Brainbusters Fall Tournament @ Ithaca, NY (12/7/2013)

[Ithaca Cricket Ump]

First of all, to give credit where credit is due, I used Cody Voight's very complete and well-written announcement for VCU Fall as the model for this tournament announcement. Actually, in some cases, I outright stole some of the phrasing for use in this announcement, so I wished to credit him as an unwitting “co-author” of this announcement before I begin. Now to the good stuff:

Ithaca High School will serve as the host for the second annual BrainBusters Fall quizbowl tournament, to be held on Saturday, December 7, 2013.

This tournament will use NAQT Invitational Series set IS-130, so it will serve as a qualifier for the 2014 NAQT High School National Championship Tournament, to be held at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Rosemont, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago) on May 30, May 31 and June 1, 2014 (the weekend after Memorial Day). Teams that finish in the top 15% of the field (rounded up) will earn berths to HSNCT 2014, and if there is no small public school (less than 500 students total, grades 10-12) among that top 15%, the top-finishing small public school will also qualify for HSNCT so long as they finish in the top half of the field. We will also be seeking affiliation with the Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence, and pending that affliation this tournament will also serve as a qualifier for the 2014 PACE NSC at the Hyatt Regency in Reston, VA (in suburban DC) on May 24-25, 2014 (Memorial Day Weekend).

Teams that are attending SUNY-Buffalo's Bull Bowl on October 26 may also play in this tournament, as Bull Bowl will be using IS-128. MasterMinds teams are also invited and encouraged to register and play, as MasterMinds uses exclusively NAQT A-sets for their competition and there will therefore be no conflict with that competition. However, IS-130 is also being used at Kellenberg's LIFT XIII on November 16, so teams that are attending that tournament and also wanted to join us in Ithaca will run into a geographic exclusivity issue this time around, unfortunately.

We are instituting an initial soft cap of 32 teams for this tournament, although IHS certainly has the available facilities to accommodate more if interest dictates.

Unlike many regular season tournaments played on NAQT questions, this tournament will be in a timed format, with the standard NAQT high school rules of 9-minute halves and one 30-second timeout per team applying. To help compensate for the various reading speeds that may be encountered among moderators, all statistics for the tournament will be calculated on a per-20-tossup-heard basis, as at HSNCT. We will be guaranteeing all teams that enter a minimum of 9 games, regardless of final position in the tournament, and probably more, depending on the turnout and tournament format used.

REGISTRATION AND FEES:

BASE FEE: $75 per team (not per school). There is no limit, at the moment, to the number of teams that can attend from one school, although we reserve the right (which will probably not be used) to limit each school to entering 2 teams.

BUZZER DISCOUNT: $10 off the total fee for a school for each working buzzer system that you bring for use in the tournament (“working”, for the purposes of this tournament, means that a minimum of eight (8) buzzers work, as well as the central control unit). You may bring as many systems as you wish, and claim the discount for each working system.

STAFF DISCOUNT: $10 discount off the school's total fee for each staffer provided by the school to help us staff the tournament. These staffers could be coaches, parents, or non-playing students. Most staffers will be assigned to serve as scorekeepers or stat-room help, although more experienced staffers may be given reading assignments (there will be a short staff meeting before the start of play). Team-provided staffers must stay through the whole tournament (with the exception of the finals) for their school to receive credit. There is no initial limit to the number of staffers that a school may provide, and receive discounts, for, as long as the preceding requirement is met; however, if we find that we're overwhelmed with prospective staffers, we reserve the right to cut off the staff discount at our discretion. (Again, it's possible, but unlikely, that this will happen.) In other words, it's first come, first served, for this discount, so get those registrations in early!

TRAVEL: $10 discount off the school's total fee if your school is travelling more than 150 miles, one-way, from your school's address to Ithaca High School, per Google Maps.

MINIMUM FEE: $0. In other words, it's theoretically possible to completely eliminate your fee by bringing enough buzzers and staffers (and coming from far away also helps a bit). No negative fees, however.

To register for the tournament, you must e-mail me at [email protected] with the number of teams you're going to bring, number of buzzers and staffers you intend to bring, an e-mail address where you can be contacted with details, and a cell phone number belonging to someone who will be attending the tournament, so that we can track you down if you are running late. Feel free to share this announcement with any schools that you think would be interested in attending. There is no further registration form or other action needed on your part in order to be officially registered; you only need to e-mail me at the above e-mail address with the information requested.

METHODS OF PAYMENT: All teams must pay by the day of the tournament. We prefer to accept payment in person right before the tournament starts, but we will accept checks by mail ahead of time if that is what is required by your school. Teams who do not pay by the day of the tournament will be charged a $25 penalty and will have two weeks to pay their total amount before we start mailing letters to your school administration about it.

We can accept cash, personal checks, or checks from a school, school district, or quizbowl club funds. We have no ability to process purchase orders, credit cards, Paypal, or any other forms of payment. Bringing forms of payment outside of the three listed will be considered nonpayment and subject you to the $25 late payment penalty.

All checks must be made out to “Scott Blish”. If you require a pre-tournament invoice in order to have a check cut, you must let me know by November 15, so that I can send you the paperwork in time. If you don't let me know about this requirement by November 15, and it causes you to come to the tournament without payment, then you will be subject to the $25 late payment penalty.

TEAM & ROSTER SIZE: There may be a maximum of six (6) players on one team's roster, up to four (4) of whom may play at one time. If you bring more than 6 players, you must register a second team to have them all play. Teams may substitute during games when a timeout is called by either team, at halftime, or (in the case of overtime games) before the start of overtime. Each player may appear on only one team's roster throughout the day; there is no switching from the B team to the A team, etc. Teams may play shorthanded.

FOOD: Neither breakfast nor lunch will be provided by the tournament this year, but we will be taking orders from teams that wish to place orders for food delivery (most likely from the regionally-famous Ithaca Bakery, although the official provider hasn't been determined yet) after they are registered for the tournament. Payment for lunch is, of course, due on the morning of the tournament.

Please e-mail me with any questions you may have regarding this tournament. Hopefully, we will see many teams from New York, Pennsylvania, and surrounding states and provinces on December 7.

Scott Blish
Tournament Director, BrainBusters Fall

[Ithaca Cricket Ump]

Important note: the following announcement and website link supercedes the previous BrainBusters Fall announcement, as we are now able to process credit card payments and have changed some other important information regarding the BrainBusters Fall Tournament.

The official tournament announcement is now found at http://brainbustersfalltournament.webs.com/ .

The website for online registration (to be used if paying via credit card or Paypal) is found at http://brainbustersfalltournament.webs.com/registration .

The website containing the PDF to be mailed to me (the address on the form) if paying your fee by check or money order is found at http://brainbustersfalltournament.webs.com/pdf , and will be live by the end of the business day, Monday, September 16, 2013.

We will still accept payment via any of the above methods, or cash, at IHS on the day of the tournament, but those payments will be subject to a $10 late fee as explained on the website. We still have no ability to process purchase orders, but will provide a detailed invoice if required by your school and we are notified in advance.

Also of interest may be the links page on the BB Fall website, http://brainbusterstq.com/quiz-bowl-links-1.html, intended as an introduction for many of the teams attending BrainBusters Fall who may be attending their first-ever weekend tournament and may not be familiar with these resources, or with good quizbowl in general. If there's any glaring omissions here that anyone thinks I should add, drop me a line and let me know.

Unfortunately, due to geographic exclusivity issues with NAQT question set IS-130, teams that are attending Kellenberg's LIFT tournament will not also be able to attend BB Fall this year. However, there is no conflict with SUNY-Buffalo's Bull Bowl or the MasterMinds regular season or playoffs.

--Scott

Current field:
Ithaca (2 or 3 teams, 1 buzzer, ? staff)
Amsterdam (1 or 2 teams, 1 buzzer)
Delaware Valley (tentative)
Fillmore (1 team, 1 buzzer)
Genesee Valley (1 team)
Geneva (1 team, multiple staff)
Oneonta (2 teams)
Whitney Point (2 teams, 1 buzzer)

[Ithaca Cricket Ump]

Several field updates with about 6 weeks to go to the tournament, and 4 weeks to go till the first registration deadline. (SS) indicates that the school is a small public school by NAQT definition and will therefore be competing for spots at the SSNCT in Minneapolis in May, in addition to the HSNCT and NSC spots:

Amsterdam (NY) (1 or 2 teams)
Cooperstown (NY) (3 or 4 teams, 1 buzzer, 1 staffer) (SS)
Fillmore (NY) (1 team, 1 buzzer) (SS)
Genesee Valley (Belmont, NY) (1 team) (SS)
Geneva (NY) (1 team, multiple staffers, possible buzzer)
Ithaca (NY) (2 or 3 teams, multiple staffers)
Mountain View (KIngsley, PA) (1 or 2 teams, buzzer, possible staffers) (SS)
Oneonta (NY) (2 teams, 1 staffer) (SS)
Owego Free Academy (NY) (2 teams) (SS)
Southern Cayuga (Poplar Ridge, NY) (1 team) (SS)
Whitney Point (NY) (2 teams, 1 buzzer) (SS)
Wyoming Area (PA) (1 team, tentative) (SS)

So far, that's 17 to 22 teams, and we have room for lots more, especially if you want to take advantage of the buzzer and staff discounts (as well as the distance discount), so keep those registrations coming in! Having a field of this size for a good quizbowl tournament in upstate New York a month and half before the tournament date is a very good sign, and I'm very optimistic about this year's BB Fall.

--Scott

[Ithaca Cricket Ump]

Hi everyone:

With 5 days to go until the registration deadline for BrainBusters Fall, here is the updated field, with buzzer and staffing information, for BrainBusters Fall at Ithaca HS on Saturday, December 7.

Amsterdam (2 teams)
Cooperstown (4 teams, 1 buzzer, 1-3 staffers)
Delaware Valley, PA (2 teams, 1 buzzer - tentative)
Fillmore (1 team, 1 buzzer) - PAID
Genesee Valley (1 team)
Geneva (2 teams, 1 buzzer, many but undetermined # of staffers)
Ithaca (2 or 3 teams, depending on tournament scheduling needs, many staffers) - PAID
Lakeland, PA (2 teams)
Montrose, PA (1 or 2 teams - tentative)
Mountain View, PA (2 teams, 1 buzzer, 1 staffer)
Oneonta (2 teams, 1 staffer) - PAID
Owego Free Academy (2 teams) - PAID
Southern Cayuga (1 team) - PAID
Wellsboro, PA (2 teams, 1 buzzer)
Whitney Point (2 teams, 1 buzzer)
Wyoming Area, PA (1 team - tentative)

Every team in this field with the exception of Amsterdam, Delaware Valley (who have confirmed interest, but not attendance yet) and Ithaca qualify as "small public schools" for NAQT SSNCT qualification purposes.

Tournament staff will be providing 9-10 buzzer systems (6 from me and Dave Madden, 2 from Brooks Sanders, 1 or 2 from Zach Pace), possibly more, and we have 7 teams that have taken buzzer discounts so far. In addition, we will be able to make use of any team staffers that you can bring, and will refund partial entry fees ($10 per staffer) for any school that previously didn't indicate they were bringing staffers or buzzers, but do so. PLEASE take these discounts if at all possible, as we'd much rather give these discounts and have more buzzers than we can use (we'll find a job for anybody who wants to staff, believe me :) ) than possibly be caught short.

Teams that have registered but not yet paid can either pay on the tournament website by credit card or PayPal at http://www.brainbusterstq.com , print out the PDF and mail it to the address on it and pay by check or money order by mail, or pay by cash, check, money order or credit card on the morning of the tournament (we will NOT charge the $10 processing fee for schools that need to do this). However, we still will need to charge the $25 late fee for any team that pays -after- the day of the tournament.

Due to the fact that SAT testing on the day of the tournament will be taking up room space that we originally thought would be available for the tournament, we have been compelled to institute a field limit of 52 TEAMS for this year's BrainBusters Fall. With 32 teams (including the tentative, unconfirmed ones) at the moment, that leaves 20 spots available in the field.

One other issue: if there are any teams that are planning to come into Ithaca the night before and stay in a hotel or motel, please let me know. I might be able to arrange a block of discounted rooms at one of the local establishments, and in fact I have had at least one coach exhibit great interest in having me do so, but in order to do so I need to approach the hotel knowing exactly how many rooms I'm going to need. Thanks.

--Cordially, Scott Blish
Tournament Director, BrainBusters Fall

[Tale of Mac Datho's Pachycephalosaur]

STAAAAAAATS after 7 rounds are up. Ithaca A and Cooperstown A are each undefeated in their respective divisions.

http://www.hsquizbowl.org/db/tournament ... _7_rounds/

[Ithaca Cricket Ump]

Ithaca A (11-0) (Tracy Lai, Jensen Lo, Andrew Robertson, Casey Wetherbee) successfully defended its BrainBusters Fall quizbowl championship with a convincing 525-75 victory in the final over previously-undefeated Cooperstown A (9-1) (Claire Dohner, Joey Katz, Michael Kern, Sean Mebust, Jacob Russell). Here were the top finishers overall in the 12-school, 21-team tournament:

1. Ithaca A (11-0)
2. Cooperstown A (SS) (9-1)
3. Ithaca C (8-1)
4. Geneva (SS) (9-1)
5. Fillmore (SS) (8-3)
6. Ithaca B (7-3)

OVERALL TOURNAMENT CHAMPION: Ithaca A
SMALL PUBLIC SCHOOL CHAMPION: Cooperstown A

Nationals qualification:

HSNCT - Cooperstown, Geneva, Ithaca (2 teams)
PACE NSC - Cooperstown, Fillmore, Geneva, Ithaca (3 teams)
SSNCT - Cooperstown, Geneva

Tournament All-Stars (top 8 individual scorers in pool play):

Tournament MVP: Ari Zax (Ithaca B)

All-Stars: Iuliu Balibanu (Geneva), Nathaniel LaCelle-Peterson (Fillmore), Jensen Lo (Ithaca A), Brock Mapes (Genesee Valley), Andrew Robertson (Ithaca A), Andrey Shakhzadyan (Ithaca C), James Xu (Ithaca C), Ari Zax (Ithaca B)

http://www.naqt.com/stats/tournament-te ... playoffs=1 for the full statistical breakdown.

[jonah]

http://www.naqt.com/stats/tournament-te ... playoffs=1 for the full statistical breakdown.

Use the "Preliminary Rounds" link for accurate bonus conversion — the Overall Standings page treats all the finals games, which have no individual statistics, as consisting entirely of bonus points.