Ottawa Quizbowl Tournament X (U of Ottawa, 15 Nov 2014)

[bsmith]

The tenth edition of the Ottawa Quizbowl Tournament will be held at the University of Ottawa on Saturday, November 15, 2014. The OQT is the first and longest-running high school quizbowl tournament in Canada, and is open to teams of all experience levels.

The tournament is expected to use the NAQT IS-A set that is being modified by Joe Su et al for use in Canadian tournaments. NAQT rules will apply, including timed rounds but excluding computational math.

Room allocations are pending during club and student union annual renewals, but we will try to get a location with rooms close together on one or two floors (unlike the "elevator bowl" of other Ottawa tournaments). The tournament will begin at 9 AM and should finish between 3 and 4 PM. Lunch is not provided, but there is a food court both on campus and in the nearby Rideau Centre mall.

Fees for the tournament (based on last year):
$50 for the first team from a school
$40 for each additional team
-$10 discount for a functional 8-person conventional buzzer set
-$5 for Buzzbox (only applied if we need them)

This will be an ONQBA event, and participation can count toward provincials discounts in March.

I can accept registrations or other questions by email at president -AT- onqba.ca . Shelby ( president -AT- uotrivia.ca ) and Dennis ( captain -AT- uotrivia.ca ) are current U of O members who can also assist with inquiries.

[bsmith]

The OQT will use NAQT IS-139A, which has been modified to include Canadian content.

Games will be in Lamoureux Hall, and the opening meeting will be in Lamoureux 221 (turn right out of the elevators, follow the main hallway as it bridges over the street, 221 is near the end of the hallway).

The field is limited to 14 teams. The field will appear below as it progresses.

Confirmed
Colonel By (5)
Earl of March (1)
Glebe (2)
LDHSS (2)
Lisgar (2)
Merivale (2)

[Theodore]

At least 2 Colonel By teams will attend this; we can bring 1 set of 8 BuzzBox buzzers if needed.

[bsmith]

Based on inquiries from today's first local tournament, I've updated the field in the second post.

We do have a limit of 12 teams. If this limit is reached, we will try to make sure that every school that wants to register can have at least one team. This may mean a restriction of 3 teams per school.

Schools should also make sure to register by email to me. I give updates with things like directions and rules to teams by email in the lead-up to the tournament.

[bsmith]

The field is essentially full. We only have six rooms available; between ACF Fall and OQT, the Ottawa club has used up their quota of reservations for the semester. If Bell (or another school) registers during this week, Colonel By has volunteered to drop a team. Merivale is also deciding between 1 and 2 teams.

For 12 teams, we will have two morning pools for 5 rounds, then re-set the records for a full round robin amongst the top 6 and bottom 6.

14 teams might be considered with the restrictions we have, but there are a lot of byes involved for some teams. It would be two pools of 7, then brackets of top 2/next 2/5ths & higher 6th/lower 6th & 7ths (full round-robins for 3 rounds; teams get 8 or 9 games in 10 rounds).

[Theodore]

The field is essentially full. We only have six rooms available; between ACF Fall and OQT, the Ottawa club has used up their quota of reservations for the semester. If Bell (or another school) registers during this week, Colonel By has volunteered to drop a team. Merivale is also deciding between 1 and 2 teams.

In the case of both Bell signing up and Merivale bringing a 2nd team, would CB be forced to drop a team?

14 teams might be considered with the restrictions we have, but there are a lot of byes involved for some teams. It would be two pools of 7, then brackets of top 2/next 2/5ths & higher 6th/lower 6th & 7ths (full round-robins for 3 rounds; teams get 8 or 9 games in 10 rounds).

I strongly, strongly recommend 14 teams; 8 games in 10 rounds isn't terrible, and it's much better than 8 people being unable to play the tournament at all.

One positive out of this whole situation is that I'm happy to see Ottawa's circuit expand; just a year ago, it would be very safe to assume a field cap of 12 teams would not be a problem/not be reached, but we've grown this year :)

[Fado Alexandrino]

Here is a possible schedule for 14 teams after a 7 round round robin followed by the top three from each prelim bracket crossing over, and then 4/5 and 6/7 playing two crossover games staggered in three rounds. Unlike the SCOP mirror last weekend, there's 12 packets in this set, so we can do 3 playoff rounds before finals.

Round 8 1A/3B 2A/2B 3A/1B 4A/5B 5A/4B 6A/7B
Round 9 3A/3B 1A/2B 2A/1B 6A/6B 7A/7B 5A/5B
Round 10 1A/1B 2A/3B 3A/2B 4A/4B 7A/6B

I'm fairly sure that the lower bracket teams won't be too sour by only playing two games after the round robin.

14 teams also gives 3 HSNCT qualifications

[bsmith]

I guess we'll do Joe's proposal for 14 teams (rather than mine). 8 teams would have two byes, but at least the whole day's record will count (avoiding inevitable 2-1 2-1 2-1 0-3 circles of death in playoff groups of four).

In the case of both Bell signing up and Merivale bringing a 2nd team, would CB be forced to drop a team?

I've seen your email about wanting more teams. If Colonel By does end up with 4 or 5 teams, they would be first on the so-called "chopping block". I do want to make sure that every school that wants to send a team can have at least one, provided they register in a timely manner. That being said, I can probably convince Merivale or Glebe to stay at one team if needed, and Bell hasn't actually registered yet. CB's flexibility could also end up being important if we're faced with the impossible 13-team field.

One positive out of this whole situation is that I'm happy to see Ottawa's circuit expand; just a year ago, it would be very safe to assume a field cap of 12 teams would not be a problem/not be reached, but we've grown this year :)

Ottawa's going to be stuck with limited reservations for quite a while (it's supposed to correspond to one room per week for club meetings, and that hasn't changed since I've been a student). If demand stays like this, economics says we'll have to raise prices...

[bsmith]

Teams were notified that the 14th spot will be decided Friday morning. It will be offered, in order, to: a) a currently unregistered school that signs up by that time (e.g. Almonte or Bell); b) Merivale's 2nd team (requested Oct 30); c) Lisgar's 3rd team (requested Nov 2)

If any drops occur in the final week, this "waitlist" will continue to maintain 14 teams. If there are further drops such that we are stuck with 13 teams, one of the Colonel By teams will be dropped.

[bsmith]

The 14th and last spot went to Merivale B. The field is in the second post.

[bsmith]

After 3 rounds, CB A&B, Lisgar A&B, and Merivale A are undefeated with >19 PPB.

[bsmith]

The top 6 bracket is CB A&B, Lisgar A&B, Glebe A, and Merivale A.

Top 5 individuals are Cameron (CB A, 102 ppg), Aidan (Lisgar A, 94 ppg), Anubhav (CB B, 92 ppg), Nick (Lisgar B, 83 ppg), and Vinh (Merivale B, 71 ppg).

[bsmith]

Colonel By A won the first game of an advantaged final over Lisgar B 590-185.

Stats will be posted this evening after I get home.

[bmcke]

Stats.

[bsmith]

14 teams attended the tenth Ottawa Quizbowl Tournament. Colonel By A put on a convincing display, winning the first game of the advantaged final against Lisgar B 590-185. Congratulations to the finalists, as well as third place Lisgar A.

Brendan's link above is correct for the final stats. The prelim stats (divided into pools this time) is here: http://onqba.ca/stats/OQT2014/OQT2014pr ... dings.html

Thank you to all the teams that attended. Thank you as well to Aaron, Andrej, Brendan, and Christine for helping the Ottawa club with staffing duties to make this a well-run tournament.

Good luck in your future tournaments!