The Quizbowl Resource Center

by **Crazy Andy Watkins** » Mon May 05, 2008 1:01 am

This is going at the top because it's really important.

We're finally okay with buzzers.

We're also okay with teams, since Kellenberg and State College both have extra kids who wanted to form teams, so this is all great. One of the eleven teams, between the two schools, might be a little bit mixed, but this is as yet unplanned.

On with the regularly scheduled programming.

The Harvard College Bowl Club will host the third annual Harvard Fall Tournament on Saturday, November 15, 2008.

My name is Andrew Watkins, and I will be serving as tournament director. Kyle Haddad-Fonda and I will be serving as the tournament's editors. Register through me, by email: I can be reached at andy.watkins2@gmail.com. In order for me to put you down as having registered, I need to receive an email with "HFT Registration" in the subject line from you. "School X will be bringing five teams" is okay. "We are thinking of maybe bringing 1-7 teams" is not. I will reply to it (probably briefly) if I receive it, and that will be your confirmation.

Confirmed Field (36 teams)
State College (x7)
Kellenberg (x4)
Brookwood (x2)
Simsbury (x2)
Concord Carlisle (x2)
Dunbar (x2)
The Ranney School (x2)
E. O. Smith (x2)
Hunter (x1)
Mount Pleasant (x1)
Shady Side Academy (x1)\
Whitman (x1)
St. Andrew's (x1)
The Bromfield School (x1)
Norwich Free Academy (x1)
Newtown High School (x1)
New Rochelle High School (x1)
Gonzaga (x1)
Needham (x1)
Half Hollow Hills West (x1)
Stuyvesant (x1)

The tournament will be PACE gold, meaning that the top eight teams--rather than the top four--will get automatic bids to the PACE NSC.

Questions

As in previous years, the questions will be house-written. They are longer than the typical NAQT or state-format tossup, and they are weighted towards academics.

To get a sample round from last fall's tournament, visit our website.

Tournament format

Rounds will be untimed and consist of packets of 20 tossups and 20 bonuses. Assuming we hit our projected field of 36 teams, teams will be assigned to six brackets of six teams, play a full round robin, and then, after any necessary tiebreakers, get rebracketed into six brackets of six teams, followed by a playoff round robin and subsequent finals (if necessary). This means that every team is guaranteed ten rounds of play, plus the possibility of tiebreakers and finals.

We're running the top two playoff brackets on questions of higher difficulty, in a similar manner to how NAQT writes questions for both Division I and Division II college teams: four brackets would hear a tossup on The Great Gatsby, and two would hear a tossup on Tender Is the Night; four brackets would hear a tossup on the Peloponnesian War, and two would hear a tossup on the battle of Aegospotami.

Fee structure

Just like last year, essentially:

$70 base fee
$60 additional teams from the same school
-$10 buzzer discount
-$10 travel discount for more than 200 miles

Long distance teams

We love New England teams, but we also want to attract teams from all over the country, especially when these teams have juniors and seniors who might be particularly interested in our campus (it's awesome) and playing excellent quiz bowl. Consequently, further fee discounts are negotiable.

I can provide information about travel arrangements and hotel accommodations, so email me about that if you need to.

Our group rate is filled, and that's all she wrote.

Logistics

The tournament will be held in Sever Hall like last year. When the time of the competition nears, I will provide competing teams with necessary directions. So that the most teams possible can make this a day trip, we plan to start the tournament at a decent hour (leaving room for travel on both ends, albeit with a very early departure and very late return home). More information on that, of course, as tournament time approaches.

Disclaimer

Though there is little reason why any of this should need to change, we ought to leave ourselves an out. Though the date of the tournament currently does not conflict with any college tournaments, or with the SAT or ACT, if the world ends and one of these things changes, we'll need to change as well. However, this is very, very unlikely.

by **The Infanta** » Mon May 05, 2008 3:38 pm

I'm 95% sure we'll be there.

by **Terrible Shorts Depot** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 11:28 am

Your alma mater would like to be there. Now I have to convince Dr. Malone...
-Charlie

by **Crazy Andy Watkins** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 6:19 pm

While I appreciate both of your enthusiastic responses, I'd love to see other teams--particularly those teams that have contacted me specifically about their interest in the tournament through other media--post in this thread, as well.

Phone tag is underway with the last of several hotels with which we're negotiating.

If you are a coach or otherwise interested party and don't receive an email within the next hour or so, but would like to be kept up to date on proceedings through that medium, please email me at watkins4@harvard.edu or andy.watkins2@gmail.com (or both!) so that I can add you to our list.

EDIT: reality check

by **cdcarter** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 6:47 pm

everyday847 wrote:If you are a coach or otherwise interested party and don't receive an email within the next hour or so, but would like to be kept up to date on proceedings through that medium, please PM me your email address so that I can add you to our list.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but PMs are not enabled on the boards.

by **Crazy Andy Watkins** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 7:26 pm

You break my heart. Original post edited (just email me at watkins4@fas.harvard.edu or andy.watkins2@gmail.com).

by **aestheteboy** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 8:00 pm

Hey, I have a request/suggestion: would it be feasible to attach a side-event to this tournament? Since HFT generally attracts the strongest field outside of WoQ and nationals, I think it would be worthwhile. Right now, I'm on borderline for attending this tournament since I'm not sure if great questions and a great field would be worth $100 (with hotels and whatnot) and 7~ hours of travel. A cool side event would definitely make WJ lean towards attending.

by **Matt Weiner** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 8:01 pm

How's this for a side event?

by **Sir Thopas** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 8:17 pm

Matt Weiner wrote:How's this for a side event?

For what it's worth, I plan on sending a team to this, and it would be great if we could get a few others too.

by **aestheteboy** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 8:22 pm

Matt Weiner wrote:How's this for a side event?

Although I do enjoy playing against Guy Tabachnick, it's not much of an incentive since I was planning to head back and play at the UMD mirror with some cool kids.

by **The Atom Strikes!** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 10:15 pm

aestheteboy wrote:
Matt Weiner wrote:How's this for a side event?

Although I do enjoy playing against Guy Tabachnick, it's not much of an incentive since I was planning to head back and play at the UMD mirror with some cool kids.

Wouldn't it be just as easy for us to just play this mirror and then go home?

by **Magister Ludi** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 10:15 am

Andy is writing a "20th century" side event. The theme (I believe) is humanities of the 20th century. If people want we could potentially tweak the side event to something more concrete like history or arts.

by **Crazy Andy Watkins** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 2:36 pm

Ted's right. I'm not so sure it'd be terribly easy to tweak it to arts, say, given that currently there's 0/0 arts in the tournament--but I'd be all too willing to write some tossups on whatever subject is in high demand for a side event. Once I have 100 tossups written for my tournament, I'll start considering what else might be in high demand.

But yeah, Daichi, attending our tournament allows you to play HFT plus IO. Plus the IO side, if it gets mirrored, if you want. Plus five to seven rounds of twentieth century lit, history, and trash.

It would be an extraordinary thing if the presence of the IO mirror would enhance attendance. That would say great, great things about the circuit.

One note: by Thursday we will have final hotel information in terms of group/preferred/whatever rates, not to mention general recommendations of where a good place to stay is (and absolutely by Thursday, since the person I have dealing with this is getting her wisdom teeth out the next day and probably won't be interested in talking to hotels). What it looks like at the moment is that the most convenient hotel will give us up to four times as many rooms if we grab two nights (and the other hotels will likely have similar policies). So we're going to be doing that for as many as forty rooms. So it's a very good idea financially for everyone if y'all stay for IO.

by **aestheteboy** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 3:04 pm

Notes on the Balinese Foglight wrote:
aestheteboy wrote:
Matt Weiner wrote:How's this for a side event?

Although I do enjoy playing against Guy Tabachnick, it's not much of an incentive since I was planning to head back and play at the UMD mirror with some cool kids.

Wouldn't it be just as easy for us to just play this mirror and then go home?

Yeah, it would be almost equally convenient either way, which is why it wouldn't be an incentive.

Anyway, 5-7 rounds of 20th century humanities sounds pretty cool (without trash it would be even cooler). I mean, I would love a fine arts side event, but I'm happy to play anything that you guys come up with. Our attendance will depend on a lot more than just my desire to attend, so I can't say for sure if we'll make it, but thanks for writing this.

by **Crazy Andy Watkins** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 4:32 pm

aestheteboy wrote:Anyway, 5-7 rounds of 20th century humanities sounds pretty cool (without trash it would be even cooler). I mean, I would love a fine arts side event, but I'm happy to play anything that you guys come up with. Our attendance will depend on a lot more than just my desire to attend, so I can't say for sure if we'll make it, but thanks for writing this.

Yeah, the decision to include trash was a difficult one, mostly because I myself don't love playing trash and am somewhere between mediocre and terrible at it. I decided to do so both so that I could develop some knowledge, so that I could write tossups on subjects I really wanted to write about, and because since frequently schools on trips operate as groups, more people are likely to be able to attend the event if there's a good reason for more than one or two players to stay behind. I empathize with you, though.

by **Crazy Andy Watkins** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 5:37 pm

Original message edited with information about one of the hotels with which we have negotiated a group rate. As I say up there--don't call them until Thursday September 4th; because of administrative lag they might not actually enter our request until then.

by **Sir Thopas** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 5:44 pm

$189 a night?! Yeesh.

by **Crazy Andy Watkins** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 6:08 pm

Cambridge, by and large, is awful with all prices especially when it comes to hotels. I'd assume most communities whose populations like double nine months out of twelve are like that.

by **idrayer** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 6:53 pm

Last year for the HMMT I stayed at the Best Western Hotel Tria, and rooms were about $130 per night with AAA discount. The rooms were pretty nice, easily fit 4 people, and there was a free continental breakfast plus waffles. Also there was an indoor swimming pool, and the parking lot was perfect for a snowball fight. Just putting it out there.

Edit:
Oh, and also they had a free shuttle to Harvard square, but it only ran every half hour.

by **yisun** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 7:15 pm

I stayed at the same Best Western when moving in to Harvard and will also give my endorsement for decent pricing. It's also located about half a mile away from the subway, which will get you to Harvard as well.

by **Crazy Andy Watkins** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:15 pm

The Mismeasure of Flan wrote:Last year for the HMMT I stayed at the Best Western Hotel Tria, and rooms were about $130 per night with AAA discount. The rooms were pretty nice, easily fit 4 people, and there was a free continental breakfast plus waffles. Also there was an indoor swimming pool, and the parking lot was perfect for a snowball fight. Just putting it out there.

Edit:
Oh, and also they had a free shuttle to Harvard square, but it only ran every half hour.

For four people, the rate right now is $188 with AAA, $209 without. I'd expect that that rate will get worse as the hotel gets fuller, meaning that the average rate that teams will pay as the hotel fills up from its current state to full will probably be worse than what we can get elsewhere, plus it's further. I'll look into it, but I don't foresee this resulting in any savings for anyone.

by **Crazy Andy Watkins** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 9:13 pm

Final hotel information posted. Note that both of these hotels are more convenient than and cheaper than that Best Western option. Even if you can apply the AAA discount to the Best Western and not on top of the group rate (which I do not think is the case), you're spending two dollars more a night for a whole lot more convenience--no big loss, I'd say. So save money, and in the process help to meet our contractual obligations!

by **Kyle** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 1:09 am

Re: hotels, I would also look into the Gateway Inn. I have never been there and don't know why it's so much cheaper than other places in Cambridge, but they advertise double-occupancy rooms for $95/night. It is not, however, particularly convenient. They claim to have a shuttle to the Alewife T station, but that's a lot of different modes of transportation to have to use.

Re: parking, you should be able to park on campus for $5 if you register 24 hours in advance (Andy will get you the access code and a map, closer to the date). If you plan on bringing a *bus*, however, you should let Andy know immediately so that he can start looking into places for you to put it. I think it should work out this year because the Littauer lot is no longer being renovated and because there is no home football game that weekend, but you should still let Andy know soon.

Re: non-quizbowl side events, in past years many teams have had interest in seeing Harvard as well as coming to play quizbowl. While I'm not totally okay with the idea of our campus as a tourist destination, I recognize that teams with seniors or juniors are interested in a tour. Last year after a few weeks of wrestling with trying to get official tour information, I told one team that I would find them a freshman to show them around on Friday night if they would slip him a $10 bill afterwards. I'm sure there will be lots of new, bubbly, content, idealistic freshmen willing to share a positive view of our university and life inside its gates. If you're interested, tell Watkins and he can set your team up.

Re: questions, we're busy writing. It's going to be a good tournament, so you should all definitely consider coming!

by **The Laughing Man** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 6:44 am

It is pretty likely that we will bring a bus, although we aren't sure at this point.

by **jrbarry** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 2:09 pm

Brookwood (GA) is planning on attending with two teams.

by **Crazy Andy Watkins** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 7:27 pm

I'd like to echo what Chris said in his thread about the Maryland tournament. Though I can get a good preliminary sense of things from this thread, I can't count anyone as being registered in any final sense until you send me an email with "HFT Registration" in the subject line. This way I can quickly filter through my communication with coaches, which already is over two hundred emails, into messages that actually have to do with final known quantities.

Please feel free to let me know preliminary concerns et cetera in this thread and through email, but if you show up with ten eager teams that you mentioned you might want to bring either in this thread or in an email, but never finalized, I'll have to--sadly, mind you--turn you away.

So that's andy.watkins2@gmail.com, please.

by **Terrible Shorts Depot** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 8:11 pm

Ok, just to clarify: is HFT the only thing going on that weekend in Cambridge, or will there be IO and/or 20th century side tournament?

by **Crazy Andy Watkins** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 8:20 pm

The 20th Century deal is still going on, though I haven't finished the set yet. I'll announce it once I do.

The Brandeis IO mirror is, regrettably, happening on Saturday as well, because classrooms couldn't be secured for Sunday.

by **TheCzarMan** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 12:47 pm

Bloomfield has extreme interest in going, will get back to you when we find out if our District will let us go.

by **Crazy Andy Watkins** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 2:54 pm

I've updated the field a few times.

Don't forget to let me know that you're coming by email, et cetera.

by **Crazy Andy Watkins** » Sat Sep 20, 2008 1:52 pm

More field updates are up top. We now have 20-21 teams confirmed as attending. Get those registrations in, people! I'm happy to write more packets or do whatever's necessary to accommodate a larger field, but I'd much prefer to write two packets over the next two months than write them both the night before the tournament. So if you happen to be planning on taking twelve teams... do please let me know.

Also, be sure to stay in the Residence Inn to nab that group rate.

by **Kyle** » Sat Sep 20, 2008 3:26 pm

everyday847 wrote:I'm happy to make Kyle write more packets

by **Crazy Andy Watkins** » Sat Sep 20, 2008 3:35 pm

Kyle wrote:
everyday847 wrote:I'm happy to make Kyle write more packets

I want ten tossups on "hills" on my desk by tomorrow morning.

by **Salt Lake Dream** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 2:48 pm

Whitman will attend and bring a buzzer.

by **Crazy Andy Watkins** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 3:32 pm

brezhnev wrote:Whitman will attend and bring a buzzer.

Excellent. One team, then? Also, email me so that I have your email along with everyone else's. So that you don't miss the memo when we cancel the tournament due to squirrel attacks.

by **ClemsonQB** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 5:44 pm

everyday847 wrote: So that you don't miss the memo when we cancel the tournament due to squirrel attacks.

You joke about this, but we lost electricity for almost five hours here last Sunday because of one of those demons.

by **Ronnie the Bear** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 6:57 pm

See! See! I told you all!

by **Crazy Andy Watkins** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 7:00 pm

C'mon, guys, yer derailing my thread!

In all seriousness:

Field update. At the moment, teams deciding to bring their buzzers would be very welcome indeed.

by **Crazy Andy Watkins** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 2:49 pm

I've just been informed that schools wishing to stay at the Residence Inn Cambridge, as they should wish to, need to get reservations by 10/24.

Also, teams that have vaguely indicated strong interest--i.e. Bloomfield, State College, you know who you are--should actually register as soon as you know you can come. It helps us a lot. Thanks.

by **TheCzarMan** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 3:25 pm

Yeah yeah, I'm in the middle of it. My adviser was worried hotels would be filled, but with a hard date to give her I can actually get an answer now.

by **Crazy Andy Watkins** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 3:45 pm

TheCzarMan wrote:Yeah yeah, I'm in the middle of it. My adviser was worried hotels would be filled, but with a hard date to give her I can actually get an answer now.

Yeah, the idea of taking a group rate is that we bear a WHOLE LOT of risk so that you guys have guaranteed--and decently cheaper--hotel space. So basically--please, please, please stay in the hotel. We're contractually obligated to pay for the rooms we don't fill, and we're pretty much broke. Also, it's literally the best hotel there.

Other noted team that hasn't said anything decisive enough yet: Hunter. Come on, Guy, where else will you get to play Dunbar and Brookwood?

Guys, continue to recruit other teams on your circuits. Do my work for me!

by **erkifish26** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 11:50 pm

Byram is considering this (and by considering it, I mean that I'm going to try to convince our A team to go on the Fung Wah bus at 5 in the morning).

by **Crazy Andy Watkins** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 11:59 pm

Just email me when you know for sure.

This also goes for noted team that has been considering going State College, in addition to the aforementioned ones. Also, Whitman needs to give me a contact email address (possibly by emailing me!).

by **dyetman89** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 12:19 am

erkifish26 wrote:Byram is considering this (and by considering it, I mean that I'm going to try to convince our A team to go on the Fung Wah bus at 5 in the morning).

Last I heard, Fung Wah didn't have any buses leaving from New York anytime near 5:00.

by **Crazy Andy Watkins** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 12:21 am

Stay in the hotel then! We could use the action.

by **erkifish26** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 6:35 am

dyetman89 wrote:
erkifish26 wrote:Byram is considering this (and by considering it, I mean that I'm going to try to convince our A team to go on the Fung Wah bus at 5 in the morning).

Last I heard, Fung Wah didn't have any buses leaving from New York anytime near 5:00.

Maybe we'll take it up the night before then and crash in the room of our ex-captain... he claims he can fit us.

by **AgentZero** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 10:44 am

Bloomfield cannot attend.

by **erkifish26** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 8:49 pm

Put Byram down for one... I'm determined to make this work. I'll e-mail you right now as well.

by **Crazy Andy Watkins** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 9:38 pm

Big field update. Note that the upper bound on the number of teams that may have registered (because people have guaranteed that they'll bring at least n teams, and so I'll at least consider how many more they might bring) is currently 34. This means that getting your registrations in is increasingly important, people. We may consider expanding the field as necessary, but I make no guarantees.

by **NRacademicteam** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 10:27 pm

put New Rochelle High School down for one spot. Looking forward to more competition than Chip Beal could ever offer :grin:

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