2023 COOT: Announcement

[Restitutor27]

I am pleased to announce that for 2023 Oxford University and Cambridge University Quiz Societies will be combining forces to produce a housewritten set: Cambridge and Oxford Open Tournament (COOT).

The set, which will comprise 13 packets, will have the following distribution:

4/4 Science, subdistributed as follows:
1/1 Biology
1/1 Physics (inc. astrophysics)
2/2 Chemistry and Other Science, broken down over the set as:
12/12 Chemistry
8/8 Maths
3/3 Compsci
2/2 Earth Science
1/1 Miscellaneous

4/4 Literature, subdistributed
1/1 British
1/1 European
1/1 Anglophone (Ireland, North America and Oceania)
1/1 World/Misc

4/4 History
1/1 Pre-1100
1/1 1100-1600
1/1 1600-1900
1/1 1900 onwards

3/3 Fine Art
1/1 VFA
1/1 AFA
1/1 OFA

3/3 Thought
1/1 Philosophy
1/1 Social Science
1/1 Belief

1/1 Geography and Current Affairs

1/1 Trash and Other Academic


Our aim with the difficulty is similar to previous editions of COOT/OOT. Tossups will be around 7-8 lines long (in 10 point Times New Roman).
The initial mirror will take place in the UK, in Oxford, on 18th February 2023.
We would like to see the set widely mirrored outside of this country as well, and will be looking for hosts (in-person or online) in the future.

Mirrors: UK

[VSCOelasticity]

The science distribution seems odd to me.

More than 50% of the other science is math and no astronomy? Astronomy is more than astrophysics, which is why sets have always explicitly distributed astronomy.

The distribution means all but 2 packets will have 1/1 chemistry, which, to me, seems like such a small cut to chemistry that it is pointless. I feel like it would make more sense to either leave chemistry as a full 1/1 or cut 2/2 more chemistry (or even physics) away.

[Good Goblin Housekeeping]

The science distribution seems odd to me.

More than 50% of the other science is math and no astronomy? Astronomy is more than astrophysics, which is why sets have always explicitly distributed astronomy.

The distribution means all but 2 packets will have 1/1 chemistry, which, to me, seems like such a small cut to chemistry that it is pointless. I feel like it would make more sense to either leave chemistry as a full 1/1 or cut 2/2 more chemistry (or even physics) away.

do you mean maths?

[Restitutor27]

Signups for the UK mirror of COOT 2023 are now open.

[Here Comes Rusev Day]

Curious whether the Britons want to host an online mirror at some point in the future for this? Or even if someone wants to just have an open online mirror for the American and Canadian audience that wasn't able to make it over the pond.

[Lake Winnipesaukee Mystery Stone]

This happened yesterday - in a one game final, Chicago A, who had the advantage, overcame Golfers, Non-Golfers, Both, Neither (a team comprising George Charlson, Alex Peplow, Evan Lynch and Afham Raoof) 450-220.
Stats for the tournament are available here: https://hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/8058/

Curious whether the Britons want to host an online mirror at some point in the future for this? Or even if someone wants to just have an open online mirror for the American and Canadian audience that wasn't able to make it over the pond.

We would be interested in people hosting mirrors of COOT online or in-person in the US and Canada - we would not look to host it ourselves, as previous experience suggests that the time difference makes it difficult for UK mods. Discussion in the pub yesterday suggested it might make an ideal in-person Summer Open for one or more locations. Please get in touch if you want to discuss this further!

[Adventure Temple Trail]

Curious whether the Britons want to host an online mirror at some point in the future for this? Or even if someone wants to just have an open online mirror for the American and Canadian audience that wasn't able to make it over the pond.

We would be interested in people hosting mirrors of COOT online or in-person in the US and Canada - we would not look to host it ourselves, as previous experience suggests that the time difference makes it difficult for UK mods. Discussion in the pub yesterday suggested it might make an ideal in-person Summer Open for one or more locations. Please get in touch if you want to discuss this further!

This set is very fun, it's full of creative ideas, and I heartily endorse setting up chances for a wider audience of non-Brits to play it. Given that the schedule through the summer is pretty crowded with regular season tournaments and then middle/high school nationals staffing, an early-summer timing probably works best.

[Cheynem]

Ideally something like the old school Side Event Weekend might be a good idea--do COOT as the main event on Saturday, followed by some shorter side events, and then have all side events/a trash tournament + side events on Sunday.

[msarma]

I’d love to play an online mirror of this set. I played two years ago and I enjoyed it, and I’m very interested in playing a tournament with 8/8 math questions.