TrashMasters (12/1/07) at UT-Chattanooga

[Your Genial Quizmaster]

The *fifteenth* annual TrashMasters trash tournament will be held on Sat., Dec. 1, 2007, at UT-Chattanooga in scenic Chattanooga, Tennessee. TrashMasters is the nation's first and longest-running trash tournament. Based on last year’s success, we are again making TrashMasters a one-day trash tournament.

However, for those who plan to spend the night, we will also have the second installment of John Kilby’s Aural Pleasure, a free-form audio tournament, on Sunday morning 12/2/2007. So you can set your travel plans, we will be sure it ends by 12:30 PM. For TrashMasters participants (players or officials), Aural Pleasure will be free of charge; for anyone else there’s a nominal $5 fee per person.

TIME & PLACE: Tournament HQ will be 129 Grote Hall on the UTC campus. We'll open registration at 9:00 AM EST on Sat. 12/1/07. At 10 AM we will begin the day with the preliminary round of K-Tel Hell (see below) and start play as soon thereafter as possible, certainly by 10:30. I can't really say how long the tournament will last till I know the size of the field, but I wouldn't expect to finish early. With that in mind, we intend to take our lunch break later in the day than usual, somewhere around 2:00.

ELIGIBILITY: This tournament is open to anyone regardless of current or former academic affiliation, or lack thereof. assuming they fulfill three basic tasks:

1) Let me know you're coming
2) Pay fees (typically on tournament day, but advance payment is OK)
3) Either submit a packet by Sun. 11/18, OR tell me in advance that you plan to attend but won’t be submitting one

If you want to make yourself available as a free agent to join a team -- or if you have a partial team in need of free agent help -- let me know and I'll figure something out.

PRE-REGISTRATION: You don't have to pay or submit a roster till you get there, but you MUST let me know by Tuesday night 11/27/07 if you're attending as a team. After that time I can't guarantee that I can accept additional teams.

FORMAT: 20 questions per round, untimed. Packet submission is expected unless other arrangements are made in advance (see guidelines and timetables below.) Teams will be four players each, with alternates OK as long as there are no substitutions in mid- match. Depending on the number of teams, the format will be round robin or bracketed round robin. This of course means I need to know the number of teams in advance. So if you're coming, TELL ME!!! Again, getting me your clever team names in advance will also help.

K-TEL HELL: As usual, we will have a musical interlude for your competitive pleasure. This year the torch is being passed to John Kilby, the newly appointed Deputy Dark Lord of K-Tel Hell. We will begin the day with a preliminary round where all can compete, filling in an answer sheet. Top scorers from the prelims will then face off via buzzer in the finals.

FEES: We’re working backwards this year. Fees assume you DON’T submit a packet, but get waaay lower if you do:
Base fee: $130
Minimum fee after discounts: $0
Discounts: -$10 if you provide an experienced full-time official
- $5 if you provide a buzzer
-$55 if you submit a usable packet of 25 tossups and 25 bonuses, blind to all other teams and meeting the guidelines below, submitted electronically (preferably in MS Word) by midnight Sun., Nov. 4
- $40 if you submit a usable packet after Sun. 11/4 but before midnight Sun. 11/11
- $25 if you submit a usable packet after Sun. 11/11 but before midnight Sun. 11/18
- $5 if you make the packet 30/30 (to help fight the dreaded duplication disease)
- $20 for each full academic round for UTC’s future use, submitted electronically by Fri. 11/30. We are primarily seeking questions suitable for high school and/or “junior birdâ€

[Kilby]

A semi-update on Aural Pleasure (Sunday's audio game)...

The plan is to incorporate visuals into the game this year (I guess I'll have to change the name now). It was recently brought to my attention the possibility of someone with a visual impairment showing up expecting to play an all-audio game. Due to this, I need to know ASAP if this is an issue for anyone. If you would have a problem seeing images projected on a large screen (you won't have to read anything), please contact me immediately.

Also, Mike Burger has kindly agreed to run a 1 Vs. 100 half-time game while the preliminary round results are graded.

[Your Genial Quizmaster]

(I came to add a stats link to the original results post... what original results post? I've got to cut down on my aluminum intake...)

Congratulations to The Rural Gerbil, winners of TrashMasters 2007. The Rural Gerbil defeated Charlie Steinhice: Loves Fish Tacos 340-250 in the finals. Full results and stats can be found at:

http://results.scobo.net/SQBS.aspx?org= ... =standings

Thanks to all who came, and to our volunteers -- Nikki Poarch, David Moore, Dave Leach, Toni Van Winkle, and whoever else I'm forgetting. Thanks also to John Kilby for running K-Tel Hell on 12/1 (won by Craig Barker in a squeaker over Anthony Bush) and Sensory Overload on 12/2 (won by... was it Mike Burger? Someone help me out here...). Thanks also to Mike Burger for running 1 vs. (100-n), also on Sun. 12/2 (won by some old guy who reputedly loves fish tacos.)

We truly appreciate all our freelance question writers: Jeremy Hixson, Brice Russ, Tia and the TRASHmen (Brian Weikle et al.), Gautam Kandlikar, the folks at Drake and Oklahoma, and anyone else I'm forgetting.

On a side note, we had a bumper crop of gloriously wrong answers, to wit:

Wrong answer: Absolut Vodka
Right answer: IKEA

Wrong answer: Title IX
Right answer: The death penalty

Wrong answer: "The Red Skelton Comedy Hour"
Right answer: "Def Comedy Jam"

Wrong answer: "Jesus Take the Wheel"
Right answer: "Heroin"

Wrong answer: Egyptian rat screw
Right answer: Four-square

Wrong answer: The Gorton's Fisherman
Right answer: Emmett "Doc" Brown

Wrong answer: Pan's Labyrinth
Right answer: Bee Movie

Wrong answer: Wedding theme from The Marriage of Figaro
Right answer: "Short Skirt, Long Jacket" by Cake

[Kilby]

...Sensory Overload on 12/2 (won by... was it Mike Burger? Someone help me out here...).

It was indeed Mike... Michael Kearney, that is.