironman: Wayne Williams
Puffing Billy Tournament:
Bart Pisarik
All are to be congratulated
August, 2006
Gen Con 2006 We had a total of 301 participants over the course of the four days,
which resulted in Puffing Billy points for the top 15 finishers.
Here they are, in the order that they finished:
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Chip Charnley Puffing Billy Champion - Chip Charnly
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Jeff Jackson
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Trella Bromley Ironman - Trella Bromley
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Mike Anderson
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Randy Smith
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Richard Sheaves-Bein
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Bart Pisarik
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Dave Lionett
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Al Stiles
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Paul Stoffels
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Anthony Carver
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Kevin Jaekley
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Ed Hewlett
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Dale Holder
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Chris Shaffer
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Congratulations to all of you on a fine performance!
Puffing Billy Trophy Winners at GenCon 2006
Express - Jeff Jackson
Rail Baron - Trella Bromley
1830 - Paul Hakken
18XX - Mike Melanson
Silverton - Chip Charnley
Union Pacific - Richard Sheaves-Bein
Ticket to Ride - Mike Anderson
Railroad Tycoon - Chris Anderson
Eurorails - Kevin Jaekley
Empire Builder International - Justin Maul
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Congratulations to all!!!
September, 2016
Tribute to Peter Bromley: My friend Peter Bromley has passed away, after a lengthy struggle with various ailments. I met Pete in 1982 when he introduced me to a brand new board game called Empire Builder. A few years later he taught me to play Express. That puts me among the countless people who can say “Peter taught me a train game”. It was one of his favorite things to do.
Peter was not the easiest person to know, but beneath the exterior was a generous soul who cared deeply about the train gaming hobby and the success of the TGA. Even before there was a TGA, he would happily drive to just about any convention where he could spend a weekend showing people games. Peter helped his brother Darwin start Mayfair, and together they amassed the world’s largest train game collection.
Peter was a founding corporate officer of the TGA, and he served continuously on the TGA Board until his death. He was never one of the obvious or most vocal leaders of the TGA, but he contributed a great deal of time and energy behind the scenes in ways most members would never see. He will be missed.
We have renamed our most prestigious award in his honor - the Railcon Puffing Billy winner will henceforward be known as the Peter Bromley Memorial National Champion.
Jeff Jackson, for the Train Gamers Association
August, 2016
At Gen Con, we had another large turnout of train gamers. This is a recording: Charles Hooks won the Iron Man, and Mark Liberman was a very close second! In the Puffing Billy, Jeff Jackson and Dave Beery were tied going into the Eurorails final, which Jeff won by $4 to squeak out the overall win. Dave finished second, followed by Mark Liberman, Alex Puddifoot (this year's teenage phenom Challenger Class winner), Ken Bachman, Charles Hooks, Scott MacGregor, Roger Jarrett, Ed Hewlett, Raechel Sanger, John Puddifoot, Alan Borowski, Robert Rich, Dave Thornburg, Richard Sheaves-Bein, Anthony Carver, Dave Slidek, and Chris Meyer. All 18 people listed got their four category wins.
June, 2016
Origins was fun as always. Charles Hooks won the Iron Man tournament, with Mark Liberman finishing second. In the main event, 11 people achieved their four category wins, but Michael Cheng took home the Puffing Billy plaque with a decisive win. Following Michael were Jeff Jackson, Roger Jarrett, Dave Thornburg (Challenger Class winner), Mark Liberman, Ed Hewlett, Charles Hooks, Ken Gutermuth, Phil Cottrell, Dale Evankovich, and Raechel Sanger.
September, 2015
Major Tournament Year in Review:
At Origins 250 different people played train games, about the same number as last year, and we had some very interesting results. Michael Cheng had a terrific weekend and ran away with the Puffing Billy tournament. He was seemingly unstoppable with three finals wins and a second place (what happened there?). Michael racked up one of the highest scores we’ve ever seen, along with one of the largest margins of victory. Charles Hooks proved his train game versatility once again in winning the Iron Man event, with solid results in eight different categories. But the closest competition of the weekend was for the Challenger class title. Dale Evankovich got off to a great start, and posted a score that would have won this prize at most conventions. But Janet Bromley kept fighting, and finished strong with a fourth place in the Rolling Freight finals Saturday night plus a glorious win at the top table of the Eurorails finals Sunday morning to eke out – barely – the Challenger win over Dale. At age 15, Janet became the youngest player ever to win one of our weekend-long tournaments. Rumor has it she’s headed to Railcon with her eye on the National Championship plaque. Couldn’t possibly happen – could it???
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We set an attendance record at Gen Con for the fifth straight year, played and taught lots of games, and had a busy but fun competition. Former Challenger winner Roger Jarrett turned several strong finals into his first overall Puffing Billy win. Roger held off Origins winner Michael Cheng who finished second, with Charles Hooks, Chris Meyer, and Raechel Sanger rounding out the top five. Charles Hooks followed up his Origins Iron Man win with another impressive variety of game results to take the same title at Gen Con. Our ongoing theme of “outstanding teenage performance” continued. 14 year old Alex Puddifoot made his Gen Con debut with a win and a second place in his two finals. And Raechel Sanger (age 16) posted six category wins and became the second-youngest person to possess a Puffing Billy Challenger class plaque, thwarting Tony Medici’s valiant effort.
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So we were on to the National Championship at Railconwith many unanswered questions. Could Debbie Gutermuth defend her title? Could Michael or Roger manage their first National Championship win? Could another first-time winner step up, or would it be a former Champion repeat? Which Iron Man streak would end? Charles won at Origins and Gen Con, but Ken Gutermuth has won the past four Railcon Iron Man titles. Could one of our teenage phenoms follow her summer Challenger win with a serious run at the National Championship, and who would get the teen bragging rights for the year? We held another terrific Railcon in Denver, with several first timers and a few faces we haven’t seen for a while. We had so many people advancing to so many finals boards we were worried we might run out of games on the prize table before we ran out of winners! Great people in a fun environment, and of course excellent competition where unlike our other tournaments everyone gets to compete fully.
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The results? A record 17 people achieved their five category wins, with several people getting into five or six different finals. Should have been a hard fought battle to the end, but to the dismay of the rest of the field Roger simply blew everyone else away in the finals. The Eurorails final on Monday was a battle for overall second place, and Roger didn’t even let someone else win his table at that one. Congratulations to Roger Jarrett, our 2015 National Champion. We look forward to making him the official “target” for 2016.
The top ten Railcon finishers were all former major tournament Puffing Billy or Challenger class winners. Following Roger were Anthony Carver, Trella Bromley, Ken Gutermuth, Chris Meyer, Ken Bachman, Michael Cheng, Jeff Jackson, Charles Hooks, and Raechel Sanger. That’s a tough crowd. Overall positions 11-13 were the top three Challenger competitors, and that battle was much tighter. Nathan Wagner and John Puddifoot gave it a good shot, but David Belew beat them out to win the Challenger plaque and the right to have the coveted black dot next to his name on the results sheet. Plus, with perhaps the largest blowout margin of the year, David can claim to be the oldest Challenger class winner of 2015!
In the newly dedicated Heather Barnhorst Memorial Iron Man tournament, the results were also close. An impressive 13 people played in at least eight categories. The top four all had seven category wins and any of those four could have won with one improved result. However, Ken Gutermuth managed to pull off his fifth straight win, edging out Charles Hooks, Roger Jarrett, Jeff Jackson, and Chris Meyer. Perhaps we’ll offer a special reward for taking that title away from Ken next year. Finally, in the unofficial but hotly contested teenage class, Caitlin Wagner, Raechel Sanger, and Janet Bromley all performed very well, each appearing in multiple finals. But the top finish among them, and first ever teenage top ten at Railcon, went to Raechel. How will they do next year? How will they do in 2046???
May, 2015
Tribute to Heather Barnhorst: Some sad news - we’ve learned that Heather Barnhorst passed away last week. Long-time members will recall Heather as one of the TGA’s founders, who for many years was Senior Tournament Director, Rules Maven, Head Conductor, Tournament Sanctioner, President, and Editor-in Chief all rolled into one. She organized the first Railcon, ran the PBTs at Origins and Gen Con, developed the first TGA Conductor's Handbook, and published the TGA Gazette for many years. Without Heather’s tireless energy in the early days of the organization, the TGA would not exist today. Among her many contributions, Heather originated the Iron Man tournament at Railcon, which will now be named in her honor.
September, 2014
Major Tournament Year in Review:
Congratulations to Debbie Gutermuth, who held on for a close win at Railcon to become the Puffing Billy National Champion (and official target for this year). Railcon top five were Debbie, Ed Hewlett, Jeff Jackson, Michael Cheng, and Trella Bromley.
Origins was a hard-fought competition, with Trella Bromley just holding on for the overall championship. Michael Cheng won the Challenger class, and for the first time we had two teenagers crack the top 12 in the Puffing Billy. 14 year olds Janet Bromley and Raechel Sanger showed themselves to be forces to be reckoned with in the future! Plus it was nice to see that our Origins attendance was up from the past couple years.
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Gen Con also had a first. Never before has the same person won both the Challenger competition AND the overall Puffing Billy championship at the same convention. Congratulations to Mark Liberman, who not only pulled that off but made it a trifecta by winning the Iron Man plaque, too. And yet another teen – 16 year old Samantha Orosz – finished in the top 12.
We set new attendance records for the fourth year in a row with about 740 different people playing train games with us at Gen Con, and over 1100 total for our three major tournaments. Correspondingly, we set a record for number of volunteers and volunteer hours worked, including several very welcome new faces. Thanks to everyone who helped out, scheduled or not – there is no way we could manage all those people and games without you.
Ticket to Ride World Championship- The TGA was honored to be part of the 2014 Ticket to Ride World Championship, sponsored by Days of Wonder to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the popular train game. Congratulations to TGA members Cheryl Orosz, Michael Cheng, Jeff Jackson, Trella Bromley, David Belew, and Phil Cottrell who were among the 24 finalists in the North American Championship. None of them won the trip to Paris but the TGA was well represented in the competition and we are proud of their efforts.
The Train Gamers Association (TGA) facilitates and promotes the play of train games.
We sanction and run Puffing Billy™ Tournaments at conventions throughout the year.