Post-pandemic inflation?   I think it's a myth.  Kevin Wojtaszczyk manages to secure a D-1616 ornate pipe that belonged to Sir Walter Raleigh for a mere $3,000.  Not to be outdone, Allan Jiang got a A-1468 Mask of Shame from the bargain bin for $1,000.  With bargains like those available, perhaps we need to go shopping?!  Allan Jiang does exactly that -- spending all four of his checks before anyone passed the center 2/1 zone.

Ken Gutermuth and Cary Morris put on a show in Game #2 -- with a tie on the 7th space of the final table!  They brought the two best exhibits of the game with them -- 9 cards (oldest 1760) vs. 5 cards (oldest 1468) -- giving Ken the win even though SpielByWeb shows Cary first (SpielByWeb uses color order when two players are on the same space).  Dominic Blais also made it to the table in that one, earning two spaces.  The 11 cards in that game that were not connected to four players' sets suggest a bruising finish!

Sharee Pack won three games without a set.  She claims that her second place finish could have been improved if only the other players had stolen another artwork or two.  On the other hand, Doug Galullo prefers to have the 5-space exhibit on the final turn, the largest set (11 cards with the A1468), and to finish on the 13th space for a perfect finish (giving him a total of 19 spaces, the most of any player in the preliminaries).  Chris Trimmer collects the most cards, 52, and keeps them all connected.  Sharee collected just 19 -- and only 3 were connected.

Haakon Monsen and Sharee earn their golden tickets and top seeding to the semi-finals with 21 points.  Chris and Dominic qualify with 19 while Allan, Thomas Browne, and John Pack score 18.

As usual, some-but-not-all players with 17 points qualify for the semi-finals.  Doug's 19 spaces and Derek Landel's 8 spaces earn golden tickets.  The final two with 17 points both have 3 spaces.  The second tie-breaker, creating games, also doesn't decide it.  The third tie-breaker is the total set size.  Tim Mossman prevails with 45 (all connected) over Michael McKibbin's 38 (with two unconnected).

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