Logistics & Fee Structure
This tournament will be held on December 19th, 2020, by use of a Discord server. Players will be required to use some form of face-cam for this tournament. The tournament directors will meet with all teams at 9:15 AM EST (8:15 AM CT), and rounds will start at 9:30 EST (8:30 CT).
There is a flat $50 fee to play. We are not offering discounts for sending multiple teams or for sending staffers, as we anticipate this tournament being entirely house-run.
We will cap the field size at 16 teams to start, but if we get enough registrations, we will expand to 24.
Eligibility
This tournament will use NAQT's IS-198A, a set meant to be challenging, but not overwhelming for players without much experience. Note that this is not the same question set as the IASP will use for their area championship.
This tournament is primarily aimed toward Indiana high schools. High schools outside of Indiana can register, but they will be waitlisted, and will not formally be accepted until registration is closed. Waitlisted schools will be admitted in order of registration, and based on field size.
Schools may submit more than one team to this tournament. If you wish to submit multiple teams, please designate each team by decreasing strength with a letter, starting with A. For example, if Carmel High School were to submit 3 teams, we would expect their strongest team to be named Carmel A, the second-strongest to be Carmel B, and the third-strongest to be Carmel C.
Rules
This tournament will follow a modified version of the IASP's rules. Games will consist of two 10-tossup halves, with 3-part bonuses. There will be 15-point powers and 5-point negs. There are no bouncebacks on bonuses.
Since this tournament happens after the end of most high schools' fall semesters, we understand if a team cannot be chaperoned to this event. Therefore, we do not require a coach or chaperone to be present for any team. However, we expect all teams to conduct themselves and reserve the right to kick players for disruptive behavior.
This tournament follows NAQT's Online Tournament Guide, with some changes:
- Instead of Zoom, we are holding the tournament on Discord. Buzzing in will be done through Discord's instant messaging feature instead of through buzzin.live.
- Instead of NAQT's scorekeeping spreadsheet, we are using Neg5, a decentralized, cloud-based scorekeeping program.
If you suspect that a player is cheating during the tournament, please send a direct message to one of the tournament directors. Your account will be kept anonymous, and will not be disclosed to the player(s) involved. If we receive allegations that a player is cheating from two or more players, along with evidence that can be corroborated (such as notably suspicious buzzes or typing seen/heard during questions), that player will be removed from the tournament without appeal, and all of the team's games up until that point will be considered forfeit losses. We will not publicly post any information about cheating allegations unless we conclude beyond reasonable doubt that a player was cheating at this event.
To prevent false allegations of cheating, we ask that players please refrain from typing anything during questions unless it is sent directly into the chat itself. If you wish to take notes or keep track of score, please use a pen and paper.
In addition to cheating, our policy of removing problematic players also extends to cases of harassment and misconduct. If a player reports that another player is acting improperly, and a moderator can corroborate the accusations, we reserve the right to remove that player from the tournament without appeal.
Registration
To register for the Boilermaker Buzzathon, please use NAQT's registration system. As stated earlier, the initial field size cap is 16 teams. I will update this thread if we choose to expand to 24.
Thank you for reading, and we hope to see you there!