MSU/UD Housewrite available for mirrors

[Steeve Ho You Fat]

I am pleased to announce a collaborative high school tournament, written by members of Michigan State University's and the University of Delaware's Academic Competition Clubs and head edited by me, Joe Nutter. We are producing 14 packets (2 of which are earmarked for finals) at a difficulty that is intended to be accessible to all high school teams. Tossups will be 5-6 lines long in 12 point Times New Roman, and all tossups will feature answerlines that pretty much everyone should be at least somewhat familiar with, though lead-ins will be challenging to top teams. Similarly, every team should be able to break 10 points per bonus. The set will be power-marked.

The set will be written over the summer, with a planned completion date of September 1. This will give plenty of time for playtesting and final editing before September 22, the first date we are allowing mirrors. If you'd like to run a mirror before this, please get in touch with us. We are charging $12 per attending team.

Distribution is as follows:
4/4 Literature (1/1 American, 1/1 British, 1/1 European, and 1/1 Other/World)
4/4 History (1/1 American, 1/1 Europe and Britain, 1/1 World, .5/.5 Classical and Ancient, and .5/.5 Other)
4/4 Science (1/1 Physics, 1/1 Chemistry, 1/1 Biology, 1/1 Other and minor sciences and theoretical math)
2.5/2.5 Fine Arts (1/1 Music, 1/1 Art, .5/.5 Opera, Jazz, Architecture, etc.)
2.5/2.5 Religion, Mythology, and Philosophy (evenly distributed between the three)
1/1 Geography (split between American and world)
2/2 Evenly split between social science, Current Events, and sports and pop culture

Confirmed Mirrors:
Enloe High School - North Carolina Season Opener, September 22
University of Illinois - Earlybird, October 6
University of Delaware - October 20
Michigan State University - Horatio Nelson Memorial, October 20
University of California, San Diego - Triton Fall Tournament, November 10
Western Kentucky University - Hilltopper Invitational, November 17
MOQBA Fall Tournaments, November 17

We're dedicated to producing a very high quality, difficulty-appropriate tournament, so please get in touch with me through the forums, E-mail me at [email protected], or post here if you have any questions or are interested in running a mirror.

[Panayot Hitov]

I take it this will be used at Blue Hen next year?

[Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)]

What previous writing or editing experience do the people making this set have?

[Steeve Ho You Fat]

I can't speak for anyone from Delaware, but I'm an NAQT writer (although admittedly much less active than I should be), was involved in last year's Fall Novice Tournament, and a writer, editor, and de facto difficulty cop for last year's Fall Kickoff Tournament (see http://www.createphpbb.com/oac/viewtopic.php?t=955 for an announcement, go to the second page for some of the comments on it. I wasn't head editor for it, but I did help reign in difficulty and make it perhaps the first truly novice iteration). I also wrote several of the sets used at ACE camp last summer, and everyone I talked to said they liked them, even though they appeared exactly in the form I wrote them, without further editing. I know that, for other MSU people, Connor Teevens has written a bunch of stuff, and he and Shan Kothari are working together on their classical music side event.

We're also planning to ask someone more experienced look over the set and critique it once it's about done, and we plan to extensively playtest every question that appears in a packet, so these should dispel any concerns.

[Rufous-capped Thornbill]

Joe Nutter's a good question writer.

[Black-throated Antshrike]

I take it this will be used at Blue Hen next year?

No we plan on using this for a fall tournament at some point. Blue Hen will still take place in March and use an NAQT IS set

[Rococo A Go Go]

Would this still be available for mirrors in mid-November?

[Steeve Ho You Fat]

Would this still be available for mirrors in mid-November?

Yes. It will be available the entire fall semester, and if someone's interested in mirroring it but can't until the spring, we can probably work it out.

[msmathwhiz]

Joe,

Enloe would be interested in mirroring this set for the NC season opener. I tentatively planned a Sept 15th date, but can push it to the 22nd. Also, if you're looking for a HS team to field test the questions, I can probably pull together this year's out-going team to test it over the summer.

Celia Rowland
Coach & general team lackey

[Steeve Ho You Fat]

I'm happy to announce mirrors at Enloe High School, for the North Carolina Season Opener, and Western Kentucky University's Hilltopper Invitational. If you aren't local to these sites, please get in touch with us if you're interested in using the set.

[Muriel Axon]

I would like to stress that we plan to difficulty cop the hell out of this set.

[Kilroy Was Here]

Will you guys be releasing a sample packet?

[Steeve Ho You Fat]

We aren't currently planning on it, simply because writing 14 packets at an appropriate level is difficult enough as it is, and we don't want to give hosts fewer packets.

Also, as a note on difficulty, just because we're taking immense precautions to appeal to newer and less active teams and players doesn't mean that it won't be enjoyable for the more experienced teams as well. While every tossup answer and easy part should be quite easy, there will be lead-ins and hard parts that will be challenging.

[Steeve Ho You Fat]

Just to let people know, this tournament is over 90% written. I'd like to playtest as much of it as possible to ensure quality, so I'll make a channel on the IRC tonight at about 10:00. Anyone who isn't in high school and is willing to give feedback is appreciated.

[Steeve Ho You Fat]

I'd like to do some more playtesting tonight, probably of history this time. Around 10:00, in #msuud.

[Steeve Ho You Fat]

Since the first mirror of this tournament was today, a discussion forum has been established. You may request access by going to your control panel, selecting usergroups, and asking to join "MSU/UD set discussion", and I'll approve you.

[Steeve Ho You Fat]

Hey, we've had four mirrors so far, with generally pretty positive feedback and stats that seem to indicate that it's accessible to all teams, as we desired. We'll be correcting a few questions that have been pointed out to us as having lead-ins that are too easy, and bonuses without clearly defined easy or hard parts. We're still seeking mirrors in regions that haven't had one, particularly Georgia, Texas, and California, so if you're looking for a set, send me an E-mail.

[Steeve Ho You Fat]

We've added another mirror, at Triton Fall Tournament at the University of California, San Diego, on November 10.

[Steeve Ho You Fat]

Hey, so the last scheduled mirrors of this were last weekend. If anyone else is interested in it, we still have several states that haven't had a mirror of this set yet. If you're in one of those and are interested, please contact me in the next week or so. If nobody does, I'll send it for posting.

[Steeve Ho You Fat]

I'll be posting these tomorrow or so.

[Steeve Ho You Fat]

These packets are now available here: http://www.hsquizbowl.org/db/questionsets/400/