Format
We hope that ACF Fall can be held in person. However, we acknowledge that many schools are uncertain about the possibility of allowing large events due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, it is possible that some mirrors of ACF Fall will be held online, and we will work to create the most authentic and engaging quizbowl experience possible under these circumstances. We will continue to post updates as we learn more.
Registration
Fill out the central 2022 ACF Fall registration form with all relevant information. The form is here. The field for each site can be found here.
If possible, teams should register for the site that is geographically closest to them and/or is in the region they would normally attend. After the field cap for their site is reached, teams will be placed on a waitlist or potentially assigned to another site. Please register by October 10, 2022.
Fees
Base fee per team: $120
New to quizbowl discount: −$80
Shorthanded discount (1–2 players): −$60
Staffers: −$25 per staffer with functional laptop.
The "new to quizbowl" discount is for schools that did not send a team to any regular collegiate academic tournament (not counting exclusively novice tournaments) since September 2021, and which have no players who competed in non-novice collegiate tournaments during that same period.
Host sites will bill teams as soon as possible after the teams register. Teams should pay their host sites by whatever method is convenient for the hosts, who will in turn pay ACF by check, cash, or PayPal.
Eligibility
To make this tournament more accessible to new teams and players, ACF is enforcing eligibility guidelines for ACF Fall. Players are not eligible to compete at 2022 ACF Fall if, at any point, they met any of the following exclusion criteria:
- Scored more than 50 PPG in the prelims of a college mirror of ACF Fall
- Were the top scorer (highest overall PPG) on a team that finished in the top 15% of the field, rounded up, at ACF Fall
- Scored more than 40 PP20TUH in the prelims of HSNCT or 60 PPG in the prelims of PACE NSC
- Were the top scorer (highest overall PPG) on a team that finished in the top 30 at HSNCT or top 10 at PACE NSC
- Finished in the top 12 in IPNCT
- Scored more than 20 PPG in the prelims of ACF Nationals
Players are responsible for determining their own eligibility; if you have questions, or believe a player should be eligible to play but is excluded by the current guidelines, please don’t hesitate to email [email protected]. Failure to abide by these eligibility guidelines may result in disqualification from ACF Fall and/or future ACF tournaments.
Packet Submission
As for the 2021 edition of ACF Fall, no teams are required to submit questions in order to play the tournament. However, ACF still needs high-quality half-packet submissions from teams to complete the set.
If a team wishes to outsource part of its packet to a player not expected to play on that team (e.g., a student who has graduated), it must first receive approval from the head editors. Non-playing students are welcome and encouraged to help their newer club members write, especially for Fall, but it's useful to know the contributors for both credit and logistical reasons.
Below is the submission schedule for ACF Fall. All deadlines are at 11:59 p.m. PT. The maximum packet discounts have increased since last year; furthermore, all submitting teams are eligible for an additional −$20 quality discount if their questions are particularly polished and usable, up to a maximum discount of −$60. Teams may submit a maximum of one half-packet.
Sunday, August 21: −$50
Sunday, August 28: −$40
Sunday, September 4: −$30
Sunday, September 11: −$20
Sunday, September 18: −$10
If you would like to submit a half-packet, fill out this form. ACF will respond with a half-packet template specifying which categories you are assigned to write.
Each submission consists of 12 tossups and 12 bonuses. Before writing, please review ACF's packet submission guidelines and stick to the format provided. Answers should generally emphasize playability over creativity; aim for creative and interesting clues with straightforward answerlines. These 5 model tossups from the 2020 edition of ACF Fall reflect the difficulty and style to aim for. When finished, submit your half-packet by emailing it to [email protected].
Your assigned half-packet may ask for questions from more specific categories within the distribution. For instance, instead of being assigned an “American Literature” tossup, you might be asked to write a question on a 20th-century American poem, or an Economics bonus instead of “Social Science/Philosophy.” This should reduce redundancy in submissions and maximize the number of submitted questions we can use, without being too constraining. The submission form offers space to indicate your writing interests in each category, which we will do our best to accommodate.
Hosting
If you are interested in hosting a mirror of ACF Fall, fill out this form. If you have any questions about hosting, please email ACF’s Site Coordinator at [email protected]. Hosts must abide by ACF’s Hosting Guidelines.
Mirrors will by default be regional. ACF reserves the right to move teams and staffers between sites. ACF intends to mirror 2022 ACF Fall in the following regions:
Northeast: Harvard
Upper Mid-Atlantic: Maryland
Upstate NY: Cornell
Lower Mid-Atlantic: UNC Chapel Hill
Southeast: Georgia Tech
Florida: University of Florida
Great Lakes: Michigan
Midwest: Missouri-Columbia
North: Minnesota
South Central: Oklahoma
Northwest: Washington
Northern California: UC Berkeley
Southern California: Claremont Colleges
Eastern Canada: Ottawa
United Kingdom: Warwick
Asia: Asian Quiz Bowl Alliance
Overflow: Columbia
High-school-only sites:
Auburn High School (Rockford, IL)
Northfield High School (Online; nationwide)
Northern California Quizbowl Alliance (Online; for California teams)
As in previous years, ACF is willing to provide the ACF Fall set for high-school-only tournaments. If you are interested in hosting a high-school-only mirror of the 2022 ACF Fall, email [email protected] and cc [email protected]. However, we do not plan to offer mixed mirrors that include high school and college teams.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please email [email protected].
