Search found 53 matches

by benchapman
Fri Feb 09, 2024 6:57 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: On Team Splitting at National Qualifiers
Replies: 19
Views: 3876

Re: On Team Splitting at National Qualifiers

I very much disagree with Andrew's proposal for several reasons: 1. One of the underlying assumptions is that it's only "supporting players" who are getting moved around. However, this proposal fails to consider that there are many scenarios where someone can serve as an anchor for the B t...
by benchapman
Thu Jan 18, 2024 8:58 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: Booster Shot Playtest Mirror (January 20, 2024)
Replies: 3
Views: 1277

Re: Booster Shot Playtest Mirror (January 20, 2024)

I just sent out the logistics email; please let me know if you are your team's contact and have not received it yet.
by benchapman
Sun Jan 07, 2024 3:02 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: Booster Shot Playtest Mirror (January 20, 2024)
Replies: 3
Views: 1277

Re: Booster Shot Playtest Mirror (January 20, 2024)

Just a reminder that this tournament is in 2 weeks, we'd love to get more signups! Also, since I failed to specify before, I will be setting a tentative registration deadline of January 17 at 11:59 PM EST.
by benchapman
Mon Dec 25, 2023 6:23 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: Booster Shot Playtest Mirror (January 20, 2024)
Replies: 3
Views: 1277

Booster Shot Playtest Mirror (January 20, 2024)

I am pleased to announce a playtest mirror of Booster Shot will be held on January 20, 2024. More info on the set can be found here . I, Benjamin Chapman, will be TDing this tournament. Logistics This tournament will be run using a Discord server for organization and Zoom + buzzin.live for gameplay....
by benchapman
Sun Nov 05, 2023 2:17 am
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: Announcement: Canadian Novice (March 2023)
Replies: 5
Views: 5254

Re: Announcement: Canadian Novice (March 2023)

Canadian Novice is now clear; the paсks have just been uploaded to the archive and are awaiting approval.

EDIT: Here are the questions.
by benchapman
Fri Oct 06, 2023 2:01 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Trophies vs Plaques
Replies: 11
Views: 5541

Re: Trophies vs Plaques

Robert is right on the money here. Most university quiz bowl teams just don't have an easy place to store something that large (such as a display case) and students generally don't have lots of extra space to hold onto such things.
by benchapman
Sun Aug 20, 2023 7:59 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: Side Event Sunday @ Toronto (August 20)
Replies: 1
Views: 986

Re: Side Event Sunday @ Toronto (August 20)

Congrats to "Summa Iran-Contra Gentiles" for winning Ahead by a Century and "Milan Fernandez, tell me, if you know, / For 10 points each:" for winning QBOWLOSM. Stats are available here.
by benchapman
Tue Aug 08, 2023 12:36 am
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: Announcement: Canadian Novice (March 2023)
Replies: 5
Views: 5254

Re: Announcement: Canadian Novice (March 2023)

Since a couple regions weren't able to host Canadian Novice mirrors this spring, we will be keeping the set available for this fall. If you're from a region that didn't previously host a mirror and are interested in hosting, email me at [email protected].
by benchapman
Thu Aug 03, 2023 6:36 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: Side Event Sunday @ Toronto (August 20)
Replies: 1
Views: 986

Side Event Sunday @ Toronto (August 20)

The University of Toronto Academic Trivia Club will be hosting two side events on Sunday, August 20. These will be in-person at Sid Smith. We will begin at 9 AM and finish by 5 PM. In the morning , we will be hosting a mirror of Erik Christensen's Ahead by a Century . In the afternoon , we will be h...
by benchapman
Thu Jun 22, 2023 4:20 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Should ACF tossups be shorter?
Replies: 30
Views: 12507

Re: Should ACF tossups be shorter?

While it's obviously good that longer questions can have more content for interested players to look up after the fact, I don't think we should prioritize that (relatively minor) benefit at the expense of the more tangible improvement to the gameplay experience itself from not-super-long questions. ...
by benchapman
Sun Jun 18, 2023 5:09 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: 2023 HSNCT Open Mirror @ Toronto (June 17-18)
Replies: 1
Views: 1366

Re: 2023 HSNCT Open Mirror @ Toronto (June 17-18)

Congratulations to "Hey I'm Cameron, I thought you were American" for clearing the field on Saturday and "3/7 of us have Lyme disease" for clearing the field on Sunday. Stats are available here.
by benchapman
Thu Jun 01, 2023 9:57 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: 2023 HSNCT Open Mirror @ Toronto (June 17-18)
Replies: 1
Views: 1366

2023 HSNCT Open Mirror @ Toronto (June 17-18)

The University of Toronto Academic Trivia Club will be hosting our traditional 2-day open mirror of HSNCT on Saturday, June 17 and Sunday, June 18. I, Benjamin Chapman, will be the tournament director. Logistics The tournament will begin at 9:00 AM both days and will be held in a building TBD. Pleas...
by benchapman
Wed May 31, 2023 11:21 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: 2024 IQBT Undergraduate Championship - Congrats to Cornell!
Replies: 44
Views: 14569

Re: 2024 IQBT Undergraduate Championship - 3/2-3/3/24

I don't think collegiate quizbowl can support 3 in-person nationals in a year. Last year's online event was a success, and I think many of the teams that attended would be unable to play this tournament if it were held in person. I'd advocate for this to be held online again.
by benchapman
Fri May 05, 2023 12:12 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2023 Canadian Player Poll
Replies: 37
Views: 14086

Re: 2023 Canadian Player Poll

Rookie Ballot: 1. Mattias Ehatamm (University of Waterloo) 2. Michael Du (University of Waterloo) 3. Caleb Ott (University of Waterloo) Not much more to really say about Mattias, Michael, and Caleb; they were all able to hold their own against much more experienced players at difficult tournaments....
by benchapman
Mon May 01, 2023 5:34 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022-2023 End of Season Player Poll
Replies: 22
Views: 12494

Re: 2022-2023 End of Season Player Poll

Noted non-American (or so he insists) Gareth Thorlakson had the highest PPG on American History in the Nationals field.
by benchapman
Wed Apr 26, 2023 5:56 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2023 Canadian Player Poll
Replies: 37
Views: 14086

Re: 2023 Canadian Player Poll

1. Sky Li (University of Toronto) Toronto's number 1 American has had a great season, serving as the lead scorer on the winning team of every closed tournament they played. Of particular note is their Penn Bowl performance, where Toronto Winter Closed went 3-0 against the stacked Henry/Derek/Daniel...
by benchapman
Wed Apr 05, 2023 4:07 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: Announcement: Canadian Novice (March 2023)
Replies: 5
Views: 5254

Re: Announcement: Canadian Novice (March 2023)

We are still looking for mirrors in the Northeast, Great Lakes, South Central, and Northern California; get in touch with me if you're from those regions and interested in hosting!
by benchapman
Wed Apr 05, 2023 4:03 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2023 ICT general discussion
Replies: 11
Views: 1768

Re: 2023 ICT general discussion

I had a lot of fun playing this set (despite the unideal weather circumstances that forced me to solo for the first time ever); thanks to all the writers and editors for their work putting this together. With regards to Andrew's discussion of bonus difficulty, I felt like most of the Es were pretty ...
by benchapman
Wed Apr 05, 2023 3:54 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2023 Division I ICT: specific question discussion
Replies: 28
Views: 4241

Re: 2023 Division I ICT: specific question discussion

Abdon Ubidia wrote: Wed Apr 05, 2023 10:47 am The clue that gave "yes I said yes I will yes" in French was hilarious and probably my favorite lateral thinking buzz I've ever made
Would it be possible for this question to be posted? I'm kicking myself for not picking up on that and am very interested in seeing it now.
by benchapman
Mon Apr 03, 2023 12:25 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Top 100 Player Ranking
Replies: 25
Views: 11211

Re: Top 100 Player Ranking

Decided to toss together my list of the top 8 D2 teams:

1. Waterloo
2. Rutgers B
3. Chicago D
4. Claremont
4. Stanford
6. McMaster
7. Princeton
8. Inver Hills
by benchapman
Wed Mar 01, 2023 12:30 am
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: Announcement: Canadian Novice (March 2023)
Replies: 5
Views: 5254

Re: Announcement: Canadian Novice (March 2023)

We are still looking for mirrors in many regions of the US; if you're from one of the regions that doesn't have a mirror listed above and are interested in hosting, shoot me an email at [email protected].
by benchapman
Tue Feb 07, 2023 8:41 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: ACF (and NAQT) Scheduling For Next Year
Replies: 2
Views: 3467

ACF (and NAQT) Scheduling For Next Year

Now that all the regular season ACF events and SCT are over, I would like to point out an issue with ACF (and NAQT's) choice of dates for their tournaments this year: Regionals and SCT are one week apart The one-week gap between Regionals and SCT creates a lot of strain on clubs by forcing the ones ...
by benchapman
Fri Feb 03, 2023 3:07 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Top 100 Player Ranking
Replies: 25
Views: 11211

Re: Top 100 Player Ranking

Some of this thread is in AHAN (aka social distancing ad nauseam) now. I have chosen to keep some lighthearted posts that technically contain genuine information or feedback in this thread. Please do not take the tone of those posts as license to keep shitposting in this thread when I have made a c...
by benchapman
Tue Dec 27, 2022 5:30 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: Announcement: Canadian Novice (March 2023)
Replies: 5
Views: 5254

Re: Announcement: Canadian Novice (March 2023)

The above post has been updated with information about eligibility and mirroring the set.
by benchapman
Sat Sep 24, 2022 4:15 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT Collegiate Novice at Toronto (09/24/22)
Replies: 1
Views: 910

Re: NAQT Collegiate Novice at Toronto (09/24/22)

Congratulations to Waterloo B, who defeated Waterloo C in the first game of an advantaged final 335-280. Stats are available here.
by benchapman
Thu Sep 01, 2022 12:36 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT Collegiate Novice at Toronto (09/24/22)
Replies: 1
Views: 910

NAQT Collegiate Novice at Toronto (09/24/22)

The University of Toronto Academic Trivia Club will be hosting a mirror of NAQT’s Collegiate Novice tournament (CNS-213C) on Saturday, September 24, 2022. I, Benjamin Chapman, will be the tournament director. Logistics The tournament will begin at 9:00 AM and will be held in the Bahen Centre for Inf...
by benchapman
Tue Jul 19, 2022 9:38 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: Announcement: Canadian Novice (March 2023)
Replies: 5
Views: 5254

Announcement: Canadian Novice (March 2023)

I am excited to announce Canadian Novice , a novice-level collegiate quizbowl tournament available in March 2023 . We are targeting the difficulty of past "spring novice" sets, such as Spring Novice and Boilermaker Spring Novice . Canadian Novice will be edited by Dennis Beeby (formerly of...
by benchapman
Mon Apr 18, 2022 5:29 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: ACF Nationals 2022 Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 14
Views: 4550

Re: ACF Nationals 2022 Specific Question Discussion

In a vaguely similar vein to Matt (insofar as we are talking about chemistry), I want to shout out the Suzuki reaction tossup as particularly strong. Normally, chemistry tossups on named reactions can disintegrate into ultra-boring eponym bowl, but this one avoided that. I don't remember all the clu...
by benchapman
Wed Apr 13, 2022 6:46 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 Canadian Circuit Player Poll
Replies: 28
Views: 14260

Re: 2022 Canadian Circuit Player Poll

Rookie ballot to follow. I know my top 7 are the same as Max's but I came up with these independently. Either that or he did a great job setting the narrative. 1. Benjamin Chapman (University of Toronto) 2. Giorgo Karam (University of Manitoba) 3. David Snoddon (University of Toronto) I think David...
by benchapman
Tue Apr 12, 2022 8:29 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 Canadian Circuit Player Poll
Replies: 28
Views: 14260

Re: 2022 Canadian Circuit Player Poll

1. Lia Rathburn (University of British Columbia) Before ICT, I didn’t really know who to put first, but probably would have put Lia first anyway just because she played more. However, after Lia’s ICT performance, it’s impossible to rank her anywhere else even though Henry also played great. She was...
by benchapman
Mon Apr 04, 2022 6:21 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 ICT general discussion
Replies: 11
Views: 1850

Re: 2022 ICT general discussion

For what it's worth, on the "Si, se puede" tossup, I was trying to remember how to say "We shall overcome" ("Nosotros venceremos") in Spanish for a while before the other team got it because I thought that could have been the answer. The answer space was certainly drast...
by benchapman
Wed Mar 09, 2022 8:10 pm
Forum: Single-Subject Events
Topic: Prometheus Science Bowl
Replies: 3
Views: 5676

Re: Prometheus Science Bowl

A quick perusal of their website reveals that they are rather nakedly trying to push an agenda, which I don't believe should be the goal of a supposed academic competition. In addition to the whole "we won't reveal our sponsors" issue that Jon Pinyan brought up, there are a couple other tr...
by benchapman
Wed Mar 02, 2022 12:53 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Announcement: Boilermaker Spring Novice (March-April 2022)
Replies: 21
Views: 7101

Re: Announcement: Boilermaker Spring Novice (March-April 2022)

This tournament will run on Boilermaker Spring Novice, a set meant to be challenging, but not overwhelming for players without much experience. Purdue are now claiming that this set is supposed to be "challenging" for inexperienced players. However, This tournament will match the style an...
by benchapman
Sat Feb 26, 2022 10:57 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 WORKSHOP: Thanks and General Discussion
Replies: 19
Views: 5535

Re: 2022 WORKSHOP: Thanks and General Discussion

I just wanted to say that I enjoyed the relative lack of "touch-your-butt" easy parts in this set compared to other sets at this difficulty. It made them much more meaningful and (as we scored ~13 PPB) consistently kept us engaged on every part of the bonus (except some hard parts we just ...
by benchapman
Mon Feb 21, 2022 10:37 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: DECAF: A Classical Music Set (Interest Poll)
Replies: 10
Views: 4600

Re: DECAF: A Classical Music Set (Interest Poll)

modernhemalurgist wrote: Mon Feb 21, 2022 2:04 pm Somewhat liberal use of score clues
:party:
by benchapman
Thu Feb 03, 2022 10:18 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: THE GARDEN CUP: THE NEW JERSEY STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS (NJ/NY/PA/DE)
Replies: 7
Views: 3059

Re: THE GARDEN CUP: THE NEW JERSEY STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS (NJ/NY/PA/DE)

Fees The fee structure is as follows: $125 per team $50 additional per team if no readers are brought $0 additional if 1 reader for each two teams is brought -$25 for each additional reader -$10 for each working buzzer set $20 per question set, limit 1 per school per tournament We can process cash,...
by benchapman
Wed Jan 19, 2022 9:49 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Are college quiz bowl questions too long?
Replies: 10
Views: 3356

Re: Are college quiz bowl questions too long?

This might seem pretty good compared to housewrites a decade ago, but the packets still feel pretty long when they're read aloud—especially if a less-experienced moderator is trying to read clearly rather than quickly. In my experience, a big factor in question length perception is how clunky/smoot...
by benchapman
Fri Jan 07, 2022 12:06 am
Forum: Miscellaneous Quizbowl
Topic: Mixed Zoom/In-Person Practice
Replies: 6
Views: 2828

Re: Mixed Zoom/In-Person Practice

We ended up doing something like this for PACE last year, because only three of us were able to play in-person at someone's apartment. It was definitely more fun for those of us in person, but it did make bonus conferral much harder. In particular, it was difficult to simultaneously talk to one of m...
by benchapman
Thu Dec 23, 2021 10:51 pm
Forum: Theory
Topic: How much "world" should there be in art?
Replies: 12
Views: 7510

How much "world" should there be in art?

Recently in the Discord, there was a discussion about the recent move in the high school FA distribution to ask less about Euro-centric topics (such as opera) and more about "world art". As an attempt to move discussion on this topic to the forums (in the spirit of Joe Kammann's excellent ...
by benchapman
Mon Nov 01, 2021 12:36 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2021 ACF Fall - Thanks and General Discussion
Replies: 4
Views: 4070

Re: 2021 ACF Fall - Thanks and General Discussion

Bringing this thread back from the dead... Overall, I thought this set was fun and hit the difficulty target pretty well. While there was the odd misplaced clue and dubious question (like that "eating hot chicken wings" tossup), each question on its own was quite strong and well-edited. Ho...
by benchapman
Tue Aug 24, 2021 5:14 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2021 ACF Fall: Global Announcement (October 16)
Replies: 23
Views: 15561

Re: 2021 ACF Fall: Global Announcement (October 16)

The main problem with determining whom to exclude is that the criteria are mostly based on statistics, and statistics are a very imperfect measure of a player's strength. Considering that most teams neg at least 2-3 times a game, a player could conceivably put up around 25 PPG just by picking up the...
by benchapman
Sat Jul 10, 2021 4:46 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2020-21 Groger Ranks Player Poll: RESULTS POSTED
Replies: 30
Views: 16163

Re: 2020-21 Groger Ranks Player Poll

I don't normally post, but I'm going to shill for some of my teammates and other Northeast people. First, my teammates: Andrew Zeng is incredibly good. He's able to consistently power lit and history, despite being on a team with Cerulean and Pedro for history, and also gets FA (moreso VFA, because ...
by benchapman
Mon Jan 11, 2021 3:13 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Alabama 2020-2021 Discussion Thread
Replies: 83
Views: 27872

Re: Alabama 2020-2021 Discussion Thread

Our choices, given NAQT's refusal, were highly limited, and the volunteer staff of the ASCA board, made up almost entirely of active teachers, simply could not undertake writing the huge number of rounds needed to run the event ourselves, and frankly, lack the experience to write quality questions ...
by benchapman
Sat Dec 19, 2020 12:46 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Online Quiz Bowl Can Be Improved
Replies: 15
Views: 7464

Re: Online Quiz Bowl Can Be Improved

Regarding seeing buzzes while using Zoom, what I've found works is putting zoom with the chat on the left side and the packet on the right, so you can see in your peripheral vision when the Zoom chat moves.
by benchapman
Fri Dec 06, 2019 12:23 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Studying Current Events
Replies: 12
Views: 5426

Re: Studying Current Events

What I would recommend is just reading the newspaper every day; if it’s an important story, it’s likely to show up more than once so it’s easier to remember. If your school has copies of the WSJ or New York Times, you could also take advantage of that.
by benchapman
Thu Nov 21, 2019 11:18 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: NY/NJ/CT/PA/DE Discussion '19-20
Replies: 17
Views: 10865

Re: NY/NJ/CT/PA/DE Discussion '19-20

Now that the first half of the season is drawing to a close, are there any new predictions/takes people have?
by benchapman
Tue Jun 11, 2019 5:57 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: NSC 2019 Set Discussion
Replies: 30
Views: 15193

Re: NSC 2019 Set Discussion

Could I please see the tossup on speed limits? I really liked the idea but I think that there should have been more latitude for the moderator to accept equivalent answers.
by benchapman
Sun Jun 02, 2019 7:11 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2019 HSNCT discussion
Replies: 144
Views: 56834

Re: 2019 HSNCT discussion

Could I please see the "Queens" tossup (we firstlined it and I wanted to see what the other clues were), the "Alaska" one, and the "zero" one?
by benchapman
Sat Dec 15, 2018 11:27 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: WHAQ III Question-Specific Discussion
Replies: 29
Views: 1842

Re: WHAQ III Question-Specific Discussion

May I please see the tossup on debugging (I don't remember if that was the exact answerline, but it was something along those lines) please?