The Quizbowl Resource Center

by **tribble** » Sun Jul 03, 2011 1:52 pm

TJ will be hosting its annual housewrite, the Outstanding Like Excellent Fantastic INvitational, on Saturday, October 8, 2011.

Registration fees will be $70 a team, with $10 discounts for complete, working buzzer systems, experienced moderators, and travelling over 200 miles. Checks should be made payable to “TJHSST” with “Quizbowl tournament” in the subject line. We would prefer that checks be brought on the day of the tournament, but mailing them in advance works, too. Checks should be mailed c/o Carolyn Gecan.

Sign up at: http://activities.tjhsst.edu/quizbowl/tjiatreg.php

We’re currently uncertain about what the field cap will be, since it depends on our club membership in the coming school year, but we are aiming for 24-36 teams for this tournament.

Registration will start at 8:00, with rounds hopefully starting by 9:00. Breakfast will be provided.

Location:
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST)
6560 Braddock Road
Alexandria, VA 22312

Feel free to email tjhsstquizbowl@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Hope to see you there!

by **Down and out in Quintana Roo** » Sun Jul 03, 2011 3:07 pm

Hard to declare our attendance this early, but most likely, we should be there.

by **Transparent Pudding** » Sun Jul 03, 2011 3:54 pm

I should be able to read if you need me, but only if you change the name to SIDDHARTH.

by **Smuttynose Island** » Sun Jul 03, 2011 4:08 pm

Given that there was some confusion in the IRC it's probably a good idea to state that this tournament will be running last year's cancelled housewrite, written by members of the 2010-2011 club.

EDIT: To be as clear as possible, this tournament will be running the canceled GREYSON set from last year. Additionally, this set will be completely playtested before the tournament date.

by **tribble** » Sun Jul 03, 2011 7:39 pm

Field (21):
C. D. Hylton
Caesar Rodney
Cave Spring (2)
Centennial
Clover Hill
Detroit Catholic Central
Georgetown Day School (2)
Gonzaga
Howard
Longfellow (2)
Marshall
Richard Montgomery
Robinson
St. Anselms
St. Joe's
State College (2)
Whitman

by **Smuttynose Island** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 12:20 am

Bumped because I think that more people should consider mirroring what is turning out to be an excellent set.

EDIT: If you are interested in mirroring this set you should send an email to tjhsstquizbowl[at]gmail[dot]com

by **Down and out in Quintana Roo** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 12:22 am

I assume that the few current events questions are going to be rewritten and/or heavily edited?

by **Smuttynose Island** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 12:24 am

List of villages in West Virginia wrote:I assume that the few current events questions are going to be rewritten and/or heavily edited?

They are on my "to do" list after I finish running the playtest of the entire set and finish those edits.

by **Down and out in Quintana Roo** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 12:32 am

Great!

Since this is one of the 3 single weekends out of the first 10 weekends of the schoolyear that our top player Alexa can actually make it (cross-country meets on most of them), we're definitely looking forward to this tournament.

by **tribble** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 5:55 pm

For those of you who are interested, the OLEFIN set will be mirrored at the following location(s):
University of Illinois

by **RyuAqua** » Sat Sep 03, 2011 1:23 am

I just wanted to jump in and strongly recommend that any teams in the DC area and beyond play this set if they get the chance. Daniel Hothem has been an absolute hero for the OLEFIN set, writing over a hundred questions and comprehensively playtesting the entire question set online, category by category, to get the feedback of more experienced editors as to what does and doesn't play well with teams across the spectrum. The set is shaping up very well as a result of his hard, dedicated work, and you'll want to thank him and the rest of the TJ crew by experiencing it firsthand.

by **DrCongo** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 8:17 pm

Will there be a field update any time soon? Thanks

by **huff paste** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 11:57 pm

DrCongo wrote:Will there be a field update any time soon? Thanks

It looks like they're keeping track of registrations here.

by **tribble** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 5:39 pm

CelebriDucks wrote:It looks like they're keeping track of registrations here.

In addition, I've been updating the "field" post as team registrations have come in. Sorry if this has caused any confusion.
On a related note, this tournament is just under a month away, so now is a good time to sign up!

by **jonathanmarx** » Sun Sep 18, 2011 12:09 pm

I don't know if you guys have considered this, but this tournament falls on Yom Kippur, meaning that most (even nonobservant) Jews (including 3 of our 6 top players) are not going to be able to attend.

Any chance this can get changed?

by **salmon of wisdom** » Sun Sep 18, 2011 3:46 pm

jonathanmarx wrote:I don't know if you guys have considered this, but this tournament falls on Yom Kippur, meaning that most (even nonobservant) Jews (including 3 of our 6 top players) are not going to be able to attend.

Any chance this can get changed?

We have similar sentiments.

by **Down and out in Quintana Roo** » Sun Sep 18, 2011 3:49 pm

We would not be able to attend at all if the tournament were moved.

by **tribble** » Sun Sep 18, 2011 7:12 pm

We considered this several months ago and decided to go with holding the tournament on October 8. If fewer than twelve teams sign up, we'll reschedule the tournament to a later date. If your school ends up not sending a team because of Yom Kippur, we're sorry for the inconvenience and hope to see you at another tournament later this year.

by **Howard** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 1:11 pm

After a long stretch of bad weekends for us at TJ, this one looks like a winner. We'll have at least one team (may have two) with one moderator and two buzzers. I'll be completing the registration for one team shortly.

If I need to update this (presuming I don't receive instructions during the registration), what would be the preferred method?

by **Down and out in Quintana Roo** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 3:51 pm

I feel like this was answered somewhere, but is the difficulty of this going to be similar to, like, the NAREN set a little while ago? Harder than that? Easier?

by **tribble** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 5:46 pm

Howard wrote:If I need to update this (presuming I don't receive instructions during the registration), what would be the preferred method?

To change your information, login here. This has the dual purpose of updating it on our website and notifying the TDs of the changes.

List of villages in West Virginia wrote:I feel like this was answered somewhere, but is the difficulty of this going to be similar to, like, the NAREN set a little while ago? Harder than that? Easier?

The set should be somewhat easier than our 2010 NAREN set.

by **The Herb** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 7:53 pm

Detroit Catholic Central?!?!?

by **DrCongo** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 9:37 pm

The Herb wrote:Detroit Catholic Central?!?!?

Indeed.

by **Smuttynose Island** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 2:01 am

The Herb wrote:Detroit Catholic Central?!?!?

They have a history of travelling and even came out to FRIGHT last year at RM with both their A team and B team.

by **Edward Powers** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 9:42 am

Saint Joe's has just registered one team, and if we can register a 2nd, we will do so on your official site ASAP.

EDIT OF 10/3/11: SJHS will be bringing only one team.

by **tribble** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 5:33 pm

OLEFIN is now just one week away! Registration will close at 4:00 on Friday afternoon, so if your school has been waiting to register or add a second team, please do it sometime this week.

by **SmallerMegalomaniacalPandaOnAbsinthe** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 6:26 pm

Will questions have power markings at this tournament?

by **Smuttynose Island** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 10:06 pm

SmallerMegalomaniacalPandaOnAbsinthe wrote:Will questions have power markings at this tournament?

Yes they will be.

by **tribble** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 7:57 pm

Field update: we currently have 21 teams signed up and intend to cap the field at 24 teams. Registration will still close at 4:00 on Friday afternoon, so sign up now if you intend to come!

by **Down and out in Quintana Roo** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 8:37 pm

This is a pretty amazing field. I hope 3 more good quizbowl teams come to hear what i'm sure is going to be a great set.

by **sir negsalot** » Fri Oct 07, 2011 3:44 pm

How will the brackets work with 21 teams?

by **Edward Powers** » Fri Oct 07, 2011 6:31 pm

I would have emailed this question had I thought of it earlier, but since there is so little time, I thought this would be the place to get the quickest answer, so here is my question:

Since we are traveling over 200 miles tomorrow morning, do you have an emergency phone number we can call in case we have transportation problems? I do not foresee such problems, but just in case, is there a # at which any official rep of OLEFIN can be reached? If you prefer to email it to the address on my registration form, that is fine, but perhaps everyone involved should be sent this number?

Also, I am as curious as Dan Galitsky: If the registration stays at 21 teams, will you have 4 brackets, 3 with 5 teams and one with 6, so all brackets have 5 round prelims, with 3 of the 4 brackets also having byes, so that 8 rounds are saved for playoffs, or will you have 3 brackets with 7 teams each, necessitating 7 rounds with everyone having a bye but leaving only 6 rounds for playoffs? Curious here in the northeast...

by **tribble** » Fri Oct 07, 2011 7:56 pm

We're planning on three brackets of five and one bracket of six for prelims. Hopefully, we can scrape together a scab team or a team of freshmen who haven't seen the set in order to give everybody more time to play, but I can't guarantee that at the moment.

I'll email my cell phone number out to the team contact people later tonight, as you suggested.

Looking forward to seeing everybody tomorrow!

by **kamikaze** » Fri Oct 07, 2011 10:07 pm

If it helps, we're bringing a couple of extras to rotate into our teams. If you need some scabs, we can volunteer two players.

by **ryandillon** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 5:31 pm

I'm being told that DCC just won the first game of a final in which St. Anselm's had the advantage. Game 2 about to begin.

by **Smuttynose Island** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 5:53 pm

St. Anselm's won the final game of an advantaged final after losing the first game to DCC A. Thanks to everyone who came out fo OLEFIN, we hope to see you next year. Additionally, I plan for a question discussion forum to be created so that people can discuss the set and will let you guys know when that is up.

by **SmallerMegalomaniacalPandaOnAbsinthe** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 6:48 pm

Yeah, please do let us know -- there were a couple of interesting clues/placements that deserve to be talked about...

by **sir negsalot** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 7:35 pm

The questions were very good, very similar to last years St Anselms/Torrey Pines. The trend toward conservative difficulty seems to be good for the non-elite teams. Only one tossup went dead for us in the entire tournament i believe

by **Longstride** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 7:51 pm

stats?

by **Down and out in Quintana Roo** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:29 pm

Longstride wrote:stats?

Looks like they're online here, on the right column: http://www.hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/13/

by **tribble** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:35 pm

Prelims and playoffs!

Teams were placed into playoff brackets based on win/loss record and bonus conversion. Games against the house/scab teams X,Y, and Z weren't counted for these purposes. In the bottom bracket, team X was dissolved and teams Y and Z merged to get a four-team bracket that played a double round robin while the other three brackets played a five-game round robin.

Any issues with stats or commentary on the tournament in general should be directed to me via the forums or to the TJ quizbowl officers at tjhsstquizbowl@gmail.com. Issues or commentary on questions should be directed to Daniel Hothem. We ask that you not publicly discuss questions until all mirrors have been finished.

A special shout-out needs to go to our amazing Class of 2011 graduates, who gave up part of their long weekend to come back and staff. Thanks to Olivia, Thalia, Sid, Stephen, Graham, and last but not least Daniel for the experience and support they all provided.

Thanks to everybody who came today! My apologies for posting stats late, and for any teams that had to wait around longer than should have been necessary to retrieve their buzzer sets.

by **Down and out in Quintana Roo** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 1:45 pm

This was a great tournament with lots of really good teams. I enjoyed very much moderating here because there were lots of great games. I also wanted to thank the scorekeeper i had in the afternoon (i didn't catch his name) as he was one of the most accurate and quickest scorekeepers i've ever had as a high school student. Just in general, TJ kids always do a great job hosting this event.

I would like to know why there was a mini-delay after lunch time. There seemed to take a little more time than i thought was necessary to figure out the playoff seedings and brackets, but that wasn't a huge deal. We really did need to leave at 5pm and we left just a few minutes after, so it was okay... still, with many of the games i moderated taking only 25-30 minutes, i was confused as to how the day could have taken this long.

The set itself was very good. I definitely enjoyed having a true moderate difficulty tournament as a housewrite. That's a rare but pleasing phenomenon. The bonuses were very accessible and i very rarely saw any of them zeroed, except for science and a few lit ones. The tossups were probably a little bit harder to me, but when i'm reading to two B teams (or a middle school team) and still like 14 or 15 tossups are being answered, that's just awesome.

by **Down and out in Quintana Roo** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 1:57 pm

It looks like Round Report wasn't enabled, nor were the individual rounds even typed in for the statistics. There appears to be a round with much much lower bonus conversion that i'm noticing, but i can't tell which one it was. Can these things be fixed so we can take a look at this possible anomaly?

by **Edward Powers** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 2:17 pm

Thanks to all at TJ for an excellent tournament, especially to Daniel for editing a great set and to Sarah for organizing everything. And congratulations to Saint Anselm's for earning the OLEFIN Championship in a very strong field.

by **tribble** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 3:27 pm

List of villages in West Virginia wrote:It looks like Round Report wasn't enabled, nor were the individual rounds even typed in for the statistics. There appears to be a round with much much lower bonus conversion that i'm noticing, but i can't tell which one it was. Can these things be fixed so we can take a look at this possible anomaly?

Round reports should be enabled now; sorry they weren't up earlier. I think the round you're talking about is round 7?

The delay after lunch was mostly just caused by a combination of various factors: we had two new TDs running slightly behind on entering stats, figuring out how to upload stats, rearranging moderators and laptops, and trying to photocopy playoff brackets in a school where students aren't allowed in the copy room. Peter and I apologize for what was really an unnecessary delay and hope it wasn't a terrible inconvenience to everybody. Thalia and Olivia were absolutely indispensable while this was going on and truly deserve a share of the praise.

by **Down and out in Quintana Roo** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 4:15 pm

tribble wrote:
List of villages in West Virginia wrote:It looks like Round Report wasn't enabled, nor were the individual rounds even typed in for the statistics. There appears to be a round with much much lower bonus conversion that i'm noticing, but i can't tell which one it was. Can these things be fixed so we can take a look at this possible anomaly?

Round reports should be enabled now; sorry they weren't up earlier. I think the round you're talking about is round 7?

Yes, that looks like it... a lot of teams had sub-15pbb numbers for that round and no others on the day. Honestly i don't remember what it was about those bonus questions that made them harder (probably because i wasn't scorekeeping anymore), but looking back at the numbers, that's a good drop for almost all teams.

by **Smuttynose Island** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 7:58 pm

A private disscussion for OLEFIN has been created. To join go to the "User Control Panel" and find "OLEFIN Discussion" under the "Usergroups" tab and ask to join it.

by **tribble** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 6:10 pm

We're pleased to announce that OLEFIN has been certified platinum by PACE; thus, the top 25% of the field qualifies for NSC.

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