Weekend of Quizbowl II (3/14 + 3/15/09, Fairfax, VA)

Matt Weiner · Post by **Matt Weiner** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 1:30 am

On behalf of PACE and my co-tournament-director Dave Bykowski, I am announcing that Weekend of Quizbowl II will take place this spring at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. The main tournaments will occur during the day on Saturday, March 14, and Sunday, March 15. There will be side events on the evening of Friday the 13th and on the evening of Saturday the 14th following the first tournament; please see viewtopic.php?p=115872#p115872 for more information.

WOQ is now entirely a production of PACE and is no longer affiliated with DACQ. We're going to improve upon some of the issues that came up from the DACQ-run event last year while still honoring the promise to give a discount to teams affected by the DACQ question timeline issues.

List of registered teams: viewtopic.php?p=114392#p114392

Main events:

The Saturday tournament will use a reduced-length PACE NSC-format set that is being written expressly for WOQ by a team of experienced writers under the guidance of PACE member Trygve Meade. The PACE NSC rules will be in effect (notably, bouncebacks will be used on all bonus parts). The match length will be 22 tossups, divided into phases of 8, 6, and 8.

The Sunday tournament will use the Minnesota Undergraduate Tournament set. This will be an ACF-format (20 tossups with 30-point bonuses, no bouncebacks, no frills) set written by the teams participating in a collegiate tournament at Minnesota.

Both events will be roughly similar in difficulty to the PACE NSC and NAQT HSNCT, or slightly easier.

Both the Saturday and Sunday events will begin registration at 8:00 AM and the team meeting at 8:30 AM, with Round 1 beginning no later than 9:00 AM. The specific buildings being used and the parking info are at viewtopic.php?p=122460#p122460. The planned time for starting the finals of the Sunday event is 4:00 PM. As insurance for those who need to plan air travel on Sunday night, we are instituting a drop-dead time of 5:30 PM. If the Sunday tournament runs late then, at 5:30 PM, all gameplay will end and any team who is still mathematically in contention for the title will be declared the co-champion.

Needless to say, we are also working on recruiting top-notch staffers and implementing other tournament procedures that will prevent either tournament from having delays or a late ending time like last year.

All teams are guaranteed at least 9 meaningful games on both days no matter what happens, and we hope that the final field size allows us to offer as many as 12 games to all teams. We will use either bracketed or power-matched playoffs to determine the tournament champions; single- and double- elimination will not be used. Once it becomes clear how many teams plan to attend, we will have more specific information about the tournament formats.

Side events:

Please see viewtopic.php?p=115872#p115872 for information on side events.

Fees:

$80 base fee per team per event
$5 discount per buzzer per school per event (no limit)
$5 discount per laptop per school per event (max 2 per school)
$20 discount on Sunday for any team that also played on Saturday
$20 discount per event for any school affected by DACQ
$10 discount per school per event for providing a scorekeeper (no limit)*

*this can be a parent, a coach, or a student who is not playing. basically, anyone who is affiliated with the team and can write numbers on a piece of paper can show up and enable the team to claim this discount.

Fees must be paid by cash or check made out to Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence. We request that all teams please pay on site, on the morning of the Saturday tournament; with the exception that teams participating only in the Sunday tournament may pay on Sunday morning. Schools who do not pay before the end of the weekend will be subject to a $25 penalty and must mail their checks in within a week. Anyone who needs an invoice ahead of time should contact Matt Weiner at [email protected] as soon as possible in order to make sure your check is ready by March 14. For teams not requesting invoices in advance, we will provide invoices/receipts during tournament registration.

Field composition

In order to help achieve the desired "national" character of the field, the following procedures will apply to registration priority. They will be the same for both tournaments. It's entirely allowable to play on one day or not the other, or to bring a different number of teams to the two tournaments; just let me know your plans when you register.

*The total cap on field size is 48 teams.
*Until February 1, 24 spots will be reserved for A teams representing schools in DC, Maryland, and Virginia, and 24 spots will be reserved for A teams representing schools from other states. Any B or further teams, or any teams beyond the 24 for each half of the geographic setup, will be waitlisted in the order of registration.
*After February 1, each side of the field will be allowed to add B teams up to its 24-team allotment. Teams who were waitlisted will have first priority.
*After February 21, all teams regardless of depth or location will be allowed to join the field up to the 48-team maximum. Teams who were waitlisted will have first priority.

Rather than running a designated Division II, each tournament will instead run a format that steers teams into brackets against teams of similar skill for the afternoon games.

To register:

To register for the tournaments, e-mail Matt Weiner at [email protected], ideally with "WOQ registration" in the subject of your e-mail. Please let me know how many teams and buzzers you plan to bring to each event--if you just register "2 teams for WOQ" I will assume this means 2 teams for Saturday and 2 teams for Sunday; thus, please be very clear in your e-mail if you only plan to attend on one day, or if you plan to bring a different number of teams on each day.

Registration is open as of right now and will be tracked in this thread.

We hope to show that the WOQ concept can be a very valuable experience for high school teams this year, and we're excited about bringing this event under the PACE aegis. Please contact [email protected] or post in this thread if you have any questions about WOQ II.

--Matt Weiner and Dave Bykowski, tournament directors, Weekend of Quizbowl II

First Chairman · Post by **First Chairman** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 2:12 am

Host information

I have not yet secured a group reservation for the Weekend of Quizbowl, but this is the list of nearby hotels in case you are interested. Unfortunately the closest hotel is about 2 miles away (until we build that conference center hotel in a few years). You may want to ask if there is a preset discount with George Mason University at the hotels where you are planning to book. Free internet should be available at the Hampton Inn and Comfort Inn (which we used for PACE NSC and WOQ I last year).

While there is city bus service to GMU Fairfax, I would suggest that people take cars or carpool in. If you are flying, the closest airport is Dulles (IAD) followed by Reagan Washington National (DCA). Washington DC Metro stop that is closest to campus is Vienna/Fairfax/GMU, but it will still be a bit of a distance from there. There is garage parking, at a rate of $12 for the entire day, but since this is a weekend when school is not in session, outdoor lot parking should be free. More information forthcoming.

Please let me know if you have any host-related questions.

Emil T. Chuck, Ph.D.
Tournament Host, PACE WOQ II and PACE NSC 2009

at your pleasure · Post by **at your pleasure** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 10:09 pm

Will there be a separate announcement for the singles/doubles events? If so, when will it be posted?

Ike · Post by **Ike** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 10:53 pm

I will be posting all the information on my Lit tournament shortly, once I get the date nailed down.

Blackboard Monitor Vimes · Thu Jan 08, 2009 11:47 pm

Ike wrote:I will be posting all the information on my Lit tournament shortly, once I get the date nailed down.

Hey, Ike, are you leaning towards any date in particular? Saturday night would allow people who can't get there Friday (like us) to play.

Ike · Post by **Ike** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 12:37 am

Its depending on the occurrence of the other side event. If there is another side event, then this will be on Friday night. If there is not another side event, then this will be on Saturday night.

Blackboard Monitor Vimes · Fri Jan 09, 2009 12:42 am

Ike wrote:Its depending on the occurrence of the other side event. If there is another side event, then this will be on Friday night. If there is not another side event, then this will be on Saturday night.

Thanks for the clarification, Ike.

btressler · Post by **btressler** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 11:58 am

Please add Charter A to the field and Charter B and C to the waitlist.

Thanks.

Matt Weiner · Post by **Matt Weiner** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 8:04 pm

Registration tracking (updated 3/13):

SATURDAY FIELD

(19 teams)

Blake (MD)
Brookwood (GA)
Centennial (MD)
Charter (DE)
Chattahoochee (GA)
Churchill (MD)
Dorman (SC)
Georgetown Day A (DC)
Georgetown Day B (DC)
Hunter (NY)
Ike (OH)
Maggie Walker (VA)
Robinson (VA)
State College (PA)
Thomas Jefferson A (VA)
Thomas Jefferson B (VA)
Thomas Jefferson C (VA)
Walter Johnson (MD)
Whitman (MD)

SUNDAY FIELD

(14 teams)

Brookwood (GA)
Centennial (MD)
Chattahoochee (GA)
Dorman (SC)
Georgetown Day (DC)
Hunter (NY)
Ike (OH)
James Monroe (VA)
Maggie Walker (VA)
Thomas Jefferson A (VA)
Thomas Jefferson B (VA)
Thomas Jefferson C (VA)
Walter Johnson (MD)
Whitman (MD)

SATURDAY NIGHT SINGLES TOURNAMENT FIELD

Sarah Angelo
Wes Austin
Tommy Casalaspi
Lily Chen
York Chen
Andy Devlin
Ian Eppler
Isaac Hirsch
Matt Jackson
Ike Jose
Connie Prater
Arvind Sekar
Harriera Siddiq
Guy Tabachnick
Naren Tallapragada
Vamsi Tata
Greg Tito
Daichi Ueda
Max Wallace
Harry White
Seoup Youn

Matt Weiner · Post by **Matt Weiner** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:14 pm

We now have final information on the side events to Weekend of Quizbowl.

Ike Jose's literature singles will run on Friday night, the 13th, starting at 6 PM. He will post an announcement with fee & structure information shortly.

On Saturday night, beginning after the conclusion of the Saturday tournament and a dinner break (target time: 7 PM), there will be another tossups-only singles tournament. This tournament will use tossups, of a normal subject distribution, that first appeared in the HSAPQ fall four-quarter set. The cost will be $10 per person. As there are 450 tossups available, there should be more than enough to play seeding rounds and then group players into brackets based on their ability level; the tossups will also be accessible enough for players who are not the "stars" of their teams to have competitive games on. The exact format depends on how many players register, but I would hope to offer everyone the chance to play at least 300 of the tossups, in games of between two and six players.

Please wait for Ike's announcement of the literature tournament and follow his instructions on registering for that event. To register for the Saturday event, e-mail me ([email protected]) and tell me the names of all players who you are registering. I will track the list of entrants in the Saturday singles in this post.

aestheteboy · Post by **aestheteboy** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:51 pm

Matt Weiner wrote:On Saturday night, beginning after the conclusion of the Saturday tournament and a dinner break (target time: 7 PM), there will be another tossups-only singles tournament. This tournament will use tossups, of a normal subject distribution, that first appeared in the HSAPQ fall four-quarter set.

I'm excited to hear that there is going to be a non-subject singles event. It must be the first time at high school level since there was one during summer four or five years ago.
Are the tossups from the four-quarters set different in style and length than the tossups in ACF and NSC sets?

Matt Weiner · Post by **Matt Weiner** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:53 pm

aestheteboy wrote:Are the tossups from the four-quarters set different in style and length than the tossups in ACF and NSC sets?

They are not.

Matt Weiner · Post by **Matt Weiner** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 11:46 pm

All B teams on the waitlist have been added to the field; schools may now register A and B teams without waitlisting. After February 21, C and further teams will be moved into the field, and the geographic restrictions will be dropped.

Blackboard Monitor Vimes · Sun Feb 08, 2009 11:49 pm

Matt, please note that it is highly unlikely that we will actually field a B team for this...we'll know for certain when it gets closer, but it's really unlikely.

Ike · Post by **Ike** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 1:08 am

After reading the Illinois tournament is postponed, what will the Sunday event be?

Matt Weiner · Post by **Matt Weiner** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 5:06 pm

Ike wrote:After reading the Illinois tournament is postponed, what will the Sunday event be?

The Sunday event will now use the Minnesota Undergraduate Tournament questions. I will revise the first post accordingly.

Matt Weiner · Post by **Matt Weiner** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 5:58 am

Hey, we've now passed February 21 which means that WOQ tournament registration is now open to any high school team whatsoever, up to the 48-team field cap. I have, accordingly, added the C teams from the waitlists into the field.

In order to make sure that we don't recruit too few staffers (bad for obvious reasons) or too many staffers (bad because we're subsidizing staff travel and don't want to lose money on the tournament), it would be really helpful if anyone who is wavering about whether to go to WOQ makes a firm decision and tells me about it by this coming weekend (February 28). Even if all you can tell me is "we want to go but we haven't gotten approval from our administration yet," that's still very helpful. Unless you hear otherwise, you may still register for these tournaments at any time up until the Thursday immediately before the event, but it would be a much-appreciated favor if everyone could clear up their status far earlier than that. Thanks for your cooperation on this.

I will post some information about tournament formats next week, based on what I hope, in accordance with the above, is a semi-final picture of how large the fields will be.

flylikeaneagle · Post by **flylikeaneagle** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 9:57 am

Hi,
As of today (March 1) we can probably send one team from Centennial HS (MD). We're not sure if it will be the same people both days. Will this be a problem?
Anupama Badami

Matt Weiner · Post by **Matt Weiner** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 2:09 pm

flylikeaneagle wrote:Hi,
As of today (March 1) we can probably send one team from Centennial HS (MD). We're not sure if it will be the same people both days. Will this be a problem?
Anupama Badami

It won't be a problem. I'll add you to the list.

TheKingInYellow · Post by **TheKingInYellow** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 8:15 pm

State College can bring a team to Saturday's event, as well as a buzzer and probably a scorekeeper

EDIT: And how long is the Saturday Singles tournament expected to run?

Matt Weiner · Post by **Matt Weiner** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 9:07 pm

TheKingInYelliow wrote:And how long is the Saturday Singles tournament expected to run?

I imagine that extending any sort of high school event past 10 PM would be unwise, so no later than that. Exact information will be created once the field size is final (certainly more than 3 people want to play this?; I'm assuming people are just dragging their feet on registering.)

flylikeaneagle · Post by **flylikeaneagle** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 8:37 pm

What does "any school affected by DACQ" mean?

Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) · Mon Mar 02, 2009 8:42 pm

I believe any school that didn't receive the DACQ questions they paid for in a properly timely manner.

Post by **DumbJaques** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 2:04 am

What does "any school affected by DACQ" mean?

Schools which ordered DACQ questions and subsequently suffered my horrible judgment and failure to provide said questions in a timely manner (that is, all of those schools) receive a discount at this event. Centennial was not affected.

flylikeaneagle · Post by **flylikeaneagle** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 9:02 pm

*CORRECTION*
Centennial can ONLY come on Sunday. Sorry about that.

TheKingInYellow · Post by **TheKingInYellow** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 8:42 pm

Do you need an official email from SC? Or are we good as is?

Matt Weiner · Post by **Matt Weiner** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 9:07 pm

TheKingInYelliow wrote:Do you need an official email from SC? Or are we good as is?

You're set. Let me know who is playing singles, though.

Matt Weiner · Post by **Matt Weiner** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:53 pm

Here is some information that teams might find useful for next weekend's tournament.

MAPS & PARKING:

The GMU Fairfax campus map is at http://eagle.gmu.edu/map/fairfax.php. A version with the buildings that are involved in Weekend of Quizbowl circled is at http://www.hsquizbowl.org/woq.jpg.

For all events, parking is available at the Mason Pond parking garage, as indicated on the map. This costs $10 per day. Free parking at surface lots J or K is also likely to be available after 5 PM on Friday.

TOURNAMENT LOCATIONS:

For the Friday lit singles, meet in Enterprise Hall, room 80. All games will be held in Enterprise. Meet at 6 PM as described in Ike's thread. See viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7129 for further information.

For both the Saturday and Sunday tournaments, please meet in Innovation Hall 103. Registration, roster and buzzer collection, and the team meeting will all occur there.
*Registration will begin at 8:00 and the meeting will begin at 8:30. Round 1 will begin as soon as the meeting is over. If everyone arrives on time, we can be into Round 1 by 8:45. Forfeiture or starting the game with only 1 team present may occur if you do not show up by 8:45, so please be on time. This applies to both tournaments.

Following registration and the meeting in Innovation Hall 103, all games on Saturday and Sunday will be held in the A and B wings of Robinson Hall.

After the Saturday dinner break, all participants in the Saturday night singles tournament should come to Innovation Hall 103 for registration and distribution of schedules. Games will be held in Robinson A and B. This tournament is currently scheduled to run from 7 to 10 PM, but may start earlier depending on the end time of the main Saturday event.

REGISTRATION REMINDER:

Information about payment at viewtopic.php?p=114096#p114096 is still valid. Checks should be made out to Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence. If you need an invoice in advance and have not yet contacted me or Evan Nagler, please do so at your convenience and we will send you a digital copy. Everyone else will be given a paper receipt on-site.

If you are changing the number of teams you have registered for either day of the tournament, let me know as soon as possible. We would like to get the field finalized quickly so that we can develop tournament formats.

Also, I only have nine people registered for the Saturday night singles tournament right now. I'm sure more people want to play, so let me know if you have team members planning on doing this.

QUESTION DISTRIBUTION:

The questions will not be available for paper distribution on-site; all question sets used over the weekend will be posted on the Web for free once all tournaments using them have been completed.

If you have any questions that are unanswered by the message board thread or this e-mail, just let me know at [email protected]. I'll see everybody at GMU next weekend for some excellent tournaments.

Whiter Hydra · Post by **Whiter Hydra** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 2:21 pm

I'm interested in doing the Saturday night event, and I'll see if I can get some fellow TJers to come as well.

Matt Weiner · Post by **Matt Weiner** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 3:08 pm

Please note that the location of registration and the opening meeting for all Saturday and Sunday tournaments has been moved to Innovation Hall 103. The Lecture Hall will no longer be used for these events.

Adventure Temple Trail · Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:20 pm

I'm in for Singles.

TheKingInYellow · Post by **TheKingInYellow** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 6:59 pm

Sadly, singles won't work for State College

intothenegs · Post by **intothenegs** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 8:27 pm

Will there powers for the Sunday MUT mirror?

Matt Weiner · Post by **Matt Weiner** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 8:42 pm

intothenegs wrote:Will there powers for the Sunday MUT mirror?

I'll leave this up to the majority preference of teams, probably by taking a show of hands at the Sunday morning meeting.

naturalistic phallacy · Sat Mar 07, 2009 9:20 pm

Matt Weiner wrote:
intothenegs wrote:Will there powers for the Sunday MUT mirror?
I'll leave this up to the majority preference of teams, probably by taking a show of hands at the Sunday morning meeting.

There are indeed powers in the packets.

Whiter Hydra · Post by **Whiter Hydra** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 8:47 pm

Also, Seoup Youn will be participating in the Saturday Night event.

Matt Weiner · Post by **Matt Weiner** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 9:47 pm

Due to the need to plan and copy schedules, registration for the Saturday and Sunday main tournaments and the Saturday night singles will all be closed at 5 PM on Thursday. Those who attempt to register after this time may be excluded, or charged an additional fee to offset the expense of reprinting tournament schedules. So, if you're thinking of attending any of these events, please finalize your plans within the next two days.

Sir Thopas · Post by **Sir Thopas** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 10:24 pm

Sign me up for Saturday night I guess.

lchen · Post by **lchen** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:35 pm

I'd like to play Saturday night singles.

Rompimientos del Centauro · Wed Mar 11, 2009 9:41 pm

I would like to be signed up for the Saturday night singles.

Salt Lake Dream · Post by **Salt Lake Dream** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 4:40 pm

I would like to play on Saturday night.

Nine-Tenths Ideas · Post by **Nine-Tenths Ideas** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 6:23 pm

Sign me up for Singles.

Matt Weiner · Post by **Matt Weiner** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 8:21 pm

Oh, also, since we have 19 teams for Saturday I will be asking for alternates on Saturday morning to form a coalition 20th team and avoid byes. Anyone currently in high school is eligible and this team will not be charged a fee. The opportunity to play on said team is completely NOT guaranteed, in the event that someone else adds or drops before Saturday morning, so show up for this at your own risk.

Salt Lake Dream · Post by **Salt Lake Dream** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 1:11 am

Unfortunately, due to a family event I did not know about, I cannot make it for Saturday night's singles.

Matt Weiner · Post by **Matt Weiner** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 10:25 am

Saturday tournament is into Round 2; start was delayed a bit until all teams showed up. Stats will be posted at completion of every few rounds.

Matt Weiner · Post by **Matt Weiner** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 12:55 pm

Round 5 is finishing and lunch is beginning. Stats are being caught up on. Here it is through round 2: http://results.scobo.net/SQBS.aspx?org= ... =standings

AKKOLADE · Post by **AKKOLADE** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 1:13 pm

Holy crap I forgot how stacked this tournament is.

Edit: Dorman 0-2

They've played Walter Johnson and Charter, but still, I don't know if you'll ever see that again.

Down and out in Quintana Roo · Sat Mar 14, 2009 1:47 pm

Dorman and Blake and Churchill and Robinson and TJ A all 0-2... crazy.

I halfway wish we could have made - and halfway am happy that we couldn't make - this tournament.

Matt Weiner · Post by **Matt Weiner** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 2:18 pm

Stats at http://results.scobo.net/SQBS.aspx?org= ... =standings are now updated through round 6. Four teams did not play in Round 4 due to a packet read out of order in round 3.

Down and out in Quintana Roo · Sat Mar 14, 2009 3:23 pm

Why were TJ C and GDS B put in the same bracket? I really feel for Robinson, who's a real good team but might be seeing a 1-8 or 0-9 record here...