Congrats to first-time tournament champion Norm Newton! The order of finish:

1st Norm Newton
2nd Chuck Foster
3rd Sue Lanham
4th Ron Secunda
5th John Henry

Details to come...

Chuck Foster returns as GM.

This is the officially-sanctioned Rail Baron® tournament of 2015.

There will be three first-round heats; you can play in as many games as you like. The top 16 or 25 (depending on size of the field) first-round players (typically, that's everyone who wins at least one game in the first round, plus a few alternates) advance to the semifinals. The top five semifinalists advance to the Final. The ideal number of players at each table will vary with the round. For the Round 1 heats, the target is four players, for the semis - four, and for the Final - five players.

Win any heat and you advance to the semifinal. Alternates to get into the semifinal will be selected by ranking of highest net worth (cash & RR property) from the heats. Semifinal game winners advance to the Final. Alternates for the Final will be selected from: 1st - anyone winning all three heats, 2nd, anyone winning two heats. Highest net worth will be used to determine ranking in case of multiple winners. If no one wins more than one heat, Alternates for the Final will be selected by highest net worth of non-winning semifinal players. The number of players per game and the number advancing to the semifinal and Final will be determined by the total number of players attending the heats. Check the Alternate list on the event kiosk to determine your chances of advancing as an Alternate.

The following is the preliminary schedule and is subject to change:

The exact schedule is determined by the BPA; the durations are estimates.

The WBC will give five wooden plaques for the top five finishers. There will be an additional award for the player with the highest net worth over his or her best three games in Round 1 and the Semifinal. The “Survival Award” will be given to the player with the least amount of cash and property and avoiding bankruptcy. Other smaller prizes will be given for players who “favor” a certain city and visit it five times during a game.

Five rule variants will be employed for the tournament, as follows:

• 1) ride your own rail lines for free. You will not pay the customary $1,000 if you use entirely your own RRs during a turn. Riding the bank's RRs for any portion of a trip costs the usual $1,000. The remaining rule variants are basically unchanged from the past few years:
• 2) Super Chief upgrades from an Express are free (Round 1 heats only).
• 3) Roll three dice all at once when you have a Super Chief.
• 4) The "Roll-and-move-immediately" courtesy rule will not be enforced.
• 5) Home Swapping is allowed. If you dislike your first destination, before moving you can opt to exchange it with your home city.

The GM will rule on all needed interpretations according to the official Rail Baron rules combined with the five special tournament rules. If a ruling needs to be made on a game involving the GM, an assistant GM will make the call.

The GM will make every attempt to begin each heat and round in a timely fashion. Please be early to sign in for each round and get your table designation. Games that exceed the time limit will be adjudicated unless all players agree to play until conclusion. Any adjudicated game will end with an equal amount of turns, and the player with the highest cash and property value will be declared the winner.

2015 Norm Newton
2014 Brian Conlon, 2014 tournament info
2013 Trella Bromley, 2013 tournament info
2012 Donna Balkan, 2012 tournament info
2011 Sue Lanham, 2011 tournament info
2010 John Henry, 2010 tournament info
2009 Mark McCandless, 2009 tournament info
2008 Eve Secunda, 2008 tournament info
2007 Tom Dunning, 2007 tournament info
2006 Inger Henning, 2006 tournament story
2005 Bill Duke, 2005 tournament story
2004 Doug Galullo, 2004 tournament story
2003 Mike Zorrer, 2003 tournament story
2002 Ed Wrobel, 2002 tournament story
2001 Steve Okonski, 2001 tournament story
2000 Steve Okonski 2000 tournament story
1999 Heikki Thoen 1999 tournament story
1998 Eyal Mozes 1998 tournament story
1997 Kimberly Lemmons 1997 tournament story
1996 Heikki Thoen
1995 Heikki Thoen
1994 Bill Fellin
1993 Kevin Quirk
1992 Kevin Quirk
1991 Chuck Foster