Joe Joyce wrote on Wed, Jun 25, 2008 04:34 PM UTC:
Thanks, Doug, for asking. This gives me an opportunity to once again ask for someone to assist in playing and judging the games.
Jeremy Good, Greg Strong and I were the judges. Jeremy and I got together in December to play a couple games. Greg didn't make it then, and neither Greg nor Jeremy is currently active. So I briefly recruited Jianying Ji, who was in the NY metro area a couple months ago, to play some more games.
Currently, half the games have been playtested. Of those games, there is one clear leader. The designer is someone with whom I correspond. Problem 1 for being the lone judge. Not being able to play chess against myself is problem 2.
The other half need to be playtested. I am planning on trying to talk one or two brothers into being the vic... um, playtesters when we get together for our annual summer long weekend party in a month. This will be quite tricky, and may involve incidental beer on the boards, but currently this is my best hope for getting help judging. I have other, less likely ideas...
I appeal to everyone in the NY metro area. If anyone is willing to playtest some games, please contact me - email address is in my person info.
Finally, if I cannot recruit anyone, I will playtest [which is different than playing] each game, and come up with a decision in some months, probably about the end of the year. Wish I could give you a better answer, but at least it's honest. And I guarantee you the next contest I get involved in will be judged differently [most likely by the contestants, as this will encourage participation in the judging].