ANNOUNCEMENT: MAGNI, A Fall Tournament (Oct. 15-29, 2011)
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 2:38 pm
I’m pleased to officially announce MAGNI, a new collegiate tournament to be played in the fall of 2011. MAGNI is a collaboration between Chris Chiego and Auroni Gupta at UCSD, Matt Jackson, John Lawrence, and Kevin Koai at Yale, and Jerry Vinokurov, whose sterling editing credentials are well-known. Several newer writers from UCSD will also be contributing to the project.
Questions:
We expect to write the entirety of 14 packets between us; as such, teams may play this tournament without writing questions or submitting packets. Yay!
The packets will have the following distribution:
4/4 Literature (World Literature will be slightly under 1/1)
4/4 Science (1/1 bio, 1/1 chem, 1/1 physics, 1/1 other sci)
4/4 History
{3/3 Religion, Mythology, Philosophy (1/1 each)
3/3 Fine Arts (1/1 painting, 1/1 art music, 1/1 other arts, split evenly visual and auditory)
1/1 Social Sciences
1/1 Geography and Current Events}
1/1 Trash
1/0 Tiebreaker - Rotating Big Three
This adds up to 22/21 - each packet will have a 20/20 regular game, one extra bonus, and two tiebreaker tossups - one taken at random from the set of non-Big Three academic tossups in the {brackets}, and one from a Big Three subject.
Difficulty and Length:
MAGNI aims to invest the concept of “regular difficulty set” with a new or rediscovered meaning: We intend to write a set that we can earnestly encourage all collegiate teams to play and get points on. On one end, we are working hard to ensure that new / improving teams and former high school players still get plenty of points in some competitive games; on the other, prospective national championship teams and grizzled veterans will still be able to make a statement about how good they are by playing this set against one another. To this end, answer selection will be rooted deeply in real-world importance and across-the-board answerability. Tossups should feature enough early and middle clues to distinguish between the best full-strength teams while still being straightforward enough at their ends for the rest of the field to show what it knows at every opportunity. All bonuses will have an easy part that we expect to be answerable with little effort by the overwhelming majority of the nationwide field, a middle part that we expect half the field to know, and a hard part which will test deep knowledge of the subject matter among the top teams at each regional site.
In addition to controlling difficulty, we will also be controlling length. No tossup in this set will go past the seventh full line of text (measured in 10 point Times New Roman with 1-inch margins). We seek to ensure that individual bonus parts rarely exceed two lines in length.
If one needs a reference to previous tournaments as to what we aim for, ACF Regionals 2011, T-Party 2010, and Penn Bowl 2007 through 2010 (but not 2011) are decent reference points. If we err from those reference points, we seek to err slightly on the side of increased conversion. MAGNI will not be power-marked.
Eligibility:
This is a tournament for collegiate quizbowl teams. To that end, any teams consisting entirely of students (undergrad or grad) who attend the same school may play this tournament. Interested high school teams are eligible to play, as are solo players and teams which must play unaffiliated / unsponsored for whatever reason, but all such teams must consist entirely of students who attend one school. High schoolers enrolled in for-credit classes at a community college, college, or university may play for either school in which they are enrolled. Separate campuses of an overarching university count as separate schools. To clarify, all graduate students who are doing work
towards a degree are eligible, as is the case for ACF eligibility (i.e. if one is working towards a Ph.D but is not enrolled formally in classes for credit, they are eligible).
NO open teams or non-students may register to play at any site of this tournament. This editors' decision is non-negotiable.
If you are still unclear as to whether you’re eligible to play on a given team, email Auroni Gupta and Matt Jackson ([email protected], REDACTED).
Hosting / mirroring:
MAGNI will be available for hosting starting on Saturday, October 15th and ending Sunday, October 30th. We strongly encourage hosts to host on the 15th or 22nd if possible. In keeping with scheduling reform, we seek to get the set played, in every region, in as short a timeframe as possible and clear it for public discussion before ACF Fall happens.
Though hosts may deviate from this within reason, here is the default fee structure which hosts can expect to charge for MAGNI:
Base fee: $100 per team, -$10 per subsequent team (3 teams thus being 100 + 90 + 80 = $270)
Buzzer discount: -$10 per working buzzer
Moderator discount: -$10 per moderator
Travel discount: -$10 per 200 miles traveled
A list of confirmed host sites and their dates follows. If you don’t see your region on here or believe your region is large enough to accommodate / necessitate another mirror, email Auroni Gupta and Matt Jackson ([email protected], REDACTED).
Northeast: Brown University (with some Yale staff), Saturday, October 29. Contact Ian Eppler at [email protected] or see thread.
Mid-Atlantic: George Mason University, Saturday, October 22. Contact Ben Cole at [email protected] or see thread.
Southeast: University of South Carolina, Saturday, October 15. Contact Eric Douglass at [email protected] or see thread.
Florida: Valencia College, Saturday, October 15. Contact Billy Beyer at [email protected] or see thread
Lower South: Rice University, Saturday, October 29. Contact Zachary Yeung at [email protected] or see thread.
West Coast: UCSD, Saturday, October 29. Contact Auroni Gupta at [email protected], or see thread.
North: Carleton College, Saturday, October 22. Contact Max Henkel at [email protected] or see thread.
Midwest: Ohio State, Saturday, October 22. Contact Andy Sekerak at [redacted] or see thread.
Lower Midwest: Missouri S&T (Rolla), Saturday, October 29. Contact Alex Smith at [email protected] or see thread.
Northwest: None
Canada: McMaster, Saturday, October 29. Contact McMaster Quizbowl at [email protected] or see thread.
MAGNI is shaping up to be a high-quality event for all college quizbowl teams in every region this fall. We hope to see you there!
Questions:
We expect to write the entirety of 14 packets between us; as such, teams may play this tournament without writing questions or submitting packets. Yay!
The packets will have the following distribution:
4/4 Literature (World Literature will be slightly under 1/1)
4/4 Science (1/1 bio, 1/1 chem, 1/1 physics, 1/1 other sci)
4/4 History
{3/3 Religion, Mythology, Philosophy (1/1 each)
3/3 Fine Arts (1/1 painting, 1/1 art music, 1/1 other arts, split evenly visual and auditory)
1/1 Social Sciences
1/1 Geography and Current Events}
1/1 Trash
1/0 Tiebreaker - Rotating Big Three
This adds up to 22/21 - each packet will have a 20/20 regular game, one extra bonus, and two tiebreaker tossups - one taken at random from the set of non-Big Three academic tossups in the {brackets}, and one from a Big Three subject.
Difficulty and Length:
MAGNI aims to invest the concept of “regular difficulty set” with a new or rediscovered meaning: We intend to write a set that we can earnestly encourage all collegiate teams to play and get points on. On one end, we are working hard to ensure that new / improving teams and former high school players still get plenty of points in some competitive games; on the other, prospective national championship teams and grizzled veterans will still be able to make a statement about how good they are by playing this set against one another. To this end, answer selection will be rooted deeply in real-world importance and across-the-board answerability. Tossups should feature enough early and middle clues to distinguish between the best full-strength teams while still being straightforward enough at their ends for the rest of the field to show what it knows at every opportunity. All bonuses will have an easy part that we expect to be answerable with little effort by the overwhelming majority of the nationwide field, a middle part that we expect half the field to know, and a hard part which will test deep knowledge of the subject matter among the top teams at each regional site.
In addition to controlling difficulty, we will also be controlling length. No tossup in this set will go past the seventh full line of text (measured in 10 point Times New Roman with 1-inch margins). We seek to ensure that individual bonus parts rarely exceed two lines in length.
If one needs a reference to previous tournaments as to what we aim for, ACF Regionals 2011, T-Party 2010, and Penn Bowl 2007 through 2010 (but not 2011) are decent reference points. If we err from those reference points, we seek to err slightly on the side of increased conversion. MAGNI will not be power-marked.
Eligibility:
This is a tournament for collegiate quizbowl teams. To that end, any teams consisting entirely of students (undergrad or grad) who attend the same school may play this tournament. Interested high school teams are eligible to play, as are solo players and teams which must play unaffiliated / unsponsored for whatever reason, but all such teams must consist entirely of students who attend one school. High schoolers enrolled in for-credit classes at a community college, college, or university may play for either school in which they are enrolled. Separate campuses of an overarching university count as separate schools. To clarify, all graduate students who are doing work
towards a degree are eligible, as is the case for ACF eligibility (i.e. if one is working towards a Ph.D but is not enrolled formally in classes for credit, they are eligible).
NO open teams or non-students may register to play at any site of this tournament. This editors' decision is non-negotiable.
If you are still unclear as to whether you’re eligible to play on a given team, email Auroni Gupta and Matt Jackson ([email protected], REDACTED).
Hosting / mirroring:
MAGNI will be available for hosting starting on Saturday, October 15th and ending Sunday, October 30th. We strongly encourage hosts to host on the 15th or 22nd if possible. In keeping with scheduling reform, we seek to get the set played, in every region, in as short a timeframe as possible and clear it for public discussion before ACF Fall happens.
Though hosts may deviate from this within reason, here is the default fee structure which hosts can expect to charge for MAGNI:
Base fee: $100 per team, -$10 per subsequent team (3 teams thus being 100 + 90 + 80 = $270)
Buzzer discount: -$10 per working buzzer
Moderator discount: -$10 per moderator
Travel discount: -$10 per 200 miles traveled
A list of confirmed host sites and their dates follows. If you don’t see your region on here or believe your region is large enough to accommodate / necessitate another mirror, email Auroni Gupta and Matt Jackson ([email protected], REDACTED).
Northeast: Brown University (with some Yale staff), Saturday, October 29. Contact Ian Eppler at [email protected] or see thread.
Mid-Atlantic: George Mason University, Saturday, October 22. Contact Ben Cole at [email protected] or see thread.
Southeast: University of South Carolina, Saturday, October 15. Contact Eric Douglass at [email protected] or see thread.
Florida: Valencia College, Saturday, October 15. Contact Billy Beyer at [email protected] or see thread
Lower South: Rice University, Saturday, October 29. Contact Zachary Yeung at [email protected] or see thread.
West Coast: UCSD, Saturday, October 29. Contact Auroni Gupta at [email protected], or see thread.
North: Carleton College, Saturday, October 22. Contact Max Henkel at [email protected] or see thread.
Midwest: Ohio State, Saturday, October 22. Contact Andy Sekerak at [redacted] or see thread.
Lower Midwest: Missouri S&T (Rolla), Saturday, October 29. Contact Alex Smith at [email protected] or see thread.
Northwest: None
Canada: McMaster, Saturday, October 29. Contact McMaster Quizbowl at [email protected] or see thread.
MAGNI is shaping up to be a high-quality event for all college quizbowl teams in every region this fall. We hope to see you there!