The Quizbowl Resource Center

I am proud to announce that the University of Toronto Quizbowl Club will be hosting the Ontario mirror of ACF Regionals. I will be working with the club execs to ensure that everything runs smoothly and that nobody crashes the tournament in one of their drunken stupors. If you have any questions about anything from tournament details to how to skip out on city council meetings so you can coach High School football, please send me an email at [email protected]. I will do my best to give you helpful answers, even if you fail to ask me exactly the right questions.

When and Where Is The Tournament Going To Be?

This tournament will be held in Sidney Smith Hall (SS) on the St. George campus. We will be meeting in SS2101 no later than 8:30am (the tournament will begin at #9amsharp). This 8:30am arrival is especially important for all people staffing this tournament. We hope to finish this tournament by 5pm.

A map to SS can be found here:

http://map.utoronto.ca/marker/sidney-smith-hall

Am I Eligible To Play In This Tournament?

As per the ACF guidelines, you must be enrolled at a University or High School to play in this tournament. All teams in this tournament must consist of players from a single school. If you are still curious as to whether you are eligible to play, send an email to the editors at [email protected] and they should be able to help you out.

Do I Have To Submit A Packet To Play?

Any team whose roster contains a player who has played a regular, collegiate, academic quizbowl tournament prior to September 1, 2012 must submit a packet in order to play this tournament. In addition to this, you can earn discounts to your entry fee by submitting your packet according to the following schedule (packets must be sent by 11:59pm on the listed date in order to claim the corresponding discount):

December 21, 2013: -$50
January 4, 2014: -$25 (-$50 for teams that don't have to submit a packet)
January 18, 2014: no penalty (-$25 for teams that don't have to submit a packet)
February 1, 2014: +$25
February 8, 2014: +$50
After that: +$10 for each additional day. Teams that are required to submit a packet and do not won't be allowed to play.

So submit your packets early to [email protected] with the subject line "[name of school + team designation] PACKET" (e.g. Toronto A PACKET). Packets must contain 24 tossups and 24 bonuses each (24/24) according to the following distribution:

Literature 5/5
History 5/5
Science 5/5
Religion, Mythology and Philosophy 3/3
Fine Arts 3/3
Social Science 1/1
Geography/Current Events: 1/1
Pop Culture: 1/0 or 0/1
Any Academic Category: 1/0 or 0/1

ACF Regionals is a regular difficulty tournament. To get a feel of what this means with respect to your packet, you can find packets from previous iterations of this tournament here and here. We also recommend that you read the full packet submission guide for information about question content, formatting, etc.

So How Do I Sign Up? And How Much Is It Going To Cost?

The signup process for ACF tournaments is completely centralized and you can sign up using this spreadsheet. Also please send me an email at [email protected] so that I know that you're coming.

The fee structure for the tournament is as follows:

Base Fee: $120
Buzzers: -$5 each, no limit
Staffers: -$10 each, no limit
Laptop: -$5 each, limit 1 per team
Distance: -$10 for every 200km that you will be travelling (one way)
International: -$20 for any team coming from outside of Canada
New To ACF: -$25 if your school hasn't played in ACF Fall, Regionals or Nationals between Sept. 2011 and Aug. 2013 and nobody on your team has played one of these tournaments for another school
New To Quizbowl: -$75 if your school hasn't played in any regular collegiate academic tournament since Sept. 2011 and nobody on your team has played one of these tournaments for another school (this can be combined with the new to ACF discount for a total discount of $100)

Minimum Fee: $0

Is There A Cap On The Size of the Field For This Tournament?

At this time there is no field cap. However, in the case that circumstances require us to institute one, we will be sure to update this section as soon as we find out.

So whether you've just started playing or are a full-blown quizbowl addict, we hope to see you down in Toronto in February. And once again, feel free to direct any questions to [email protected]

Final Field Update

CMU (1) (packet submitted at $0 deadline)
Colonel By (1) (packet submitted at -$25 deadline [packet optional])
McMaster (1) (packet submitted at +$25 deadline)
Ottawa (1) (packet submitted at $0 deadline)
Toronto (1) (house team)
Waterloo (3) (packet submitted at -$50 deadline)

Buffalo is ~80% on attendance at this point. We'd have one team, one laptop, 2 buzzers, and bells on our toes.

adosreme wrote:I will be working with the club execs to ensure that everything runs smoothly and that nobody crashes the tournament in one of their drunken stupors.

I'll be happy to join your crack team of staffers if needed.

Waterloo will bring her gang of idiots if we can be promised that Dennis Beeby will not be at this tournament.

the third garrideb wrote:I'll be happy to join your crack team of staffers if needed.

I need you to be there, Huma.

You can expect at least one, probably two teams from Mac. One of those teams should be a novice team, and the other will most decidedly be anti-novice due to my advanced age.

I did hear Rico promise to bring cookies, which interests me, although I have more than enough to eat at home.

Ottawa will be there, likely 2 teams, no telling about bells on our toes.

Carleton will send 1 team (which will be UG and DII), 1 buzzer set, 0 staffers, 1 laptop, and a boatload of fun to this tournament. We have also submitted our pack as of today.

The list of teams who have registered for this tournament may be found here.

Colonel By will be sending precisely one team to this.

Is the discount determined by every 200 km or 200 miles? Would just like to verify this as this changes the numbers (and discounts) by quite a bit.
Also, are a set of 8 BuzzBox buzzers + a laptop eligible for a buzzer system discount? We'll also bring a second laptop (it wouldn't make sense for the laptop powering the BuzzBox buzzers to count towards the laptop discount).

Looking forward to seeing (and playing against) you all there!

TedGan wrote:Colonel By will be sending precisely one team to this.

Is the discount determined by every 200 km or 200 miles? Would just like to verify this as this changes the numbers (and discounts) by quite a bit.
Also, are a set of 8 BuzzBox buzzers + a laptop eligible for a buzzer system discount? We'll also bring a second laptop (it wouldn't make sense for the laptop powering the BuzzBox buzzers to count towards the laptop discount).

Looking forward to seeing (and playing against) you all there!

First Canadian high school team to play an ACF tournament!

TedGan wrote:Colonel By will be sending precisely one team to this.

Is the discount determined by every 200 km or 200 miles? Would just like to verify this as this changes the numbers (and discounts) by quite a bit.
Also, are a set of 8 BuzzBox buzzers + a laptop eligible for a buzzer system discount? We'll also bring a second laptop (it wouldn't make sense for the laptop powering the BuzzBox buzzers to count towards the laptop discount).

Looking forward to seeing (and playing against) you all there!

To everyone else who has similar questions:

The discount is per 200km...we're happy to offer greater distance discounts if it encourages people from far away to come.

As for BuzzBox, you've hit it right on the head. If you bring a laptop with it (in addition to the one that you bring for the laptop discount), then we'll be happy to give you that discount. Regarding BuzzBox in general, they are frowned upon in comparison to traditional buzzer sets and will generally not be used unless we don't have enough "real" buzzers (though you'll still get the discount), but we'd rather have too many buzzers than not enough.

Aw shucks guys, I have a conference that weekend, so I won't be attending or writing a pack for this. Not sure how this impacts uOttawa's entry, but I've heard chatter that we might not make it, after all. I'm very sad to miss it, and very eager and curious to see Colonel By's performance (so I guess I am Colonel By-curious).

Best of luck to all the teams; should be a fun tournament.

Any hotel/lodging recommendations? (preferably those fairly close to the tournament site)

Unfortunately, I am not extremely informed regarding accommodations for ACF Regionals. I posted your question on our facebook group and got one response so far:

"There's a Holiday Inn near Bloor and St. George, like right near the subway station. Not sure about rates but I assume it can't be expensive."

Referring to this hotel:

https://maps.google.ca/maps?ie=UTF-8&q= ... PoBEPwSMAo

I will update you if I get any other responses.

minusfive wrote:Aw shucks guys, I have a conference that weekend, so I won't be attending or writing a pack for this. Not sure how this impacts uOttawa's entry, but I've heard chatter that we might not make it, after all.

Aayush has coerced me into playing quiz bowl against him at UT, I mean coming to see him on his birthday, so Ottawa will have a team there. I'm working on a pack (planned submission: this week's deadline); formal registration to come when that's submitted.

cruzeiro wrote: Aayush has coerced me into playing quiz bowl against him at UT, I mean coming to see him on his birthday, so Ottawa will have a team there.

Lolwut, idk what you're talking about. I really couldn't care less if you didn't come down.

(Jk, I'll hate you forever, plz come and make me feel like I have friends)

Unfortunately, Carleton will no longer be able to attend this tournament. Apologies.

The field and location information for this tournament has been updated. Check it out!

For the sake of correctness, our packet was not optional. Not that it makes any difference.

Also, someone else should register for this. I'd hate to end up with a 5-team field.

Ndg wrote:For the sake of correctness, our packet was not optional. Not that it makes any difference.

Also, someone else should register for this. I'd hate to end up with a 5-team field.

Nope, you're right. I was scanning the packet list for CMU and didn't realize that you were listed under your full name.

Also, we hope to field a house team in the event that it is necessary to make the field an even number.

We ended up getting rooms in Sidney Smith Hall after all. The tournament will be held there and the announcement has been updated accordingly.

Sounds good. McMaster will be attending on Saturday, at least in some capacity...

Hello competitors,

As you all know, ACF Regionals will be held at the University of Toronto this Saturday, February 22. We will meet in the Sidney Smith Hall (100 St George St.), room number SS 2101. This will also serve as the control room for the tournament. Please arrive by 8:30 AM. The tournament briefing will begin at 8:35, and games will commence at 9:00.

To help you find Sidney Smith Hall, we have attached pictures of the front (from St George St.) and back (from Huron St.) entrances of the building. You can also find a campus map at

http://www.osm.utoronto.ca/map/f?p=110: ... 7607259001

And now for some important information:

1. By University of Toronto policy, there is no food and drink allowed in classrooms, with the exception of water bottles. All food and drink must be consumed outside of classrooms, and be closed and stored before it is brought into the classrooms.

2. Again by University of Toronto policy, I am obliged to inform you that "This event is not a U of T event", meaning that aside from their allocation of space and recognition of the University of Toronto Academic Trivia Club, the University does not endorse the event, and is in no way connected to this event.

I have attached a copy of the schedule to this email if you wish to review it beforehand. There will be paper copies of the schedule available at the tournament.

Food, etc.

We will not be providing any food for this event; teams are responsible for their own sustenance. To help you with that, here are some recommendations:

- For those of you who are zombies until you have had your caffeine fix every morning, there is a Second Cup on the first floor of Sidney Smith that will open at 8:30 Saturday morning. Of course, this being downtown Toronto and near a major university campus, you would be hard pressed to not find a coffee shop if you really need one

- You will have an hour for lunch. Thankfully, there are several options nearby that will hopefully serve your needs. Your best bet is to walk down to College. There you will find several fast food places, including big chain options (Subway, Popeye's, etc.) as well standalone shops where you can get sandwiches, burritos, etc. I recommend College Q, on the south side of College just east of St George. They have good sandwiches, and you can get a combo with a soup and a drink as well.

Transportation

If you are taking the subway from wherever you are staying, then you should get off at St George station, and walk south along St George

For parking, there are two good options. There is an underground lot about one block north of Sidney Smith Hall on St George St. where you can park for $8. There is also another lot a little further away on Glen Morris St. between Spadina and Huron for $6, but getting to this lot will require you to come up Spadina from the south since Glen Morris is a one-way street.

We will see you all bright and early!

Regards,

Rein Otsason

I just want to extend my thanks to Rein, Rico, and all the great staffers and players who helped make the tournament. I feel that considering how things transpired, it was generally well run in all areas.

This happened. After a round robin and then a 4/4 split, Waterloo A was 7-3 with the rest of the top bracket (Ottawa, Carnegie Mellon, and Mac) all at 6-4. After tiebreaker madness, where Mac knocked out CMU and then Ottawa knocked out Mac, Waterloo then beat Ottawa in the first game of an advantaged final.

Thank you to everyone at UT for running this smoothly and to everyone for coming out today!

I certainly enjoyed this tournament, despite not winning. The tiara really seemed to work for Aayush, and the field (at least the upper bracket) seemed evenly-matched enough that it made for a very interesting competition. Thank you for hosting, all you Toronto folk!

Echoing everyone's words here. Was a great tournament, I certainly enjoyed myself. And the field was certainly evenly matched (I believe everyone lost or came within a TU of losing to everyone else in the top bracket). Which made for a hugely enjoyable day!

Thanks to Aaron, Rico, Rein and the rest of the UofT staffing team for a very well-run tournament.

I now need to go sit in a corner and deal with the fact that I need to take off the tiara.

I'd like to echo the sentiments above and say that it was a very fun and exciting tournament to host! The level of competition was very high and evenly matched and everyone was very pleasant to interact with. We were very glad to have you and hope to host you all again in the future!

Special mention goes out to Carnegie Mellon for coming up from south of the border (and for bringing us our trophies, one of which you actually won and I can hold for you until we see you again) and to Colonel By for trying their hand at a college tournament, and a non-easy one at that. (everyone I spoke to was very impressed by the level of knowledge that you displayed at this tournament and I feel that Lisgar could have some serious competition at ONQBA this year)

Stats will be uploaded as soon as Rico sends the reports to me.

Wait, what did we win? Is there an extra Crazy Tiebreaker Participation Trophy? No idea when we'll be up to get it but hopefully we will at some point.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who made this tournament happen. It was a lot of fun to have so many close games --- I think all of our games were decided by less than 100 points.

Ndg wrote:Wait, what did we win? Is there an extra Crazy Tiebreaker Participation Trophy? No idea when we'll be up to get it but hopefully we will at some point.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who made this tournament happen. It was a lot of fun to have so many close games --- I think all of our games were decided by less than 100 points.

We have a Div II 2nd place trophy for you.

Stats can be found on the tournament summary page here:

http://www.hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/1959/