Sunday opened with eight players ready to go. Rohan, Todd, Manfred and Ulrich sat at table 1; Andreas, Olav, Joshua and Matt sat at table 2. The order shown was their seeding from the Saturday qualifier, which meant that the highest seed at each table got to choose their starting position (first, second, third or fourth). After the smoke cleared, Andreas, Rohan, Matt and Todd had moved forward to the final game.

All of our contestants were invited back for lunch on Sunday, where they received their trophies for 5th through 16th place, as well as a parting gift of an iPod Shuffle.


The semifinalist prizes disappeared quickly!

Our final game started after lunch, and 80 minutes later Todd Sweet emerged victorious.


Todd can feel it!

Rohan took second, Matt earned third, and Andreas claimed fourth. The final round of prizes were given out in front of several hundred people in the Mayfair booth in the exhibition hall. Todd took home a Flip video camera, a trophy, a Catan 3D Treasure Chest, and the signed banner.

Our favorite story occurs after the convention closed down. Nine of our participants (and let’s not forget, these are the folks who had never met 48 hours before, and had been playing against each other all day Saturday and Sunday), decided to get together and go out for an evening on the town. And what could be more quintessentially American than to head out for a rousing night of WWE action?...

Our 2008 field was about as large as the first World Championship, but we are delighted to have the opportunity to host, as well as put a bit of a social spin on the event. It’s great to see our players talking about what a great time they had, and we’re making plans to share a game or a beer with them at Essen. This event was made possible through the major sponsorships provided by Mayfair Games, Catan LLC, Kosmos, 999 Games and Heron Games. Additional support came from ThinkFun, Funatical, AlburyCity, Mind Games, Mission: Fun & Games, Minotaur Games, and Swan Panasia. Of course, having Guido Teuber and Nick Johnson from Catan LLC was much appreciated, and the Gen Con staff was terrific in giving us a great location for our tournament and fulfilling our every request.

We look forward to hosting the North American tournament at Gen Con in 2009, and we look forward to returning to Germany in 2010 for the Catan World Championship. Thanks to all of the support, enthusiasm, and patience for what was an enthusiastic first effort on our part to continue the tradition of the Catan World Championship!