Search found 4041 matches

by Mike Bentley
Fri Mar 08, 2024 2:00 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Ancient/Medieval History balance
Replies: 6
Views: 1041

Re: Ancient/Medieval History balance

I see your point on "Early Medieval." I would guess the sticking point, which you touch on, is... those questions are hard to write. There aren't as many sources of note, especially on lower levels, and the time period isn't as widely touched on as modern or classical. Even the course I t...
by Mike Bentley
Thu Mar 07, 2024 4:34 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2024 Carper Award winners
Replies: 2
Views: 506

Re: 2024 Carper Award winners

Congrats, everyone! Never met Raj or Dave*, but as John's apparently most frequent open tournament teammate, glad to see he's getting recognition for all the work he's put into the college game over the years. *Although it's possible we met at some Maryland practice or trash tournament and I've sinc...
by Mike Bentley
Sun Feb 25, 2024 6:37 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Bentley's Bounties
Replies: 1
Views: 913

Re: Bentley's Bounties

I've updated the first post to indicate which bounties have at least informal interest from someone. Since side events often end up not happening, I'm open to other people starting on their own set even if someone else has already claimed it. By the way, I'm leaving it up to writers to define the pa...
by Mike Bentley
Thu Feb 15, 2024 6:30 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Alternate locations for ACF Nationals
Replies: 30
Views: 4102

Re: Alternate locations for ACF Nationals

I can't speak to ACF, but a number of years ago we had this hotels vs. universities debate for the NSC. You typically don't come out ahead when going through official events reservations departments at universities. But you do come out ahead (purely on cost) if a club or faculty sponsor or whatever ...
by Mike Bentley
Wed Feb 14, 2024 1:19 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Bentley's Bounties
Replies: 1
Views: 913

Bentley's Bounties

Inspired by Mike Cheyne's post, I'm posting a call for anyone interested in writing a side event on any of these topics. I'll pay $300 to incentivize you if you complete a set of at least 6 packets of 20 questions (feel free to write more). You're also free to charge separately for the set. To avoid...
by Mike Bentley
Fri Jan 26, 2024 11:47 pm
Forum: Trash
Topic: MoNintendo Online Mirror - Friday 1/26/24
Replies: 7
Views: 1345

Re: MoNintendo Online Mirror - Friday 1/26/24

Congrats to Panic! At The Restaurant for clearing the field and winning the tournament. Stats are here: https://hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/8715/

Hope everyone had fun at this very niche event.
by Mike Bentley
Tue Jan 23, 2024 2:28 pm
Forum: Trash
Topic: MoNintendo Online Mirror - Friday 1/26/24
Replies: 7
Views: 1345

Re: MoNintendo Online Mirror - Friday 1/26/24

There's still a couple of free agent spots for anyone who wants to join at the last minute.
by Mike Bentley
Fri Jan 12, 2024 12:41 pm
Forum: Trash
Topic: MoNintendo Online Mirror - Friday 1/26/24
Replies: 7
Views: 1345

Re: MoNintendo Online Mirror - Friday 1/26/24

With about two weeks left, it would be great to get a few more sign ups so that we end up with 6 teams.
by Mike Bentley
Thu Jan 04, 2024 7:18 pm
Forum: Theory
Topic: Studying Art History
Replies: 7
Views: 2592

Re: Studying Art History

Taking an intro to art history survey class is one of the better class time to quizbowl points ratios out there.
by Mike Bentley
Sat Dec 30, 2023 2:10 pm
Forum: Trash
Topic: MoNintendo Online Mirror - Friday 1/26/24
Replies: 7
Views: 1345

Re: MoNintendo Online Mirror - Date Poll

This tournament will take place on Friday, January 26 at 7:30 PM Eastern.

I'll probably have an 8th packet of somewhat dubious quality if we need it to make the finals work better.

Could use a couple of staffers for this. I'll pay you $30 each.
by Mike Bentley
Thu Dec 28, 2023 7:18 pm
Forum: Trash
Topic: MoNintendo Tournament - 2024
Replies: 9
Views: 5303

Re: MoNintendo Tournament - 2024

Is there a rough distribution or anything of the sort? Not really. I tried to take a reasonably broad approach. I'm sure some of my own biases will show up in the final distribution compared to how others writers would approach this set. But I did make more of an effort than in some of my previous ...
by Mike Bentley
Tue Dec 26, 2023 2:43 pm
Forum: Trash
Topic: MoNintendo Online Mirror - Friday 1/26/24
Replies: 7
Views: 1345

MoNintendo Online Mirror - Friday 1/26/24

I'll be hosting an online mirror of MoNintendo (https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=27462) on Friday, January 26th starting at 7:30 PM EST. The tournament is 8 rounds of 20-tossup packets so hopefully shouldn't take more than about 3 hours to run. This will be a quads event unless there's ...
by Mike Bentley
Tue Dec 26, 2023 2:34 pm
Forum: Trash
Topic: MoNintendo Tournament - 2024
Replies: 9
Views: 5303

Re: MoNintendo Tournament - 2024

This tournament is now mostly finished. I'm posting a separate thread for an online mirror. Happy for anyone to do an in-person mirror but realistically with a set this niche I'd be surprised if those happen. I will probably not release the questions publicly for a while to see if I can drum up some...
by Mike Bentley
Sun Dec 10, 2023 7:03 pm
Forum: Trash
Topic: MoNintendo Tournament - 2024
Replies: 9
Views: 5303

Re: MoNintendo Tournament - 2024

I'm getting reasonably close to having 7 packets of this written. There's still a lot of editing and cutting to do but it likely won't be all that much in the future when I hold the online mirror of this set.
by Mike Bentley
Fri Nov 10, 2023 4:05 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: 2023 Festivus (12/23/23)
Replies: 18
Views: 8584

Re: 2023 Festivus (12/23/23)

If the list of packets gets long enough, I might advise everyone to write at most 20 tossups or ~160 lines of clue text, so that a large number of people can go within a reasonable timeframe. Longer-than-that experiences can tend to drag. I'd also re-up from a past event of this type -- try to be s...
by Mike Bentley
Sun Oct 22, 2023 6:34 pm
Forum: Trash
Topic: MoNintendo Tournament - 2024
Replies: 9
Views: 5303

MoNintendo Tournament - 2024

Inspired by Mike Cheyne's call for sets, I'm announcing MoNintendo, a set mostly on the NES and SNES eras. There will tentatively be 7 packets of 20 tossups. Each tossup will have at least 1 clue on an NES or SNES game or hardware (or, to be technical, Famicom or Super Famicom too). Many tossups wil...
by Mike Bentley
Sun Oct 22, 2023 5:16 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Which packets should get uploaded to the archive?
Replies: 13
Views: 6424

Re: Which packets should get uploaded to the archive?

(Posting in the correct thread this time.) I think I was the person who approved this set. In general, if I haven't heard of a set before, I take a very brief pass at the questions to see if this looks like a legitimate packet. I don't think it should be the job of the approver to go super in-depth ...
by Mike Bentley
Sun Oct 22, 2023 5:01 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: How To Avoid Running Out Of Question Ideas
Replies: 10
Views: 21648

Re: How To Avoid Running Out Of Question Ideas

Edit: One idea: A meta-question about the time I posted in the wrong thread.
by Mike Bentley
Sat Oct 14, 2023 2:22 pm
Forum: National Tournaments
Topic: 2024 PACE NSC: June 8-9, Reston, VA
Replies: 3
Views: 4550

Re: 2024 PACE NSC: June 8-9, Reston, VA

Hi, details on qualifying for the NSC can now be found on our website here: https://www.pace-nsc.org/2023-2024-nsc-qualification-guidelines/ For the 2024 NSC, we have simplified qualification. There is now just one tier of qualifiers (no more Platinum, Gold, Regular) that qualifies the top 20% of te...
by Mike Bentley
Mon Oct 09, 2023 11:46 am
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: SUDO
Replies: 19
Views: 8585

Re: SUDO

I forgot to fill out the poll but I wonder if at least moving this to Sunday would get more interest. There are some existing college / high school tournaments on this Saturday.
by Mike Bentley
Sun Oct 01, 2023 7:58 pm
Forum: Miscellaneous Quizbowl
Topic: New Quizbowl Podcast: Tossup 21
Replies: 37
Views: 24746

Re: New Quizbowl Podcast: Tossup 21

Thanks for running this. I learned a lot about people I've played many tournaments with but never had a chance to talk deeply about their past.
by Mike Bentley
Wed Sep 27, 2023 7:36 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: EMACS Online Mirror (October 1st)
Replies: 8
Views: 2496

Re: EMACS Online Mirror (October 1st)

When will the tournament start?
by Mike Bentley
Wed Sep 27, 2023 7:36 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: 2023 ILLIAC II Online Open Playtest Mirror (October 7, 2023)
Replies: 4
Views: 2707

Re: 2023 ILLIAC II Online Open Playtest Mirror (October 7, 2023)

Looking for a fourth for this, especially if you're able to answer science questions.
by Mike Bentley
Sun Sep 10, 2023 5:59 pm
Forum: Practices, Scrimmages, Online Packets, and Playtesting
Topic: ARCHIVE Discord Reading - Starting 9/1
Replies: 3
Views: 3461

Re: ARCHIVE Discord Reading - Starting 9/1

Plan on reading the last batch of these at 9:30 Eastern tonight.
by Mike Bentley
Mon Sep 04, 2023 6:55 pm
Forum: Practices, Scrimmages, Online Packets, and Playtesting
Topic: ARCHIVE Discord Reading - Starting 9/1
Replies: 3
Views: 3461

Re: ARCHIVE Discord Reading - Starting 9/1

Tentatively going to read a few more packets around 9:45 Eastern tonight.
by Mike Bentley
Sat Sep 02, 2023 10:37 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: Seattle Open - NASAT Mirror - 9/2/23
Replies: 5
Views: 2093

Re: Seattle Open - NASAT Mirror - 9/2/23

Congrats to UW B for going undefeated. Stats are here: https://hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/8323/

Thanks to Sally and Isaac for staffing, and for everyone for bearing with us as we had to find new rooms and deal with the surprise (to me) football game.
by Mike Bentley
Fri Sep 01, 2023 1:20 pm
Forum: Practices, Scrimmages, Online Packets, and Playtesting
Topic: ARCHIVE Discord Reading - Starting 9/1
Replies: 3
Views: 3461

Re: ARCHIVE Discord Reading - Starting 9/1

Reminder this will happen tonight at around 7 PM Eastern. Look on the Discord for any updates if it needs to start a little later due to slow getting back from some stuff I'm doing today.
by Mike Bentley
Thu Aug 24, 2023 12:57 pm
Forum: Practices, Scrimmages, Online Packets, and Playtesting
Topic: ARCHIVE Discord Reading - Starting 9/1
Replies: 3
Views: 3461

ARCHIVE Discord Reading - Starting 9/1

I'm going to read at least some of ARCHIVE in #packets on the main Discord server on Friday, September 1st starting at 7 PM Eastern. Probably won't finish all of it. May have another session on Monday, September 4th at some TBA time.
by Mike Bentley
Wed Aug 23, 2023 11:30 am
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: Seattle Open - NASAT Mirror - 9/2/23
Replies: 5
Views: 2093

Re: Seattle Open - NASAT Mirror - 9/2/23

We've had enough sign ups that I can say with pretty high confidence the tournament will take place. Looking like we'll have 4 teams for a triple round robin but if you're interested in playing and aren't on the sign-up sheet yet, please let me know soon.
by Mike Bentley
Thu Aug 17, 2023 7:12 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: Seattle Open - NASAT Mirror - 9/2/23
Replies: 5
Views: 2093

Re: Seattle Open - NASAT Mirror - 9/2/23

This was announced very late -- while Seattle is very cool and I might one day consider planning a trip there that involves playing a tournament, there's no way I could have done so with less than four weeks' notice. I imagine I'm not the only one who feels similarly. If you (general audience you) ...
by Mike Bentley
Thu Aug 17, 2023 2:16 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: Seattle Open - NASAT Mirror - 9/2/23
Replies: 5
Views: 2093

Re: Seattle Open - NASAT Mirror - 9/2/23

If you're interested in playing and haven't put your name / team down on the sign-up sheet above, please do so. Field is looking very sparse right now and may need to cancel if we don't get enough interest by next week. Hope that's not the case, though.
by Mike Bentley
Tue Aug 08, 2023 3:38 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” Online (September 03, 2023)
Replies: 8
Views: 2978

Re: “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” Online (September 03, 2023)

Yeah sorry about that. If there are a bunch of people who suddenly can't make it, I'll understand. But hopefully now as many people as possible can play. I'm looking forward to it.
by Mike Bentley
Mon Aug 07, 2023 4:19 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: Seattle Open - NASAT Mirror - 9/2/23
Replies: 5
Views: 2093

Seattle Open - NASAT Mirror - 9/2/23

Hi, I'll be organizing an open mirror of NASAT at the University of Washington on Saturday, September 2nd. This is Labor Day weekend. This is usually amongst the best times to visit Seattle. You should consider an out-of-town trip to play this and maybe see the Bumbershoot music festival on Sunday. ...
by Mike Bentley
Thu Aug 03, 2023 11:17 am
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: Chicago Open 2023 (August 5 at Northwestern)
Replies: 44
Views: 25811

Re: Chicago Open 2023 (August 5 at Northwestern)

Given that seeding is hard and the people playing are usually the ones who care the most about the seeding, my preference for most tournaments has always been to do an initial seeding and then having an appeals process where teams can at least make their case about why brackets are imbalanced. You d...
by Mike Bentley
Mon Jul 17, 2023 11:51 pm
Forum: Trash
Topic: CULEX [7/23/23, online]
Replies: 12
Views: 6110

Re: CULEX [7/23/23, online]

By the way, when is this tournament starting?
by Mike Bentley
Mon Jul 17, 2023 8:05 pm
Forum: Trash
Topic: CULEX [7/23/23, online]
Replies: 12
Views: 6110

Re: CULEX [7/23/23, online]

Oh no, is playing this tournament going to be like playing an actual JRPG? What am I getting myself into?
by Mike Bentley
Tue Jul 11, 2023 12:27 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: COLONIAL- A History Side Event
Replies: 5
Views: 2446

Re: COLONIAL- A History Side Event

Are you going to run a separate online mirror? That affects whether I'd play test or not.
by Mike Bentley
Mon Jun 26, 2023 11:53 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: How should we approach async writing and scoring?
Replies: 3
Views: 4025

How should we approach async writing and scoring?

Moving this from a discussion in the Geoword thread to its own topic. As asynchronous quizbowl (e.g. Buzzword and Geoword) becomes more common, it's worth thinking about what makes these formats different than regular, team-based quizbowl. A few factors stand out: 1. Everyone is playing every questi...
by Mike Bentley
Sat Jun 24, 2023 6:46 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: ARCHIVE - Online Mirror - 6/24/23
Replies: 13
Views: 4685

Re: ARCHIVE - Online Mirror - 6/24/23

Congratulations to Gasoline Tax Protective League (Taylor Harvey, Emmett Laurie, Ryan Rosenberg, Kenji Shimizu) for winning in the first game of an advantaged final. Stats are here: https://hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/8238/ Thanks to everyone who played and staffed. This set will be open to more m...
by Mike Bentley
Wed Jun 21, 2023 12:22 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: ARCHIVE - Online Mirror - 6/24/23
Replies: 13
Views: 4685

Re: ARCHIVE - Online Mirror - 6/24/23

I've sent out a logistics mail to teams and am capping the field at 8 teams.
by Mike Bentley
Mon Jun 19, 2023 7:19 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Should ACF tossups be shorter?
Replies: 30
Views: 12507

Re: Should ACF tossups be shorter?

In general, I think quizbowl would play pretty similar if tossups are shorter. We already see this in ICT finishing places being reasonably similar to those of ACF Nationals. As a writer and editor, I do enjoy having more space to work. I personally find it harder and more work to craft something li...
by Mike Bentley
Mon Jun 19, 2023 6:31 pm
Forum: Miscellaneous Quizbowl
Topic: Geoword
Replies: 29
Views: 11334

Re: Geoword

Cool to see this start up. After having played the D1 sample, I do wonder if you all want to tone down the difficulty a little bit. For a format where you're asking people to individually answer all questions, it's going to feel harder than playing as a team. And even as written, it looks like the ...
by Mike Bentley
Mon Jun 19, 2023 4:42 pm
Forum: Miscellaneous Quizbowl
Topic: Geoword
Replies: 29
Views: 11334

Re: Geoword

Cool to see this start up. After having played the D1 sample, I do wonder if you all want to tone down the difficulty a little bit. For a format where you're asking people to individually answer all questions, it's going to feel harder than playing as a team. And even as written, it looks like the t...
by Mike Bentley
Fri Jun 16, 2023 2:42 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Reworking the History Distribution
Replies: 13
Views: 6911

Re: Reworking the History Distribution

I obviously have no stake in the broader dispute in this thread over history distributions, but I do feel a need as a history graduate student in the United States to bring up some structural factors within university history education in the United States that are relevant to points made here. Fir...
by Mike Bentley
Fri Jun 16, 2023 12:23 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: ARCHIVE - Online Mirror - 6/24/23
Replies: 13
Views: 4685

Re: ARCHIVE - Online Mirror - 6/24/23

It's likely there will be an 11th packet for a finals if needed.

Still lots of room for people to sign up. And could use some more staffers (you'll get $50 for your trouble).
by Mike Bentley
Mon Jun 12, 2023 6:13 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: ARCHIVE - Online Mirror - 6/24/23
Replies: 13
Views: 4685

Re: ARCHIVE - Online Mirror - 6/24/23

Reminder that this tournament is taking place in 2 weeks. Would be great to get at least 8 teams signed up.

In talking with people, I think I maybe oversold how old the set will feel. There should be plenty of fresher clues and answers too.
by Mike Bentley
Tue May 30, 2023 8:33 am
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: ARCHIVE - Online Mirror - 6/24/23
Replies: 13
Views: 4685

Re: ARCHIVE - Online Mirror - 6/24/23

This tournament will take place on June 24th.