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Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT)

Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 11:02 pm
by Vainamoinen
I am happy to announce the existence of a science side event, Feynman's BONGOS (Battle Of Nerds Geeking Over Science). I definitely want to run this tournament on Saturday night at PACE, but if there is sufficient interest for it being held at HSNCT, then I'd like to make that happen too. There are 7 packets consisting of 20 tossups (and a tiebreaker), which are about 6-7 lines and powermarked. The writers of this set are Farah Kabir of Richard Montgomery and myself. This tournament is open to all players; high schoolers, college people, staffers, etc. The fee to play the tournament will be $10 per person, and our current plan is for it to be a doubles tournament.

The difficulty of this set can probably best be described as about ACF Regionals, with some dips below and mostly above that mark. Our goal in writing was to provide a set that could be enjoyed by people with varying skill levels in science.

DISTRIBUTION
4 Biology
4 Chemistry
4 Physics
2 Math
2 Astronomy
1.5 Earth Science
1.5 Computer Science
1 Science Trash

We're definitely going to need volunteer staffers and rooms to make this happen at either site, so all of that would be greatly appreciated!

Here's a spreadsheet for signing up at either site: http://tinyurl.com/nqjt7pl

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 5:37 pm
by The Lutes of Dependency
Just out of curiosity, what exactly is implied by "Science Trash"?

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 6:56 pm
by Vainamoinen
thelonious punk wrote:Just out of curiosity, what exactly is implied by "Science Trash"?
Stuff that would usually go into the trash part of the distro and has links to science. For example, science fiction books and movies.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 7:12 pm
by Cheynem
Not speaking for Will, but probably the type of trash that was in the collegiate Lederberg science side events (which I partially wrote both iterations) might be a good comp--like questions related to fictional scientists and inventions or fake scientists (Robocop, Jurassic Park, Andy Watkins, etc.).

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 7:00 am
by Bosa of York
For what it's worth, I'd play this at HSNCT.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 2:07 pm
by Marble-faced Bristle Tyrant
I'd also be interested in an HSNCT event.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 2:34 pm
by Vainamoinen
Okay, I have added a sheet to the sign up doc for HSNCT. I can't guarantee that the set will be run there though, since that will be highly contingent on obtaining staffers. We can wrangle up some of our teammates for helping staff the event at PACE, but RM and MW are only sending 1 team each to HSNCT so we don't have that luxury there (we'd definitely still appreciate volunteers for PACE too though).

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 4:55 pm
by Fado Alexandrino
If I go to PACE, I'd be happy to staff this event if I already heard it at HSNCT.

If there's not enough interest at HSNCT, you could just do 2 or 3 rooms of soloists and promote/relegate.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 5:26 pm
by The Polebarn Hotel
If this is run at HSNCT, would it coincide with ACFNATIONALS, the JRPG tournament that's set to run there already?

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 6:18 pm
by Vainamoinen
Crazyflight wrote:If this is run at HSNCT, would it coincide with ACFNATIONALS, the JRPG tournament that's set to run there already?
Yeah, the events would inevitably coincide.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2015 11:09 pm
by Ithaca Cricket Ump
EDITED FROM A FEW MINUTES BEFORE: I'll read and offer hotel room space for this at both HSNCT and NSC. After going to back to school next year (where I'm planning to take close to 100% science courses in anticipation of a major career switch), I'd feel more comfortable playing an ACF Regionals-level science tournament, but at the moment I'd probably be dead money, so moderator it is. It's not like it's an all-sports, Roman history or 20th-century literature tournament where I'd actually contend or something.

--Scott

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2015 12:25 am
by Harpie's Feather Duster
I'm a mediocre science player but I know some physics, math, and other fake things and would like a teammate who wants to have fun to play this with at NSC.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2015 2:30 am
by fett0001
Depending on my requirements at NSC, I'd like to play.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2015 11:25 am
by ryanrosenberg
Hey, just a reminder for those who are planning on playing this at NSC: like how YMIR was run in 2012, PACE cannot provide any buzzers or rooms for this tournament, including staffer hotel rooms.

NSC control room staff (i.e. staffers whose duties are not "reading and/or scorekeeping"), are forbidden to play this or any other NSC side event. All other staffers may participate as they wish.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 5:55 pm
by Lo, Marathon Ham!
I can moderate for this and have a buzzer system that can be used. Additionally my teammate Rohan Narayan wants to participate and is looking for a teammate if this is only running at the PACE site. If it's running at HSNCT then he will opt to play there instead alongside our other teammate Jared Saquing.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2015 10:20 pm
by crbirdx
I may have 2-4 kids interested in playing.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2015 7:11 pm
by Vainamoinen
Here's a bunch of updates.

PACE NSC:
-We need rooms
-We need buzzers
-We need a few more staffers, but between the people we have signed up to help already and our teammates there shouldn't be a problem here.

Like Ryan's post indicates above, PACE needs to keep all of the teams' buzzers locked up overnight. So if you want to play this event and have some buzzers you aren't bringing for the main event, they would be greatly appreciated and basically necessary. I don't really know how else we will be able to get buzzers. It'd be a shame if we had to resort to people shouting "buzz," but that may be the reality. If anyone has any other ideas, please post below or message me. Meanwhile, I will continue to try to think of something better.

Furthermore, rooms are a big issue for PACE due to staffers not being able to volunteer their rooms and the conference rooms being off-limits. I'm not sure whether or not Mr. Blish's offer of hotel space upthread is invalidated due to him being a staffer(?), but I'll assume it is. That puts us at 2-3 rooms that can be used, all of which are Maggie Walker rooms. So if any of the high school players playing the set can convince their teammates/coaches to allow their rooms to be used, that would be great. I have added a column to the PACE spreadsheet for rooms. If you can offer up your room, please put your team name or some other indicator there. We'll have to get creative with location if we can't get enough rooms.

Then again, if we can't get buzzers either, then maybe we can just play shout-bowl outside near the fountain. :party:
(If it really looks like it's coming to this, we'll reevaluate and cut the entry fee or something to try to keep people still wanting to play)

HSNCT:
Rooms and buzzers shouldn't be nearly as big of a problem here. NAQT allows the use of the conference center rooms as long as we are fully accommodating to hotel staff. Additionally, staffers can offer up their rooms as long as all roommates agree. Concerning buzzers, NAQT is allowing the use of the buzzers in the rooms under the condition that if they are broken, we take responsibility for the cost. We are very thankful to NAQT for all of this.

That being said, we have no one singed up to staff HSNCT and both Maggie Walker and Richard Montgomery will only be sending one team each, so we have a lack of teammates to rope into helping. So our need for HSNCT is definitely staffers.

We hope that everyone who wants to play this set at either site will be able to do so and get as much enjoyment out of it as we have had writing it. :smile:

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2015 9:25 pm
by dwd500
Washington has roughly 4-5 sets of buzzers that can be coaxed into working for a few rounds at a time. I don't know much about my personal schedule at the event, but I can most likely staff - you don't want me on your team if it's a science packet.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2015 1:52 am
by merv1618
Granny Soberer wrote: like how YMIR was run in 2012
Vainamoinen wrote: -We need buzzers
bring back the loyola eggs

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2015 10:29 am
by Vainamoinen
dwd500 wrote:Washington has roughly 4-5 sets of buzzers that can be coaxed into working for a few rounds at a time. I don't know much about my personal schedule at the event, but I can most likely staff - you don't want me on your team if it's a science packet.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. :grin:

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2015 11:50 am
by dwd500
Like I said, I don't know what my schedule at PACE will be like, but I'm driving in with Jacob O'Rourke and we've got plenty of room in the SUV for buzzers. I'll bring what all I think will work. If I'm free, I'll read.

I am staffing at HSNCT, but I'm in Jeff Hill's car and I don't think 5-6 boxes of buzzers would be all that welcome. I plan on bringing a set or two even though my team is not competing, so you may have to find alternate plans there.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2015 7:24 pm
by ScoBo
dwd500 wrote:I am staffing at HSNCT, but I'm in Jeff Hill's car and I don't think 5-6 boxes of buzzers would be all that welcome. I plan on bringing a set or two even though my team is not competing, so you may have to find alternate plans there.
Yes, I can confirm that based on last year's HSNCT drive, cargo space per person is extremely limited and I would be surprised if we have room for any more than one or two buzzer systems. (I am not planning to bring either of my systems.) I almost ran out of room trying to cram everything in for the NAQT Missouri Qualifier last month when I was able to use the backseat for cargo.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2015 7:59 pm
by Urech hydantoin synthesis
I have a set of buzzers that can be used at HSNCT. What's the staff situation like for HSNCT, at this current moment?

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2015 8:12 pm
by Vainamoinen
christino wrote:I have a set of buzzers that can be used at HSNCT. What's the staff situation like for HSNCT, at this current moment?
We have 4 or 5 people between Maggie Walker and Richard Montgomery, including Farah and I, who are capable of reading. That's it right now.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2015 8:26 pm
by 1992 in spaceflight
dwd500 wrote:Like I said, I don't know what my schedule at PACE will be like, but I'm driving in with Jacob O'Rourke and we've got plenty of room in the SUV for buzzers. I'll bring what all I think will work. If I'm free, I'll read.
I'll offer my services for moderating the science event at PACE and offer my personal buzzer system for use at the event.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Fri May 01, 2015 11:57 pm
by Amizda Calyx
I might play at HSNCT, if that's still a thing.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 3:09 pm
by Gautam
Amizda Calyx wrote:I might play at HSNCT, if that's still a thing.
What she said, except change "might" to "will."

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 3:58 pm
by Charbroil
I'll also play this at HSNCT.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 5:29 pm
by Vainamoinen
Gautam wrote:
Amizda Calyx wrote:I might play at HSNCT, if that's still a thing.
What she said, except change "might" to "will."
It's definitely still a thing! In fact, HSNCT looks like it will be the largest site. Just in case anyone has missed it above, here's the spreadsheet for signing up or putting yourself down as a free agent for either site: http://tinyurl.com/nqjt7pl

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Tue May 12, 2015 1:10 pm
by t-bar
I'm playing this at HSNCT. Hit me up at the email address in my profile if you're interested in teaming up, especially if you know biology.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Fri May 15, 2015 6:46 pm
by Muriel Axon
I'm a free agent at NSC. I know some bio (especially ecology/evolution/organismal bio), a little chem and earth science, and math. My only request is that prospective teammates by okay with the name "The Competitive Excluders." (Shoot me a message if you want to team up.)

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Sun May 17, 2015 9:48 pm
by Vainamoinen
Updates on this with about two weeks to go:

It'd be really great if those interested in playing try to form teams as soon as possible. I'm not going to put a hard deadline on it (yet), but it'd be really nice to know how many people are planning on playing for logistics reasons.

It'd be really great if some more qualified readers would volunteer. I can compensate you in pizza or something.

I'd like to start this at 7:45, which is 45 minutes after the last round on Saturday is supposed to end. I am very determined to run this efficiently, hopefully with the help of some more qualified readers, for the selfish reason of my team and I getting to sleep at a reasonable time to be well rested on Sunday.

Additionally, if the number of people interested in playing far exceeds the number of readers I can muster, then we may have to turn this into a shootout style event, unless that causes an uproar or something. Right now I don't think this will have to happen, but it's a possibility.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Mon May 18, 2015 9:28 am
by Arkangel de la Muerte
I can play this at PACE and am looking for a teammate. I know some physics, inorganic chemistry, astronomy and math. PM me if you want to team up!

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Wed May 20, 2015 12:27 pm
by ShorterPearson
While I'm not quite ready to commit yet:

Will, hit me up about reading/staffing BONGOS at HSNCT.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Sat May 23, 2015 11:56 pm
by Ike
Hey,

All of the ACFNATIONALS editors attempts to reasonably contact Will Overman, the TD for this tournament have failed. We are using the conference rooms on the lobby level for our tournament, which will run concurrently with this one.

Will, if you have any problems with this, please check your email, check your PMs, or otherwise get into contact with me or Andrew Wang.

Ike

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 1:20 am
by Vainamoinen
Ike wrote:Hey,

All of the ACFNATIONALS editors attempts to reasonably contact Will Overman, the TD for this tournament have failed. We are using the conference rooms on the lobby level for our tournament, which will run concurrently with this one.

Will, if you have any problems with this, please check your email, check your PMs, or otherwise get into contact with me or Andrew Wang.

Ike
My email is will AT willoverman DOT com if that's not what you guys have been sending emails to; I'll check the other random ones I have set up in case somehow people were under the impression I use a different one. I'll definitely contact you within the next 24 hours about this. Sorry for the confusion.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 1:26 am
by Good Goblin Housekeeping
Vainamoinen wrote:
Ike wrote:Hey,

All of the ACFNATIONALS editors attempts to reasonably contact Will Overman, the TD for this tournament have failed. We are using the conference rooms on the lobby level for our tournament, which will run concurrently with this one.

Will, if you have any problems with this, please check your email, check your PMs, or otherwise get into contact with me or Andrew Wang.

Ike
My email is will AT willoverman DOT com if that's not what you guys have been sending emails to; I'll check the other random ones I have set up in case somehow people were under the impression I use a different one. I'll definitely contact you within the next 24 hours about this. Sorry for the confusion.
Looks like I just sent emails to the willoverman email that owns the doc/is on your hsqb profile. sorry!

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 1:36 am
by Vainamoinen
Black Miao wrote: Looks like I just sent emails to the willoverman email that owns the doc/is on your hsqb profile. sorry!
Yeah, I just use my gmail account for signing up for stuff (like the forums). Sorry, I should have known to expect stuff on there. I didn't receive any PMs on the forums or facebook, though. Anyways, those room plans are completely fine with me.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 5:05 pm
by Vainamoinen
Considering our available readers number, I'm going to go ahead and cap the HSNCT site to 16 teams. We currently have 12, and there are 7 people on the free agents list. Those 7 people will be given priority in that if they sign up a team by Tuesday or so, then they are guaranteed to be able to play. Otherwise, others who are interested in playing but are not on the free agents list should definitely still sign up in case other teams drop or I am able to find more readers.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 10:11 am
by swaymun.shahee
I'm am looking for a teammate for this side event. I'm decent at bio, comp sci, and math. I know little physics. Email me at: [email protected]. Or PM me.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Fri May 29, 2015 6:06 pm
by Vainamoinen
The people on the free agents list should really go ahead and try to contact each other and form teams. If you don't do that I will either pair you off together or you can remove yourself from the list.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Fri May 29, 2015 10:28 pm
by Vainamoinen
Final (hopefully) update about stuff for tomorrow:

We'll be playing in the conference center foyer rooms on the entry level. We will try to start between 7:45 and 8:00 depending on whenever everyone is able to get there. Reminder: the entry fee is $10 per person, we'll have someone in the center of the foyer collecting money and confirming that you've shown up. Pizza will be provided for staffers. I've randomly paired everyone who was on the free agents list. If you are one of these people and would like to remove yourself, please do that ASAP. Also, if you find a teammate on your own, or have contacted one of the other free agents and would like to play with them, then just delete whatever team you're tentatively on and put the new one in green.

EDIT: The teams in green, who have confirmed their intent to play to me by email, are guaranteed a spot within the cap of 16 teams. Free agents need to confirm to me that they are intending on showing up if they want a guaranteed spot.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 1:28 am
by Fado Alexandrino
15 teams came. Sethlene won, Arcadia came second. Rounding up the top 8 were Stephen Eltinge's team, Joe's team, Ashvin's team, Gautam's team, Adam Silverman's team and Colonel By.

This was a wonderful, but not perfect tournament that was significantly harder than ACF regionals level difficulty, but not Nats level. There was a noticeable number of cliffs and amusing buzzer races. The biggest problem was how so many random studies were cited. "X et al" appears in most tossups.

TL;DR: This is a playable and enjoyable set but needs work.

Thanks to Will, Farah et al for writing and staffers who staffed.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 8:51 am
by setht
Thanks for writing and running the tournament, Selene and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

-Seth

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 1:42 pm
by Gautam
Thanks to Will et al for writing this.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 10:37 am
by Steeve Ho You Fat
This tournament was flawed as Joe Su pointed out, but not without redeeming value. Thanks for writing.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 11:02 am
by Excelsior (smack)
This was oodles of fun.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 1:55 pm
by Sima Guang Hater
I'm making travel plans for PACE. When will this tournament be? I want to make sure I'm not going to miss it.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 4:01 pm
by 1992 in spaceflight
The Quest for the Historical Mukherjesus wrote:I'm making travel plans for PACE. When will this tournament be? I want to make sure I'm not going to miss it.
I believe it's scheduled for Saturday night.

Re: Feynman's BONGOS: A Side Event (for PACE and maybe HSNCT

Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 4:26 pm
by Vainamoinen
The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi wrote:
The Quest for the Historical Mukherjesus wrote:I'm making travel plans for PACE. When will this tournament be? I want to make sure I'm not going to miss it.
I believe it's scheduled for Saturday night.
This is correct. I hope to begin 45 minutes to an hour after the last round on Saturday.