VCU Battle of the Brains Style Tournament 1/21/17

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auriana
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VCU Battle of the Brains Style Tournament 1/21/17

Post by auriana »

Dear Battle of the Brains/Scholastic Bowl team coach,

Your school's academic competition team is invited to the Spring 2017 Battle of the Brains-style tournament run by Quizbowl at VCU.

This is a high school academic quizbowl tournament, to be hosted at VCU in Richmond, Virginia, on Saturday, January 21, 2017. The event will run from 8:30am to about 2:00pm, inclusive of a lunch break.

Unlike the other tournaments run by Quizbowl at VCU, this event will use the game format of the Battle of the Brains television program. There are several unique eligibility rules for this event which may be found below. We are hoping to see many teams who have not previously participated in Saturday invitational quizbowl at this event, including teams preparing for VHSL Scholastic Bowl events and next year’s Battle of the Brains testing and taping. This tournament received highly positive reviews last year from a wide range of teams.

Note: “Battle of the Brains” is a trademark of the Battle of the Brains producers. This tournament is not affiliated with the TV show.

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 a question set based on NAQT’s Invitational Series #163A, with modifications performed by the Quizbowl at VCU team to bring it in line with the BoB format. Schools that played IS-163A at other tournaments (https://www.naqt.com/assigned-packet-sets.jsp) are not eligible for this tournament. This set has not been used at any tournaments in Virginia, Maryland, DC, or North Carolina.

Format: This tournament will use a modified format, based on the rules of the TV show. There will be four quarters in each game. The first and second quarters will each consist of 8 tossups worth 10 points each. In the third quarter, each team will pick in turn (with the team behind in the score picking first) from a list of three choices for a category-based lightning round. In the fourth quarter, there will be 8 tossups worth 20 points each.

We expect to offer every team 7 prelim games, then have championship playoffs. Each team will be seeded into a “championship” or “consolation” playoff bracket and continue playing. The tournament will last 10 total rounds and we will try to allow all teams to play in 9 rounds, if the field size permits.


Divisions & eligibility: The tournament is open to public, private, and homeschool teams. Schools in the Varsity and Junior Varsity divisions must be from the Battle of the Brains eligibility radius, which is defined as anywhere in Virginia that is not part of Fairfax, Loudoun, or Prince William counties, or independent cities within or bordering any of those counties. Schools from those counties, and schools from outside Virginia, are eligible for this tournament, but must play in the National division.

To make sure each team gets a chance to play opponents of a similar experience level, the tournament will be divided into NATIONAL, VARSITY, and JUNIOR VARSITY divisions. Each division will name its own champion and there will not be interdivisional matches.

JUNIOR VARSITY division: For a team to play in this division, all players must meet the eligibility for the Varsity division and be in no higher than the 10th grade.

VARSITY division: For a team to play in this division, it must contain NO players who have ever been a Battle of the Brains all-star, or ever played on a team that finished in the top 4 on Battle of the Brains, finished in the top 4 of any non-novice invitational quizbowl tournament, or qualified for the VHSL Scholastic Bowl state championship tournament.

NATIONAL division: Teams which do not meet the eligibility limit for the Varsity division play here. Teams who could play in Varsity but want to “play up” in the National division may be allowed to do so, but we reserve the right to review and deny this on a case-by-case basis in order to maintain workable field sizes in both divisions. Any team from outside the BoB viewing radius as defined above must also play in this division.

Schools are encouraged to enter teams in every division, including multiple teams! You may enter as many teams of 4 students in the tournament as you’d like. Note that some schools may be required to play multiple teams in the National division -- if your A and B team both finished in the top 4 at an invitational tournament then you have 8 players who are not eligible for the Varsity division.

Fees & registration: Base fee: $60 per team entered in National division, $50 per team entered in Varsity division, $40 per team entered in Junior Varsity division.
Buzzer discount: -$5 to your school's total fee for each fully functional system you bring. There is no limit to the number of systems you can bring.
Staff discount: -$10 to your school's total fee. This can be a coach, parent, student, or other person who is not playing. Team-provided staffers will keep score for various games unless they are specifically told that they will be reading. Volunteer staffers must stay through all the games (except finals) in order to receive credit for their school. There is no limit to the number of staffers you can bring.
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.
Early registration discount: If you register your teams by December 15, and show up to the tournament, on time, with the exact number of teams you had registered on December 15, then you will receive $10 off your total school’s fee.
Minimum fee: The minimum fee is $0. You can achieve unlimited discounts until you eliminate your fee, but you cannot have a “negative fee.”

All that is required to register for this tournament is for you to email Cody Voight 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. Please clearly indicate how many teams you are registering in the National, Standard, and Junior Varsity divisions. There is no further registration form or other action needed on your part in order to be officially registered.

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, institutional checks (e.g. from a school, school district, quizbowl club account, etc.) All checks must be made out to this exact phrase: "Quizbowl at VCU".

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.

You may substitute players between rounds. As on the BoB TV show, there will be no substitution opportunities during the 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.

We strongly encourage you to register additional teams of four rather than using substitutions. The main purpose of this tournament is to let as many students as possible participate.

Food:
Neither breakfast nor lunch will be provided by the tournament. We will provide a list of suggested eateries for the lunch break.

There is no field cap for this tournament, and we expect to host a large number of teams on January 21.

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 21st.

Cody Voight
Tournament Director, Battle of the Brains Tournament at VCU
[email protected]
Najwa Watson
Virginia Commonwealth University, 2016
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Cody
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Re: VCU Battle of the Brains Style Tournament 1/21/17

Post by Cody »

Field (29):

National (2):
2 Maggie Walker

Varsity (21):
1 Collegiate
2 Cosby
4 Dinwiddie
2 Fork Union Military Academy
1 Homeschool Out of the Box
1 Maggie Walker
1 Meadowbrook
1 Midlothian
2 New Kent
1 Norfolk Academic Guild
1 Southampton
1 St. Christopher's
1 Strasburg
2 Thomas Dale

Junior Varsity (6):
1 Homeschool Out of the Box
1 Maggie Walker
1 Meadowbrook
2 Norfolk Academic Guild
1 Thomas Dale
Last edited by Cody on Thu Jan 19, 2017 3:41 pm, edited 6 times in total.
Cody Voight, VCU ’14.
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Cody
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Joined: Sun Nov 15, 2009 12:57 am

Re: VCU Battle of the Brains Style Tournament 1/21/17

Post by Cody »

An e-mail will go out shortly, but as a heads up, we have been forced to move the site from VCU to Collegiate High School, which is about 15 minutes west of VCU. Because it is so close, I'm hoping it doesn't present any transportation for the registered teams, but I understand if this means you need to drop. Just let me know.
Cody Voight, VCU ’14.
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Cody
2008-09 Male Athlete of the Year
Posts: 2891
Joined: Sun Nov 15, 2009 12:57 am

Re: VCU Battle of the Brains Style Tournament 1/21/17

Post by Cody »

Stats will be up once I have access to the HSQBDB entry again, but here are some standings:

National, 1st Place: Maggie Walker A
National, 2nd Place: Maggie Walker B

Varsity, 1st Place: Homeschool Out of the Box A
Varsity, 2nd Place: Maggie Walker C
Varsity, 3rd Place: New Kent A
Varsity, 4th Place: Norfolk Academic Guild A

Junior Varsity, 1st Place: Homeschool Out of the Box B
Junior Varsity, 2nd Place: Norfolk Academic Guild B
Junior Varsity, 3rd Place: Norfolk Academic Guild C
Junior Varsity, 4th Place: Maggie Walker D
Cody Voight, VCU ’14.
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