[READ THREAD FOR INFO ON POSTPONEMENT] VCU Spring Tournament - 3/28/20 (Richmond, VA) (Reinstein Set)

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Matt Weiner
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[READ THREAD FOR INFO ON POSTPONEMENT] VCU Spring Tournament - 3/28/20 (Richmond, VA) (Reinstein Set)

Post by Matt Weiner »

**As of 3/11/20 we have decided not to host this tournament on the VCU campus on 3/28 in light of the covid-19 outbreak and related restrictions put in place by the university. An email was sent to all registered teams exploring the possibility of moving this to an online event, and we will announce our plans in that regard as soon as possible. If you are still interested in playing this tournament, then please register as indicated below and include in your e-mail an expression of interest in playing it as an online tournament.**

3/13/20: Due to low interest in hosting this tournament online we will not be doing so. The event is postponed/cancelled.




This is the general announcement for the 2020 Virginia Commonwealth University Spring Tournament, which is a high school academic quizbowl tournament, to be hosted at VCU in Richmond, Virginia, on Saturday, March 28, 2020 from 8:00 AM to about 5:00 PM. Registration will run from 8:00 AM to 8:30 AM, so teams should arrive before 8:30 AM. Rounds are expected to conclude before 5:00 PM for teams not involved in the finals.

Location, directions & parking:
The tournament will most likely 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.

The opening meeting will likely occur in Harris 101. Definite information about the tournament's location on the VCU campus will be posted once it is available.

Questions:
This tournament will be using the "Reinstein" question set described here. Teams that have played Reinstein or its variants at other tournaments are not eligible. All other teams representing a single high school (public, private, homeschool collective, etc.) are eligible. The set will be modified by the VCU team to replace math calculation questions with additional content from other categories.

Affiliation:
This tournament has been certified by the Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence as a platinum qualifier for the 2020 National Scholastics Championship, which will occur on June 6th through 7th in the Chicago, IL area. Please note that based on the date of our event, it is possible that NSC will have a full field by the time this tournament produces qualifiers.

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, broken into three questions each worth 10 points. There will be no math calculation tossups. 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.

Registration & fees:
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.
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. Volunteer staffers must stay through all the games (excepting 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.

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.

To register for this tournament, please contact [email protected] with all of the following information: Your school name, the number of teams you plan to bring, the number of buzzer sets you plan to bring, the number of staffers you plan to bring, whether you are eligible for the travel discount, the best e-mail contact for your teams if it is not the same as the address sending the registration, and the best day-of-tournament phone contact for your teams.

Once you have submitted the e-mail, there is no further action needed on your part in order to be officially registered. There will be periodic updates in this thread and by e-mail indicating who has 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 can also accept payment on Venmo via your Venmo account, or via a credit or debit card through a Square reader [details provided on-site]. We do not accept any other payment service or methods at this time (no Paypal, Bitcoin, purchase orders, etc.) and failure to bring one of the listed forms of payment will subject you to the $25 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 February 28, so that we can send you the paperwork in time. If you do not let us know about this requirement by February 28, 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 16 teams and we hope to expand the field once additional staffers are secured. 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, which will be at some time after 12 PM.

Please post here or contact us at the email above if you have any further questions.

Field (3/11/20):

Atlee - 1+
Clover Hill - 1+
Cosby - 2
James River - 1+
Jamestown - 1
Kettle Run - 1
Maggie Walker - 1
NKA Homeschool - 2
Norfolk Academic Guild - 3
"Tony Stark" - 1

**As of 3/11/20 we have decided not to host this tournament on the VCU campus on 3/28 in light of the covid-19 outbreak and related restrictions put in place by the university. An email was sent to all registered teams exploring the possibility of moving this to an online event, and we will announce our plans in that regard as soon as possible. If you are still interested in playing this tournament, then please register as indicated above and include in your e-mail an expression of interest in playing it as an online tournament.**

3/13/20: Due to low interest in hosting this tournament online we will not be doing so. The event is postponed/cancelled.
Matt Weiner
Advisor to Quizbowl at Virginia Commonwealth University / Founder of hsquizbowl.org
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