Announcement: Minnesota Open, October 18 2008
Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:14 am
What is going on here? The University of Minnesota is hosting its first ever open collegiate tournament weekend this October 18th. There will be lit, trash, and video games side events, which will take place on Friday night, Saturday night, and all of Sunday, respectively.
What about Deep Bench? Last year, we realized that there are a few issues with hosting a collegiate Deep Bench event. Aside from very difficult logistics, it puts a heavy strain on teams to submit two packets and to muster eight players. We somewhat reluctantly have decided to put the Deep Bench format on the shelf, so the Open itself will be a standard four-person-team circuit event. However, in honor of our singles/doubles roots...
Why "Weekend"? There is going to be a lot of quizbowl going on. The tournament editors will write two singles/doubles subject events as well as the main Minnesota Open quizbowl tournament. We will announce these sometime over the summer, but tentatively the subject tournaments will be literature and mythology. It's possible that we will write a third subject event, especially if we wind up partnering with someone who wants to help write a trash tournament for Sunday (partnering with GARBAGE seems a distinct possibility). At a minimum, there will be three events, and at max there will be five. We will announce these tournaments and their dates/times well in advance so that teams can make travel plans accordingly.
Who is editing? The Open itself will be a collaboration between the Minnesota team; Rob, Gautam, and I will be doing a lot of the work. Subject tournaments will also be collaborative, and more info will be available when we announce those. You can contact us at: [email protected] (me), cars0090 at umn . edu (Rob), or kand0028 at umn . edu (Gautam).
Who can come? This is a true open event, meaning that there are no eligibility requirements. At this point, we will require packet submission as a requirement for attendance, but this could change. Though top players have traditionally formed superteams at events like this, we'd like to give some incentive for teams to stick together. So non-mixed teams will be given a discount.
Target difficulty: The target difficulty for this event will be similar to that of the Deep Bench quads set last year, which is probably just a tick easier than Illinois Open or Cardinal Classic, but still comparable. Basically, we want any team that has played regular-difficulty events to be able to convert tossups and average at least one part per bonus answered. At the same time, we want the top teams to be challenged with the early clues, third parts of the bonuses, and a few tossup answers.
Target length: Please submit questions five lines or longer in 10-point Times New Roman font, with one inch margins [note: one inch is not always the default]. The more material we have to work with, the better.
Power tossups: There will likely be powers, but the editors will place them. Please don't powermark your submitted questions.
Formatting requirements: Please use the standard ACF style. Ten point, times new roman font with 1-inch margins. Please lump together all questions of a certain part of the distribution, preceded with "5/5 Literature" or whatever the heading may be.
1/1 Hilarious meta
Its creator lists "RETURN 2 DA PIT" as a personal favorite, and it is followed by Jared McGrath's "Jambalaya of the World's Cities and Soundscapes." Its first iteration featured a discussion about the Generation of 98 that culminated with an Antonio Machado poem being read by "Andrew from Minnesota," while the second version saw "Matt from Virginia's" discussion of Henrik Ibsen interrupted by a girl who apologized for being late for the next slot. For 10 points, name this "show about learning," hosted by a certain literature-loving Maryland quizbowler.
ANSWER: Unnamed Show 621 [accept Jonathan Magin's unnamed radio show or equivalents; prompt on Jonathan Magin]
A sacred text of this religion centers on the fifteen tasks undergone by Jerry to make himself fiercer, including entering Steinhice's "Bowl of Swords." For 10 points each:
[10] Name this religion that worships Eric from Brown.
ANSWER: Mukherjudaism [accept Mukherjew]
[10] Typically depicted as a turbaned, mustachioed imp, this trickster god of Mukherjudaism rides the Bactrian camel Harvona and trained the talking raven Negbash.
ANSWER: Meigs [do not accept "Charles Meigs"; prompt on "the deceiver," "the lie-monger," "lattavosh," "he who plays with Chris Ray," or "he who loves Jonathan Magin"
[10] This is the sacred jar of Mukherjudaism, a venerated object in which Eric carries additional excellence.
ANSWER: the kumbha
Distribution: 25/25 total.
15/15 Big Three
5/5 Literature [at least 1/1 World, American, European, and British; vary reasonably by time, and include a mix of poetry, drama, and novels]
5/5 History [at least 1/1 American, European+British, and World; vary reasonably by time, limit military history to 5 or fewer total questions]
5/5 Science [at least 1/1 Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and Other Science (Astronomy, earth science, geology, math); no science biography will be tolerated]
3/3 RMP
2/1 or 1/2 Mythology [at least 1 non-western question out of the three]
1/1 Philosophy [maximum 1 ancient philosophy; feel free to write on pre-Socratics, but only in an interesting way]
0/1 or 1/0 Religion [since we're already segregating myth from religion, try to keep this question as non-mythological as possible]
3/3 Fine Arts
1/1 Painting [vary reasonably by time; try to include mostly works-based clues]
1/1 Music [keep your clues buzzable...stuff like "Starts with a rousing A-flat minor in the horns, followed by a lyrical oboe solo" will just be edited out]
1/0 or 0/1 Other visual arts [sculpture or architecture; NO MOVIES!]
1/0 or 0/1 Other musical arts [opera, ballet, dance, or jazz]
2/2 Social Sciences + Geography
2/1 or 1/2 Social Sciences [includes law, anthropology, sociology, psychology, paleontology, economics, game theory; no more than one question on each discipline]
1/0 or 0/1 Geography
2/2 Your Choice
2/2 Art film, pop culture, sports, current events, general knowledge, or additional academic [please, no more than 1/1 on any given topic]
Base cost: The base cost for the Open itself is $100 for mixed-school teams, with a minimum cost of $50. For teams comprised of members from the same school, the base fee is $90, with a minimum of $40.
Discount/penalty schedule:
September 11: -$50
September 18: -$20
September 25: No penalty
October 1: +$20
October 8: +$50
After October 8: +$100 (possibly dropped from tournament)
Other discounts
Buzzer (max 2): -$5
Moderator: -$15
Additional teams from same school: -$10
Travel discount
This was somewhat poorly explained before. If you're all from the same school, you get $5 off for every 100 miles traveled. If you're all paying separately, you get $1.25 off your share for every 100 miles traveled.
Mirrors: We would like to make this an early-season quizbowl get together, so hopefully people will be willing to fly in for the weekend. We will likely be open to mirror sites for teams that cannot make it, like the Chicago Open and Cardinal Classic did.
Sunday trash tournament: We are interested in finding someone who would be willing to write the majority of a trash tournament for Sunday. We have talked to GARBAGE about potentially partnering to host that tournament, and this seems like a fairly likely scenario.
Freelancing: We would really appreciate it if anyone wishes to write playoff packets. The editors will almost certainly wind up writing some, as well.
What about Deep Bench? Last year, we realized that there are a few issues with hosting a collegiate Deep Bench event. Aside from very difficult logistics, it puts a heavy strain on teams to submit two packets and to muster eight players. We somewhat reluctantly have decided to put the Deep Bench format on the shelf, so the Open itself will be a standard four-person-team circuit event. However, in honor of our singles/doubles roots...
Why "Weekend"? There is going to be a lot of quizbowl going on. The tournament editors will write two singles/doubles subject events as well as the main Minnesota Open quizbowl tournament. We will announce these sometime over the summer, but tentatively the subject tournaments will be literature and mythology. It's possible that we will write a third subject event, especially if we wind up partnering with someone who wants to help write a trash tournament for Sunday (partnering with GARBAGE seems a distinct possibility). At a minimum, there will be three events, and at max there will be five. We will announce these tournaments and their dates/times well in advance so that teams can make travel plans accordingly.
Who is editing? The Open itself will be a collaboration between the Minnesota team; Rob, Gautam, and I will be doing a lot of the work. Subject tournaments will also be collaborative, and more info will be available when we announce those. You can contact us at: [email protected] (me), cars0090 at umn . edu (Rob), or kand0028 at umn . edu (Gautam).
Who can come? This is a true open event, meaning that there are no eligibility requirements. At this point, we will require packet submission as a requirement for attendance, but this could change. Though top players have traditionally formed superteams at events like this, we'd like to give some incentive for teams to stick together. So non-mixed teams will be given a discount.
Target difficulty: The target difficulty for this event will be similar to that of the Deep Bench quads set last year, which is probably just a tick easier than Illinois Open or Cardinal Classic, but still comparable. Basically, we want any team that has played regular-difficulty events to be able to convert tossups and average at least one part per bonus answered. At the same time, we want the top teams to be challenged with the early clues, third parts of the bonuses, and a few tossup answers.
Target length: Please submit questions five lines or longer in 10-point Times New Roman font, with one inch margins [note: one inch is not always the default]. The more material we have to work with, the better.
Power tossups: There will likely be powers, but the editors will place them. Please don't powermark your submitted questions.
Formatting requirements: Please use the standard ACF style. Ten point, times new roman font with 1-inch margins. Please lump together all questions of a certain part of the distribution, preceded with "5/5 Literature" or whatever the heading may be.
1/1 Hilarious meta
Its creator lists "RETURN 2 DA PIT" as a personal favorite, and it is followed by Jared McGrath's "Jambalaya of the World's Cities and Soundscapes." Its first iteration featured a discussion about the Generation of 98 that culminated with an Antonio Machado poem being read by "Andrew from Minnesota," while the second version saw "Matt from Virginia's" discussion of Henrik Ibsen interrupted by a girl who apologized for being late for the next slot. For 10 points, name this "show about learning," hosted by a certain literature-loving Maryland quizbowler.
ANSWER: Unnamed Show 621 [accept Jonathan Magin's unnamed radio show or equivalents; prompt on Jonathan Magin]
A sacred text of this religion centers on the fifteen tasks undergone by Jerry to make himself fiercer, including entering Steinhice's "Bowl of Swords." For 10 points each:
[10] Name this religion that worships Eric from Brown.
ANSWER: Mukherjudaism [accept Mukherjew]
[10] Typically depicted as a turbaned, mustachioed imp, this trickster god of Mukherjudaism rides the Bactrian camel Harvona and trained the talking raven Negbash.
ANSWER: Meigs [do not accept "Charles Meigs"; prompt on "the deceiver," "the lie-monger," "lattavosh," "he who plays with Chris Ray," or "he who loves Jonathan Magin"
[10] This is the sacred jar of Mukherjudaism, a venerated object in which Eric carries additional excellence.
ANSWER: the kumbha
Distribution: 25/25 total.
15/15 Big Three
5/5 Literature [at least 1/1 World, American, European, and British; vary reasonably by time, and include a mix of poetry, drama, and novels]
5/5 History [at least 1/1 American, European+British, and World; vary reasonably by time, limit military history to 5 or fewer total questions]
5/5 Science [at least 1/1 Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and Other Science (Astronomy, earth science, geology, math); no science biography will be tolerated]
3/3 RMP
2/1 or 1/2 Mythology [at least 1 non-western question out of the three]
1/1 Philosophy [maximum 1 ancient philosophy; feel free to write on pre-Socratics, but only in an interesting way]
0/1 or 1/0 Religion [since we're already segregating myth from religion, try to keep this question as non-mythological as possible]
3/3 Fine Arts
1/1 Painting [vary reasonably by time; try to include mostly works-based clues]
1/1 Music [keep your clues buzzable...stuff like "Starts with a rousing A-flat minor in the horns, followed by a lyrical oboe solo" will just be edited out]
1/0 or 0/1 Other visual arts [sculpture or architecture; NO MOVIES!]
1/0 or 0/1 Other musical arts [opera, ballet, dance, or jazz]
2/2 Social Sciences + Geography
2/1 or 1/2 Social Sciences [includes law, anthropology, sociology, psychology, paleontology, economics, game theory; no more than one question on each discipline]
1/0 or 0/1 Geography
2/2 Your Choice
2/2 Art film, pop culture, sports, current events, general knowledge, or additional academic [please, no more than 1/1 on any given topic]
Base cost: The base cost for the Open itself is $100 for mixed-school teams, with a minimum cost of $50. For teams comprised of members from the same school, the base fee is $90, with a minimum of $40.
Discount/penalty schedule:
September 11: -$50
September 18: -$20
September 25: No penalty
October 1: +$20
October 8: +$50
After October 8: +$100 (possibly dropped from tournament)
Other discounts
Buzzer (max 2): -$5
Moderator: -$15
Additional teams from same school: -$10
Travel discount
This was somewhat poorly explained before. If you're all from the same school, you get $5 off for every 100 miles traveled. If you're all paying separately, you get $1.25 off your share for every 100 miles traveled.
Mirrors: We would like to make this an early-season quizbowl get together, so hopefully people will be willing to fly in for the weekend. We will likely be open to mirror sites for teams that cannot make it, like the Chicago Open and Cardinal Classic did.
Sunday trash tournament: We are interested in finding someone who would be willing to write the majority of a trash tournament for Sunday. We have talked to GARBAGE about potentially partnering to host that tournament, and this seems like a fairly likely scenario.
Freelancing: We would really appreciate it if anyone wishes to write playoff packets. The editors will almost certainly wind up writing some, as well.