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OTB Crowns a New Grand Champion!
Columbus, OH (Origins Convention 2007)
If there’s anyone out there that still thinks
women don’t have the competitive spirit equal
to men…look no further then Teresa Russell.
This July she had to fight her way through over 100
opponents, many seasoned OTB vets, and a non-stop 4-day
tournament schedule to earn the title of OTB Grand
Champion for 2007.
Out of the Box Publishing’s Grand Championship
tournament is a unique 4-day event where players are
challenged to play in as many different Out of the
Box tournaments as possible. The player who accumulates
the most total tournament points is crowned OTB Grand
Champion. (Otherwise known as “Master of Award
Winning Fun”). Points are awarded for each event
in the following way: 1st Place (5 pts), 2nd Place
(3 pts), 3rd Place (2 pts) - and anyone who simply
plays in an event gets 1 pt. |
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2007 OTB Grand Champion
Teresa Russell |
Day One - The first day of competition
saw some grueling head-to-head battles
in both Mix Up and Cover Up with Teresa
Russell and Virginia Lockwood jockeying
for an early lead in the championship.
Former Grand Champion Aaron Croyle foiled
their hopes with a decisive victory in
Cover Up.
Other big winners on day one included
Doug Cooksey in Easy Come, Easy Go. Lee
Jeffries edged out his challengers for
a victory in Pepper. And Dave Leonard established
his dominance in vocabulary skills with
a smashing victory in Qwix.
One notable match up on the first day
featured young (age 9) Elizabeth Madison
vs. her mother Jenny Madison in Wallamoppi.
The match was short, and the youth managed
to “pull out” a narrow victory
over her mom for bragging rights in the
Madison household.
Top Three Results:
Player, Pts
1. Teresa Russell – 11 Pts
1. Virginia Lockwood – 11 Pts
3. Lee Jeffries – 7 pts
Day Two - Day two featured more of the
same head to head action between our two
leaders. This was a hard day for Mrs. Russell,
as she failed to place in any event until
the last event of the day – Wheedle.
On the other hand, Virginia had a spectacular
day with first place finishes in both Party
Pooper and Qwitch.
Dave Leonard continued to dominate word
games with a resounding victory at My Word.
This years’ Whad’ya Know? tournament
had its largest showing ever, and Ms. Renee
Martinez out “guessed” the
field for the win.
The Blink tournament, always a rousing
event, had a great showing of some very
fast players. Last year’s champ Brenda
Anderson, lost to the two new speed players
on the block Chris Mericle, son of former
OTB legend Tony Mericle and twin brother
to last years OTB Grand Champion Andy Mericle.
Top Three Results:
Player, Pts
1. Virginia Lockwood, 22 pts
2. Teresa Russell, 17 pts
3. Dave Leonard, 14 pts
Day Three - I’m not sure what happened
during the night of the second day, but
on Saturday Teresa came Ready to Play.
Teresa muscled out all competition with
impressive back to back victories in 10
Days in the USA and 10 Days in Africa to
go with her wins in Gavitt’s Stock
Exchange and Tutankhmen.
This day also had some victories by new
players to OTB. Ken Hoyt won our Shipwrecked
tournament after a narrow victory in the
qualifier round. In Gold Digger, Paul Sims
managed to stake the best claims and come
out “golden”.
Day three also featured our Apples to
Apples National Championships. A large
field laughed and haggled their way to
produce final crew of 10 players. This
shrewd but amiable group went apple for
apple until only three could rise to the
top of the bushel. Sharon Barnet was the
big apple and Randall Rehberg and Erin
Bean didn’t fall far from the tree
at second and third respectively.
Top Three Results:
Player, Pts
1. Teresa Russell, 44 pts
2. Virginia Lockwood, 29 pts
3. Allen Eckhouse, Erin Bean, Aaron Croyle,
17 pts
Day Four - The last day of the tournament
had Teresa on cruise control as she participated
in nearly every event of the day, but placed
in only one of them.
Notable mention goes to Allen Eckhouse
who took two victories on the final day
in Wildside and Harry’s Grand Slam
Baseball to pull within a nose of second
place. I have a feeling we’ll see
him again next year……battling
it out for the top spot as our Master of
Award Winning Fun.
Bosworth featured a nearly traditional
rivalry between former champion (several
times) Chris Laskey and also former champion
Paul German. They peered across the table
pitted for battle in the game of multiplayer
battle chess. This year saw Chris as the
victor, but I am sure Paul will be back
next year to prove his “Bosworth”.
In the end, there can only be one, and
this year the one was Teresa Russell! Her
determination, tenacity and all-around
great gamesmanship won her the Grand Championship,
and the official title of Master
of Award Winning Fun 2007. Congratulations Teresa!
Final Results
1. Teresa Russell, 48 pts
2. Virginia Lockwood, 30 pts
3. Allen Eckhouse, Erin 29 pts
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