The Quizbowl Resource Center

This is the formal announcement for this year's VCU Open, to be held at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond on Saturday, August 8, 2009. This tournament will be accompanied by a quite exciting singles event on Saturday night and another standard-format academic tournament on Sunday, which I leave to the organizers of those events to announce.

The tournament will be written by myself (everything except science) and some qualified science writer (contact me by e-mail if you wish to be this person). It will be pretty damn hard, along the lines of the 2008 Chicago Open or the median level of the 2008 VCU Open. The packets will also be finished before the tournament begins, which is always good.

FEES:
Base fee $100 per team
Buzzers: -$10 each (no limit)
Staffers: -$20 each (no limit)
Minimum fee: $0

To get a discount, buzzers must actually work for the purpose of a normal quizbowl game; that is, they must have eight working activators, a working control box, and either a working power cord or a fresh battery, as applicable. Don't waste everyone's time bringing broken buzzers to the tournament. That's actually worse than bringing no buzzers at all! Don't bring broken staffers either.

ELIGIBILITY: As indicated by the name, this is an open tournament. Play with anyone you want.

REGISTRATION: To register, post in this thread or mail me at [email protected] with the number of teams, buzzers, and staffers you want to bring, and an email address where you can be contacted with details.

LOCATION/DIRECTIONS/PARKING: The tournament will take place somewhere on our Monroe Park campus (aka "Academic Campus"). We will have more details once the room reservations come back.

TIMES: Registration will run from 8:45 to 9:00 AM, with the goal of starting Round 1 as soon as possible after 9:00.

FORMAT: Packets will be ACF-format; tournament format will be determined by the number of teams present, but we hope to have somewhere between 12 and 16 teams and thus do a simple round-robin followed by ACF-format finals.

FREELANCE STAFFERS: We love you. Contact me if you want to staff the tournament.

PAYMENT: I don't know who you should make checks out to just yet because I don't know who the VCU club president will be for 2009-2010; if you actually are cutting checks in February for a tournament in August, then you're very efficient, and I guess you can make them out to me and I'll see that they get routed to the right person. I'll have the real information as soon as possible.

MIRRORS: If you want to mirror this somewhere else, just let me know and we'll discuss the arrangements.

--Matt Weiner, tournament director, VCU Open
[email protected]

Matt Weiner wrote: This tournament will be accompanied by a quite exciting singles event on Saturday night and another standard-format academic tournament on Sunday, which I leave to the organizers of those events to announce.

And now that I've done so, here they are:
Music
CaTO/TaCO
Sorry for the delay.

Tower Monarch wrote:

Matt Weiner wrote: This tournament will be accompanied by a quite exciting singles event on Saturday night and another standard-format academic tournament on Sunday, which I leave to the organizers of those events to announce.

And now that I've done so, here they are:
Music
CaTO/TaCO
Sorry for the delay.

Jesus this will be a good weekend. Also, reverse those links.

everyday847 wrote:Jesus this will be a good weekend. Also, reverse those links.

Fixed. Thanks.

everyday847 wrote:Jesus this will be a good weekend.

All this needs is a half hour of meta pyramid and a good comedy lunch packet!

But yea, these all sound really exciting!

Any word on West Coast mirrors?

Assuming recent IRC conversations are to be taken seriously, Silberman, Watkins, Kirsch, and Cheyne will be playing together under a clever name to be determined.

I am excitedly looking for a team for this.

I'll totally be coming to this; rides for other New Englanders may be available.

I need teammates and can be contacted at my username @gmail.com, on IRC, here, by telepathy, etc.

Soliciting teammates; contact me through various channels like IRC, mets fan 0 0 1 @ gmail.com, and so on.

It seems reasonable to expect me to be here in some capacity.

OctagonJoe wrote:I need teammates and can be contacted at my username @gmail.com, on IRC, here, by telepathy, etc.

Let's play together!

tetragrammatology wrote:

OctagonJoe wrote:I need teammates and can be contacted at my username @gmail.com, on IRC, here, by telepathy, etc.

Let's play together!

Sounds like a plan

BuzzerZen wrote:Assuming recent IRC conversations are to be taken seriously, Silberman, Watkins, Kirsch, and Cheyne will be playing together under a clever name to be determined.

Status of Old Time Radio Questions: OWNED

There's a good chance I'm attending. I am soliciting teammates at the moment.

I can't promise that I'll actually know much at this tournament, but consider me a free agent as well.

I can also offer floor/couch space to anyone in need.

I believe Shantanu and I are playing together and Shantanu is asking a couple of people about joining our team.

Does anyone need some high schoolers on their team? York Chen and I are probably coming to this and would like to join a team. My email is lilychen3.14159 [at] gmail [dot] com and York's is yc0210 [at] gmail [dot] com.

I should be coming to this; I'd love some teammates.

TJ B might be interested in coming to this also.

I'm planning to go to this, although transportation is an issue; I may or may not be able to afford the flight. If you can offer me a ride or need teammates, e-mail me.

(Edit: I will also bring a buzzer.)

(Edit #2: I'm not bringing a buzzer anymore, because I'm flying, it's a Judge, and I'm worried about airport security.)

Update: I am no longer looking to join existing teams as an individual; as of right right now, it looks like I'm playing with York Chen and (for this tournament only) Lily Chen, and we do need a fourth. Feel free to contact any of us.

(Edit: Zihan Zheng has joined as our fourth.)

It looks decreasingly likely that I will be able to play this tournament.

I still plan on coming to this--I was tentatively playing this with Evan Silberman, Andy, and Hannah Kirsch--I don't know what their status for this tournament is, so who knows, I may need teammates or I may be a free agent. But I do plan on coming.

It is also decreasingly likely that I will be able to come to this, unfortunately. Apologies to Mike and Evan if that is the case.

I am assuming Andy and Hannah will sadly be unable to play. Sarah Angelo has expressed interest in playing with myself and Evan (who I assume...will be there?...). If anyone else would like to be the fourth member of this team, post in this thread or e-mail me at cheyne AT wmis DOT net, bearing in mind that this is contingent on Andy and Hannah not being there.

Jerry and I are playing this together and are probably looking for some teammates!

Times have changed, and I will in fact be here. If Sarah Angelo does not want to play on your team, Mike, I'm up for it.

I apparently no longer need to fly to Colorado Springs this weekend, so I will be in attendance. This may confuse you, but I am probably at least as confused.

So yeah, here's the most important thing: I guess I'm coming to this tournament. I had never really said anything about whether or not I wanted to be on this Cheyne'Silberman/Kirsch team (I think that was generated from some offhand IRC remarks or something). I'm quite content to rejoin that team, but I'm slightly more interested in another; further updates as events warrant.

Ukonvasara wrote:Jerry and I are playing this together and are probably looking for some teammates!

This might be a convenient time to mention that Guy Tabatchinck and I are playing this together, and are also (as far as I know) looking for two more teammates.

I'm also looking for a team for this (and Tommy and Cameron's tournament). Email me if interested.

HKirsch wrote:Times have changed, and I will in fact be here. If Sarah Angelo does not want to play on your team, Mike, I'm up for it.

You can have your spot back, Hannah. I suppose I am now once again looking for a team...

MLWGS-Gir wrote:

HKirsch wrote:Times have changed, and I will in fact be here. If Sarah Angelo does not want to play on your team, Mike, I'm up for it.

You can have your spot back, Hannah. I suppose I am now once again looking for a team...

Well, since I just got an alternate offer in the space between re-signing up and reading this post, you can feel free to take my spot.

I'll be playing with Carsten Gehring, Bernadette Spencer, and Chris Carter.

HKirsch wrote:

MLWGS-Gir wrote:

HKirsch wrote:Times have changed, and I will in fact be here. If Sarah Angelo does not want to play on your team, Mike, I'm up for it.

You can have your spot back, Hannah. I suppose I am now once again looking for a team...

Well, since I just got an alternate offer in the space between re-signing up and reading this post, you can feel free to take my spot.

In that case I will. Thanks.

I don't want this thread to turn into a hijack of my team shuffling, but for those who don't want to parse the above posts, the short of it is: I am (CONFIRMED!) playing with Evan Silberman and Sarah Angelo and we need a fourth. Sorry about the confusion.

Verhoeven's Giant Tree Rat wrote:

Ukonvasara wrote:Jerry and I are playing this together and are probably looking for some teammates!

This might be a convenient time to mention that Guy Tabatchinck and I are playing this together, and are also (as far as I know) looking for two more teammates.

I'd be willing to play if you'll have me. I can't promise that I'll contribute much.

Would anybody traveling to VCU for this be willing to split a hotel room with Charlie Rosenthal and I for Saturday night? Or anybody generally have housing available?

Stacy: Attack of the Schoolgirl Zombies wrote:

Verhoeven's Giant Tree Rat wrote:

Ukonvasara wrote:Jerry and I are playing this together and are probably looking for some teammates!

This might be a convenient time to mention that Guy Tabatchinck and I are playing this together, and are also (as far as I know) looking for two more teammates.

I'd be willing to play if you'll have me. I can't promise that I'll contribute much.

Sure! I can promise not to confuse you with Andy Goss again.

two people from yale will be coming, myself and John Lawrence. We would appreciate teammates.

Hey, I still need a science writer for this if people wish there to be science in this tournament, so if anyone's interested let me know.

Ukonvasara wrote:Jerry and I are playing this together and are probably looking for some teammates!

Due to CIRCUMSTANCES, Jerry won't be attending. Instead, I'll be playing with Andy Watkins, Hannah Kirsch, and probably Trevor Davis.

please find a science writer so my teammates will play

Two questions:

1. Can we get an updated field for this?
2. Is there, by any chance, a caravan coming from the north which I might be able to hitch a ride with?

Eric Mukherjee, Ted Gioia, and I are playing this event together, I'm pretty sure. Not sure if we have a fourth. Offer has been extended to recombinant beard lice.

For various reasons, if I am attending this tournament, I will be flying there now, so in order to cut costs on the lodging part, I'm requesting if anyone attending this tournament (and the Sunday events) has a hotel room/floor (preferably airport accessible) or any other sort of lodging I can crash in for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings. I would pay this person what he or she deems fair and/or buy various meals. If anyone can help me out in this regard, I would be most appreciative--e-mail me at cheyne AT wmis DOT net.

(Note to Evan and Sarah, and for Sunday, Guy and Chris: This means there is a strong possibility I will NOT be at this tournament, so keep that in mind. Sorry!)

What's the word on science for this tournament? Is it a definite no?

HKirsch wrote:What's the word on science for this tournament? Is it a definite no?

And if so, Susan, please recommend some used book stores and restaurants; we know you know what they are!

Crazy Andy Watkins wrote:

HKirsch wrote:What's the word on science for this tournament? Is it a definite no?

And if so, Susan, please recommend some used book stores and restaurants; we know you know what they are!

Yeah, I'd appreciate knowing whether or not there'll be science, so I know whether or not I'll need to find two new teammates. Alternately, help peer pressure these two into playing anyway!

There will be at least some science in every packet of this tournament. I cannot guarantee there will be 4/4 science in every packet until I hear back from all the people I talked to about possibly writing questions. I will keep the thread updated when my information is more solid.