Location, directions & parking:
The tournament will take place in Grace E. Harris Hall, located at the intersection of Main Street and Harrison Street, in Richmond, Virginia. One will want to park either on the street, or in the West Main Street Parking Deck, which has entrances on Cherry Street and Laurel Street and is nominally located at 801 W Main St. A campus map is accessible here.
Questions:
This tournament will be using NAQT's Invitational Series #142 as a question set. Note that this is the same set being used for the Enloe Invitational Academic Competition IV.
Affiliation:
Since we are using an IS set, the top 15% of the field will automatically qualify for the NAQT High School National Championship Tournament, which will occur on May 29–31, 2015 in Chicago, IL. More information about HSNCT is available at this link.
This tournament will be Platinum certified by the Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence, so it is an opportunity to qualify for the National Scholastics Championship, which will occur on June 6–7, 2015 in Reston, VA. The top 25% of teams will qualify; more information is available at this link.
Format:
This tournament will use the tossup/bonus format. A round will consist of 20 tossups with correct tossup answers earning a team a bonus in which it can earn up to 30 additional points, usually broken into three questions each worth 10 points. There will be no math calculation tossups or bonuses; this does not preclude tossups or bonuses on mathematical concepts. Teams will be seeded to preliminary groupings before being reseeded based on record for playoffs. All teams will be offered a minimum of 9 games. Trophies will be awarded to the top teams, and book prizes will be awarded to the top individual scorers.
Fees & registration:
base fee: +$70 per team to your school's total fee. There is no limit to the number of teams who can attend from one school.
buzzer discount: -$5 to your school's total fee for each fully functional system. There is no limit to the number of systems you can bring.
A fully functional buzzer system is defined as follows:
- A buzzer system that clearly indicates which player has buzzed.
- The control unit and at least 8 activators work, including lights on either or both of the 8 activators and control unit.
- If the activators plug into a control unit via a modular connector, such as a telephone plug, tape must be provided if any latching tabs are broken.
travel discount: -$10 to your school's total fee for every 150 miles traveled one-way from your school's address to VCU, according to Google Maps.
minimum fee: The minimum fee is $0. You can bring enough buzzers and staffers to eliminate your fee, but you cannot have a negative fee.
All that is required to register for this tournament is for you to email me at [email protected] with the number of teams, buzzers, and staffers you intend to bring, an email address where you can be contacted with details, and a cell phone number belonging to someone who will be attending the tournament, so that we can contact you if you are running late. There is no further registration form or other action needed on your part in order to be officially registered. Posts made in this thread do not count as official registrations.
Please feel welcome to share this announcement with any schools that you think would be interested in attending.
Method of payment:
All teams must pay by the day of the tournament. We prefer to accept payment in person right before the tournament starts, but we will accept checks by mail ahead of time if required by your school. Teams who do not pay by the day of the tournament will be charged a $25 penalty and will have two weeks to pay their total amount.
We can accept cash, personal checks, or checks from a school, school district, quizbowl club, or other source. We have no ability to process purchase orders, credit cards, Paypal, or any other forms of payment. Bringing forms of payment outside of the three listed will be considered nonpayment and subject you to the $25 late payment penalty.
All checks must be made out to "Quizbowl at VCU". If you require an invoice or W-9 form in order to have a check cut, you must let us know by November 26, so that we can send you the paperwork in time. If you do not let us know about this requirement by November 26, and it causes you to come to the tournament without your payment, then you will be subject to the $25 late payment penalty.
Team & roster size:
There may be a maximum of six players on one team's roster, up to four of whom may play at one time. There will be no exceptions to this rule. If you bring more than six players, you must register a second team to have all of them play. There is a half-time substitution opportunity in each game. Each player may appear on only one team's roster throughout the day; there is no switching from the B team to the A team, etc. Teams may play shorthanded, with fewer than four players.
The VCU team reserves the right to cap the field based on availability of space and staff; the current cap is 18 teams. Teams registering after the field is full will be placed on a waitlist and will enter the field as we expand or as teams drop.
Food:
Neither breakfast nor lunch will be provided by the tournament. We will provide a list of suggested eateries for the lunch break.
Please email me if you have any further questions. I'm looking forward to seeing a wide variety of teams from Virginia and surrounding states on the 6th.
Cody Voight
Tournament Director, VCU Winter Tournament VII
[email protected]
