Background info: In MY judges meeting Thursday night, I addressed several issues. Among them was the appropriate penalty for irreparable game state, which is a Game Loss.
Over the course of the event, the judging staff issued a handful of Game Losses for irreperable game state, per my instructions. These penalties are not the kind of penalties that will get a player suspended. They are technical errors, which break the game, and make it impossible to reset it in a fair manner.
During the final match, Kim called a Game Loss. I told him that I felt that the penalty was too harsh for the 10- group, and that perhaps a Prize Penalty was more in order. I then offered a suggestion on how to repair the game state. It was not the most fair way, but it would have allowed both players to finish out their game. Kim felt differently, but, as POP staff requested it, agreed to change the penalty.
As I left the play area, I told Vince what was going on, and he stated that it was not what we had done all weekend in regards to irreparable game state, and that we needed to be consistant. He had a valid point, though (as he himself admitted) he was wrong to make it during the event.
I spoke with Kim, who had already communicated my change to both players, and after 5-10 minutes, Dave, Kim and I all agreed that the initial Game Loss call was the correct one, so that was the penalty that was given. I had planned on delivering the explaination of what had happened to both Andrew and David, as well as their parents, but I just couldn't keep it together. The exhaustion of the weekend had gotten the best of me for the second time that weekend (the Miller's know all about the first time) and I had to leave the area.
Simply put, Kim made the correct call initially, and, had I kept my mouth shut, none of this would be an issue.