Search found 2447 matches
- Mon Apr 22, 2024 3:34 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2024 Division I ICT: specific question discussion
- Replies: 60
- Views: 5818
Re: 2024 Division I ICT: specific question discussion
The theme of the "South" tossup was close to what you identify in the second suggestion: southern China as an internal "other" with a complex relationship to the country as a whole. The post-Jin migration is a commonly-cited milestone in that history, which, as you mention, is a...
- Sun Apr 14, 2024 11:41 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2024 Division I ICT: specific question discussion
- Replies: 60
- Views: 5818
Re: 2024 Division I ICT: specific question discussion
I resisted buzzing on the "South China" answerline for multiple clues because I had the conception that it was south of the Yangtze somehow, but also possibly still in the North Chinese plain and wasn't sure if we wanted the Yangtze delta, Jiangnan, etc. Finally buzzed on Deng's tour. Cou...
- Wed Mar 27, 2024 11:21 am
- Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
- Topic: 2025 WAO III (Spring Open)
- Replies: 0
- Views: 615
2025 WAO III (Spring Open)
I'm very pleased to announce WAO (Wang Anshi/Will Alston Open) III: The Ten Thousand Tossup Memorial! Unlike the previous two WAOs, this tournament will be a more difficult housewrite and is intended to serve as the traditional pre-Nats open. Our target difficulty is "four dot with a solid minu...
- Fri Mar 08, 2024 9:05 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: Ancient/Medieval History balance
- Replies: 6
- Views: 1200
Re: Ancient/Medieval History balance
Totally with Mike here. For the non-Olds - back in 2014, it was normal for most tournaments to have 2/2 European history; US got 1/1 everything else got 1/1, with Canada/Australia/NZ ending up in European or World depending on the editor's preference. Marshall Steinbaum and I agreed when working on ...
- Wed Mar 06, 2024 11:10 pm
- Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
- Topic: Greatest Upsets in Quizbowl History
- Replies: 75
- Views: 79761
Re: Greatest Upsets in Quizbowl History
Naveed beat myself and Jason Zhou at a history side event in 2017. This would typically just be a normal upset, as Naveed is a strong history player, but it was a tournament with disproportionate amounts of ancient history, so it was a quite a solid one. The reason this fits in "greatest,"...
- Sun Feb 11, 2024 1:41 am
- Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
- Topic: ESPN @ Columbia (Open)
- Replies: 16
- Views: 4978
Re: ESPN @ Columbia (Open)
Provided I don't end up having other plans, I'll happily play TELEOLOGY as well.
- Fri Feb 02, 2024 4:31 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
- Topic: Clarke Memorial Tournament - Fall 2024, 3 Dot
- Replies: 5
- Views: 800
Re: Clarke Memorial Tournament - Fall 2024, 3 Dot
Would love if this were open, playing short questions online (as any playtest mirror, if it exists, would likely be) isn't the most ideal. I'd happily pay a higher fee for the privilege and it seems like a good way to generate more revenue for these charities.
Are there 15s?
Are there 15s?
- Fri Feb 02, 2024 2:19 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2024 ACF Regionals Discussion
- Replies: 54
- Views: 7704
Re: 2024 ACF Regionals Discussion
Scatterrshot thoughts on many areas, with some lessons learned about what today's field seems to know, based on looking at the detailed stats: A lot of answers that used to be fairly run-of-the-mill, common bonus parts when I was an up-and-coming player (2013-16 era) have crept up to hard part diffi...
- Wed Jan 31, 2024 2:15 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2024 ACF Regionals Discussion
- Replies: 54
- Views: 7704
Re: 2024 ACF Regionals Discussion
More insights from advanced stats later, but I wanted to respond to one comment in particular: Bezbozhnik is probably too linguistically fraudable as a clue for state atheism as a hard part (this was discussed in playtesting but still made it into the set), considering it is doable from knowing very...
- Tue Jan 30, 2024 2:17 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2024 ACF Regionals Discussion
- Replies: 54
- Views: 7704
Re: 2024 ACF Regionals Discussion
Glad to see some new posters in this thread! I'm particularly glad that the Oxford Movement question was enjoyed in the UK. Newman and friends used to come up a lot more about a decade ago, but have fallen out of the canon recently, and Anglicanism in general doesn't come up much; I felt that turnin...
- Mon Jan 29, 2024 2:18 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2024 ACF Regionals Discussion
- Replies: 54
- Views: 7704
Re: 2024 ACF Regionals Discussion
Not sure about cluing being on the walls of Troy and being at the gates of Troy as the same location - you also need a prompt on "Scaean Gates" for the Helen clue Noted on the specific gate (I'd probably just accept it). Aren't gates usually part of walls, though - is that particularly co...
- Mon Jan 29, 2024 10:59 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2024 ACF Regionals Discussion
- Replies: 54
- Views: 7704
Re: 2024 ACF Regionals Discussion
I'm not sure what specific instructions I'd want to give for "High Church Anglicanism" - that seems like a pretty straightforward superset/subset prompt, as the Oxford Movement is a specific high-church movement, and I think the tossup's clues heavily implied such. However, I definitely ag...
- Mon Jan 29, 2024 4:57 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2024 ACF Regionals Discussion
- Replies: 54
- Views: 7704
Re: 2024 ACF Regionals Discussion
Hi all! I edited US History, Painting/Sculpture, Myth, and Abrahamic Religion for this tournament. Having been around the block a few times in all of these areas, my goals with each of these categories were fairly modest. In general, I just wanted to produce high quality, fairly controlled but still...
- Mon Jan 29, 2024 4:30 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2024 ACF Regionals: General Thanks
- Replies: 5
- Views: 1843
Re: 2024 ACF Regionals: General Thanks
Had a blast working on this set. I'd like to thank Eve first and foremost for being - in addition to a great editor in general and thoughtful commenter with a lot of actionable suggestions - a proactive head editor and project manager who kept all of us on track and did regular check-ins with the va...
- Fri Dec 22, 2023 2:59 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2023 ARCADIA General Discussion
- Replies: 14
- Views: 1891
Re: 2023 ARCADIA General Discussion
I'd call this set three dots, with a small asterisk. The asterisk comes in large part from (1) divergent writing styles (2) somewhat more generous early cluing than we've come to expect from some three-dot sets. In many ways I feel like it turned out similarly to 2020 IKEA - the lit was probably the...
- Sun Dec 03, 2023 11:28 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2023 ARCADIA General Discussion
- Replies: 14
- Views: 1891
Re: 2023 ARCADIA General Discussion
My overall perception of the set was similar to Richard's. I'm glad that this tournament continues to not shy away from using canonical mid-power clues and the lead-ins seemed quite knowable as well. A lot of the stylistic and content trends were carried over from previous editions of ARCADIA as wel...
- Sun Dec 03, 2023 11:09 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2023 ARCADIA Specific Question Discussion
- Replies: 13
- Views: 990
Re: 2023 ARCADIA Specific Question Discussion
I'm going to borrow the Eric Mukherjee/Mike Bentley style of running notes on the packets I played: - Packet 1 - What a choice of tossup to lead off with! I get that you're talking about fixed cost as an aggregate quantity, but I think it's worth accounting for the fact that fixed costs are usually ...
- Sun Dec 03, 2023 9:24 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
- Topic: 2023 Arcadia at Claremont (12/2/23)
- Replies: 1
- Views: 1401
Re: 2023 Arcadia at Claremont (12/2/23)
Stats for this tournament are now available.
- Thu Nov 23, 2023 6:12 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: How many "cooks" is "too many cooks" (when producing a set)?
- Replies: 5
- Views: 2940
Re: How many "cooks" is "too many cooks" (when producing a set)?
Fourthly, I do think we should gently encourage a certain amount of "grip it and rip it," especially for lower level collegiate tournaments. I remember my second MUT, I was told I was going to be the literature editor. Surprise! And some of my questions were originally pretty poor. Now, I...
- Mon Nov 13, 2023 2:24 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
- Topic: 2024 IQBT Undergraduate Championship - Congrats to Cornell!
- Replies: 44
- Views: 15028
Re: 2024 IQBT Undergraduate Championship - Columbia U (NYC) - 3/2-3/3/24
Given that this tournament costs more to attend than ACF Nationals, with few opportunities for discounts, I might suggest online alternatives to canceling?
- Thu Sep 07, 2023 2:28 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” Discussion
- Replies: 3
- Views: 3502
Re: “Questions based on Wikipedia links Ophir sent me” Discussion
All tournaments should have history distributions inspired by Ophir.
- Mon Aug 21, 2023 2:16 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
- Topic: Age of Empires II (Actually, this time!)
- Replies: 2
- Views: 1274
Re: Age of Empires II (Actually, this time!)
I am super excited for this. Also, in the Theology/Philosophy/Thought distribution, does the Western subdistribution encompass Byzantine and Islamic thought, or is it more focused on the Latin West? "Christian thought" might be a better label for how the distribution is currently shaping ...
- Sun Aug 20, 2023 8:33 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
- Topic: Age of Empires II (Actually, this time!)
- Replies: 2
- Views: 1274
Age of Empires II (Actually, this time!)
I'm pleased to announce that Ankit Aggarwal and I have resumed work on Age of Empires II, a side event that will be available next year (targeting Spring/Summer). This tournament's subject material will cover the period between 500 and 1500 A.D. in keeping with its namesake game. The goal is to imit...
- Tue Aug 15, 2023 11:44 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2023 Chicago Open - General Discussion and Thanks
- Replies: 41
- Views: 19833
Re: 2023 Chicago Open - General Discussion and Thanks
Playing on a team with John Lawrence, I did not get many opportunities to answer classical music questions at this tournament and was very hesitant to buzz when they did crop up. One thing I did notice, though, was that the tossups felt like they emphasized "being in the music world," musi...
- Wed Aug 09, 2023 3:04 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2023 Chicago Open - General Discussion and Thanks
- Replies: 41
- Views: 19833
Re: 2023 Chicago Open - General Discussion and Thanks
I definitely agree with Andrew that I prefer open tournaments to actually use the latitude that they're given. People who sign up for CO know what they're getting and getting a healthy serving of hard answers, or not-necessarily-hard-but-unlikely-elsewhere answers, is part of the magic of the tourna...
- Mon Aug 07, 2023 4:10 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2023 Chicago Open - Specific Question Discussion
- Replies: 17
- Views: 7988
Re: 2023 Chicago Open - Specific Question Discussion
As usual, CO social science delivered a wide range of fresh and interesting concepts. Somehow I don't think I've heard a tossup on portfolios before in quizbowl, so that was a nice approach to well-trodden financial topics; I do think it could have spent a bit more time describing the portfolio sepa...
- Mon Aug 07, 2023 8:12 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2023 Chicago Open - Stories and Favorite Moments
- Replies: 3
- Views: 3885
Re: 2023 Chicago Open - Stories and Favorite Moments
At lunch, I was speaking about Age of Empires II e-sports with Ankit Aggarwal. To our immense surprise, John Lawrence understood what we were talking about based on player names alone (DauT, Hera, etc.) A couple of rounds later, our team got the trebuchet bonus and I swiftly 30d, giddily noting that...
- Fri Jun 30, 2023 7:51 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
- Topic: 2023 NASAT @ Columbia (Open)
- Replies: 11
- Views: 4235
Re: 2023 NASAT @ Columbia (Open)
Seeking teammates, especially ones who know science of various sorts.
- Sat Jun 24, 2023 2:40 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
- Topic: Ahead by a Century: A History Side Event
- Replies: 5
- Views: 2449
Re: Ahead by a Century: A History Side Event
sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet
- Fri Jun 23, 2023 3:27 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: Should ACF tossups be shorter?
- Replies: 30
- Views: 12669
Re: Should ACF tossups be shorter?
Some context is due regarding my comment about editing DEES in 2014. Naturally, I was a less experienced editor at the time and also a player heavily focused on memorizing discrete facts and clue-connections; I was also primarily a history and beliefs player. These are categories that, like all othe...
- Wed Jun 21, 2023 1:26 am
- Forum: Miscellaneous Quizbowl
- Topic: Geoword
- Replies: 29
- Views: 11566
Re: Geoword
Strongly agree with Ryan. For D1, I think tougher answers in particular are a wise choice given the format. Beterword-style formats excessively reward conservative play, since you get at least 10 for waiting until the end, but nothing if you get it wrong anywhere; this is different from normal quizb...
- Tue Jun 20, 2023 12:15 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: Should ACF tossups be shorter?
- Replies: 30
- Views: 12669
Re: Should ACF tossups be shorter?
Seven lines seems like plenty to me at most difficulty levels. If cutting lines also meant more games, then I could see a good case for making Winter and Regs into six line affairs. I recall editing DEES in 2014 and not having too much of a an issue making six line regular difficulty questions, thou...
- Thu Jun 15, 2023 9:30 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: Reworking the History Distribution
- Replies: 13
- Views: 7032
Re: Reworking the History Distribution
With regards to the history distribution, I think we're mostly in a good spot but could do with a few tweaks that would hopefully nudge writers towards closing a lot of existing blind spots. I'd advocate: Putting British/Irish history inside Euro - not sure how consistently this is done across tourn...
- Wed Jun 14, 2023 3:43 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: The Direction of ACF Winter
- Replies: 4
- Views: 4897
Re: The Direction of ACF Winter
I recall reacting to 2020 ACF Winter with the impression that the set's tossups were on-point, or even a wee a bit tough at times compared to what I expected, while the bonuses could have stood to be a smidge harder but it wasn't the end of the world. Glancing over a few packets now, I would stand b...
- Mon Jun 05, 2023 11:35 pm
- Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
- Topic: Greatest High School Quiz Bowl Players Ever
- Replies: 15
- Views: 9354
Re: Greatest High School Quiz Bowl Players Ever
If we treat "skill as a three- or four-dot player while still in high school" as a metric something like "most able to scale to arbitrarily high difficulties," Tommy Casalaspi was obviously on a different plane than everyone else when it came to reading, writing, and buzzing on ...
- Sun May 07, 2023 2:57 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: Five Questions I Liked From 2023 ACF Nationals — And Five I Didn’t
- Replies: 7
- Views: 4759
Re: Five Questions I Liked From 2023 ACF Nationals — And Five I Didn’t
Personally I'm a fan of the Burckhardt question - sure, quotes from long books aren't always ideal clues, but I think this one was well chosen (even if I mis-remembered where it was from and negged with Huizinga in playtesting). For a better buzz curve it might have been better off as a common link ...
- Fri Apr 28, 2023 3:17 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2022-2023 End of Season Player Poll
- Replies: 22
- Views: 12769
Re: 2022-2023 End of Season Player Poll
I'll beat a dead horse and say vote for Itamar, though this time I don't think folks will need as much convincing.
- Mon Apr 24, 2023 9:31 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2023 ACF Nationals Specific Question Discussion
- Replies: 53
- Views: 50991
Re: 2023 ACF Nationals Specific Question Discussion
Seconded on the 1967 tossup. Both myself and my teammate realized from the third line that it was cluing the long, hot summer, but neither of us seemed to remember if it was in 1967 or 1968 (and I did eventually neg with 1968). I'm not sure how well it would have played, but perhaps just tossing up...
- Sun Apr 16, 2023 1:52 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2023 BHSU: General discussion
- Replies: 35
- Views: 14742
Re: 2023 BHSU: General discussion
I see Other Academic as a healthy "wheel of fortune" category, in that it varies a lot from tournament to tournament and that's part of what makes it fun. Other Academic is a great outlet for the editor/writers to put their personal interests on paper and dredge up clues/topics that quizbo...
- Sun Apr 02, 2023 8:35 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: Where are you going next year? (Collegiate 2023)
- Replies: 12
- Views: 9340
Re: Where are you going next year? (Collegiate 2023)
Not exactly collegiate, but I'm ~99% sure that I'm moving back to New York this year, likely close to winter. Will happily staff a few local events (yay, not having to drive!) and look forward to playing opens here.
- Tue Mar 14, 2023 8:28 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2023 BHSU: Specific question discussion
- Replies: 59
- Views: 36260
Re: 2023 BHSU: Specific question discussion
Strictly speaking, the Khmer empire was not confined to present-day Cambodia and included substantial parts of present-day Thailand, as well as parts of today's Myanmar and Vietnam, at its height. I see what the writer is trying to get at but unless we can show that the oldest prang are from sites i...
- Tue Feb 28, 2023 1:11 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2023 BHSU: Specific question discussion
- Replies: 59
- Views: 36260
Re: 2023 BHSU: Specific question discussion
I'd definitely agree that this set's difficulty really shouldn't be beefed up much. I'd like more tournaments to be at this "classic MO" level. To use the “internet service” example Matt and Will brought up, I’ll embarrass myself and admit I have no idea why “balloons” + “remote areas” cou...
- Mon Feb 27, 2023 2:29 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2023 BHSU: Specific question discussion
- Replies: 59
- Views: 36260
Re: 2023 BHSU: Specific question discussion
Also, re: the "elevation" tossup, I too was planning to neg that with "salinity" when a teammate buzzed in first and got it right. Flamingos, generally, are known for living in highly-saline bodies of water. Thankfully Mike buzzed and got this right as well, but I was unsure wha...
- Mon Feb 27, 2023 2:04 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2023 BHSU: Favorite questions/clues/buzzes/moments
- Replies: 21
- Views: 4123
Re: 2023 BHSU: Favorite questions/clues/buzzes/moments
Probably my favorite buzz of the tournament was inexplicably recognizing the quotation of an Akan proverb that was used in the lead-in of the Ghana tossup. I was pretty miserable playing most of this event (not because of the questions, mind you) but that brightened up my day. The other tossup highl...
- Sun Feb 26, 2023 4:47 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2023 BHSU: General discussion
- Replies: 35
- Views: 14742
Re: 2023 BHSU: General discussion
I'll probably have some more thoughts later, but one positive aspect of this tournament I wanted to immediately highlight was its length control. Tossups were certainly shorter than events at similar levels and bonuses didn't amble on for particularly long. I don't think this created many buzzer rac...
- Sun Feb 05, 2023 2:50 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: Who's Doing CO This Year?
- Replies: 31
- Views: 8387
Re: Who's Doing CO This Year?
Second everything Matt said.
- Sat Feb 04, 2023 3:46 am
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2023 ACF Regionals Discussion
- Replies: 27
- Views: 8292
Re: 2023 ACF Regionals Discussion
Without getting deep into the details, I wanted to be sure to say how much I loved this edition of Regs, which I think is, in the categories I feel I also have to say that I really enjoy what seems to me to be Nick Jensen's signature geographical/cultural/"world" flavor that seasons most ...
- Tue Jan 31, 2023 5:28 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: 2023 ACF Regionals Discussion
- Replies: 27
- Views: 8292
Re: 2023 ACF Regionals Discussion
From playing over this set on QBreader, I generally agree with the comments that the bonuses were on the whole well-thought out and generally had reasonably gettable hard parts. In fact, this set might have been my favorite set of myth bonuses ever. . What struck me as negative was how hard a lot of...
- Fri Dec 23, 2022 4:08 pm
- Forum: Collegiate Discussion
- Topic: The Winningest Quizbowl Team of "All Time"
- Replies: 9
- Views: 3425
Re: The Winningest Quizbowl Team of "All Time"
victoryInterestingly, despite all of their hype and prestige, no Ivy League schools appear in the top five of the wins list (Columbia is the highest of the eight).
- Mon Dec 05, 2022 6:05 pm
- Forum: College area archives
- Topic: 2022 CMST II at UC Berkeley (December 17th 2022)
- Replies: 8
- Views: 3635
Re: 2022 CMST II at UC Berkeley (December 17th 2022)
As much as in person play is superior, the audience doesn't really seem there right now and it's not the most convenient time for traveling. I'd personally prefer this to be converted to an online event to draw a larger crowd.