CYBER set (MS or Novice HS) for 2023-24

[osbornrj]

I'm proud to announce the debut of the Sentinel CYBER (Competitive Youths Battling Educated Rivals).

Set Name
Sentinel CYBER #1A

Difficulty
Middle School / Novice High School

Fee
$14 for each team that competes (including house teams). Hosts must agree to not alter any questions or release any information about this set outside of their tournament until August 31, 2024. The set will be discounted to $12/team for hosts who agree to publicly post their stats.

Length
12 packets consisting of 24 tossups paired with three-part bonuses. The last four tossups and bonuses are marked as replacements.

Format
Tossups are pyramidal, power-marked, and generally 4-5 lines long (<500 characters). Bonus sets have lead-ins, and each of the three parts is typically 1-2 lines long.

Availability
All 12 packets are available to mirror now through Aug. 31, 2024.

Distribution (Tossups/Bonuses)
4/4 History (1/1 American, 1/1 British, 1/1 European, and 1/1 World)
4/4 Science (1/1 Biology, 1/1 Chemistry, 1/1 Physics, and 1/1 Other - no computational math)
4/4 Literature (1/1 American, 1/1 British, 1/1 European, and 1/1 World or Classical)
2/2 Fine Arts (1/1 Visual and 1/1 Music)
2/2 Geography (1/1 American and 1/1 World)
1/1 Religion
1/1 Mythology
0.5/0.5 Social Science
0.5/0.5 Sports
0.5/0.5 Pop Culture
0.5/0.5 Current Events

Head Editor
Tate Osborne

Assistant Editors
Robin Osborne and Leo Osborne

Writing Staff
The Sentinel CYBER is written by Scholars' Bowl players at the Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering (ASCTE). I'm also assisting with the set.

Writers
Tate Osborne
Leo Osborne
Robin Osborne
Elizabeth Orton
Eugene Park
Amie Conrey

Contact
E-mail me at [email protected] if you have questions or would like to reserve this set.

The first tournament to use this set was the Sentinel Invitational Tournament, held at ASCTE in Huntsville, AL on Oct. 14, 2023. This tournament had both MS and Elem divisions. Stats can be found here: https://hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/8296/

Mirror Sites

• 10/28/23: Titan Takedown (in-person) at Northview High School in Johns Creek, GA, hosted by Vivek Vishwanath viewtopic.php?t=27345

• 11/18/23: Cave Spring Invitational XVIII (in person) at Cave Spring High School in Roanoke, VA, hosted by Tamara Carson
  https://hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/8575/

• 12/02/23: Sandy Fall Novice Charity Tournament (online), hosted by Saurish Arora of the Eastern Seaboard Academic Competition Alliance
  viewtopic.php?t=27397

• 1/04/24 - 3/1/24: Green Meadows Conference (in person) in Northwest Ohio, reserved by Sally Kovar

• 1/06/24: Interlake Invitational Quizbowl Tournament (online), reserved by Matt Daniels
  viewtopic.php?t=27514

• 1/20/24: Kaneland High School Academic Challenge for JV and Varsity (in person), in Maple Park, IL, hosted by Brock Feece

• 1/27/24: Quaker Bowl (in person) run by the Early College at Guilford on the campus of Guilford College in Greensboro, NC, hosted by John Haynes

• 1/30/24: Peoria Area League JV tournament (in person) at Brimfield High School in Illinois, hosted by Aaron Barrington

• 4/6/24: Weaubleau Middle School Invitational (in person) in Missouri, hosted by Brandon Delmont
  viewtopic.php?t=27729

• 4/6/24: Big Cat VII for 6-8 grade (in person) at Columbia Independent School in Missouri, hosted by Lisa McClary

• 4/20/24: Putnam County Middle School Challenge (in person) in Cookeville, TN, hosted by Sam Matson

• 4/27/24: Darien Spring Academic Competition (in person) at Middlesex Middle School at Columbia Independent School in Darien, CT hosted by Ken Romeo
  viewtopic.php?p=399193&hilit=Cyber#p399193

[alexdz]

Is CYBER primarily written with a MS audience in mind or with a novice audience in mind? I ask because there are probably many circuits or areas (mine included) where there is a need for "introductory" sets for middle schoolers who have played little to no quizbowl before. So, I guess I'm seeking some clarification on where this set is aiming -- "HS, with some nods to younger audiences" or "MS, with some nods to older audiences."

[osbornrj]

Is CYBER primarily written with a MS audience in mind or with a novice audience in mind? I ask because there are probably many circuits or areas (mine included) where there is a need for "introductory" sets for middle schoolers who have played little to no quizbowl before. So, I guess I'm seeking some clarification on where this set is aiming -- "HS, with some nods to younger audiences" or "MS, with some nods to older audiences."

It's written with an MS audience in mind, and we've tried as much as possible to stick with the MS canon. However, the tossups are longer than typical MS tossup questions, at least by NAQT standards. They're even longer than NAQT IS-A tossups, which I think max out around 350 characters, whereas our tossups may be as long as 500 characters. This is done so that we can put challenging enough clues in the first line or two so it's still a good set for novice high school.

We're using this set for our own MS tournament, the Sentinel Invitational, so we want it to be a good set for an MS-level tournament. At our own tournament, I plan to advise the coaches to tell their students the first line is going to be harder and may not contain any of the "stock" clues they're used to. The 2nd line is more likely to contain familiar clues, and usually the power mark is near the end of the 2nd line or part way through the 3rd line. So MS players just need to be *patient* in how they buzz. What will also help tremendously is to have a separate Elementary Division for 5th/6th graders.

Robin