On February 23, 1999 I played Showdown at the National in West Covina, California. I was in the middle of a two week golf holiday at the time and I was staying in Lompoc, a small city located near the Vandenberg Air Force Base. Although it was a 3 1/2 hour drive each way that day, I met KAOS in Ventura and we drove together for much of the time.

The National has won the North American Showdown championship for the past three straight years. They are a very knowledgeable and well disciplined team. Represented by their team spokesman CUTTER and coach TWINZ, they frequently dominate the west coast boards ever Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday evening.

During the game, everyone focused hard on the questions. Clockwise from the left: TWINS, BB, MSTANK, BRIT, TANKU, NSYNC, LIANNE, ANDREW and KAOS. BB played at Sliders several years ago and I met him there in November 1993 when I was in Los Angeles at the time.

The team includes lawyers, Caltech Ph.D. students and former Jeopardy contestants. About 30 people showed up that evening. Here we have, clockwise from left to right, DAVE, ROBB, GANGA, DOGBRT, RATBRT, DRSMOG, BEAR and TWINS.

CONER, DAVE, and ROBB wait for the next question while GANGA and RATBRT chat. Although the team finished 2nd that night, they unfortunately beat the Inglewood. However, we took revenge later that evening by beating them in Brainbusters.

The photograph on the left shows (clockwise starting from the upper left), DRSMOG, BEAR, TWINS, BB, TANKED, MSTANK, BRIT, ANDREW, KAOS, CONER, DAVE, and GANGA. After playing with them for about three hours, it was not difficult to see why they have been such a dominating team for the past three years. Thanks for the great hospitality and all the best in the future!

I should note that many of their team members were interested in learning more about our team's strategies. We are very open to showing you (and others) how we play Showdown and every other game. All you have to do is come and visit us!

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June 7, 1999