The Quizbowl Resource Center

Georgetown Day School will be hosting the Ben Cooper Memorial Tournament on March 13th, 2010 at the Georgetown Day High School Campus in Northwest Washington, DC. This tournament will be written by members of Georgetown Day School's team, Ian Eppler of Brown University, and Daichi Ueda of Vanderbilt University; the set will be edited by myself. Tossups will be 5 to 6 lines, 10 point TNR, with power marks. The target difficulty will be slightly above regular, i.e. accessible to all teams but still challenging top teams with early clues and third parts. For some reference to our estimated difficulty, see the No Name Tournament 2008 (with the exception of science, which will be easier than NNT) and Prison Bowl II sets from last year's season, or this year's edited Harvard Fall Tournament. This tournament is now PACE-affiliated, meaning that teams which place highly enough will qualify for a spot at the PACE National Scholastics Championship to be held in June.

In-person registration for this event will start at 8 AM, with the intention of starting the opening meeting at 8:45 and beginning the first round at 9:00. GDS is located 3 blocks from the Tenleytown Metro Station on the Red Line, at 4200 Davenport St., NW. Free parking is available on campus. There are a number of restaurants in the area for lunch. For more information, please email Matt Jackson at the following email address: (REDACTED).

Registration is now open! To register teams from your school, email REDACTED, preferrably with "tournament registration" in the subject line. Posts in this thread, emails to my regular school address, etc. may contain important information, but will not be counted as official registrations.

(EDIT 3/10): We will now be capping this at 30 teams. If teams still plan to register, we'll be keeping a wait list.

The price structure is as follows:
$65 per team
- $5 per functional buzzer set
- $5 travel discount for teams 100 or more miles away
- $15 for each committed staffer! We encourage experienced adult supervisors to staff.

Minimum fee: $40

Checks should be made out to "GDS" with "Quizbowl" in the subject line.

A running field update will be kept below.

Registered:
Wilson (1 team, 1 buzzer)
Caesar Rodney (1 team, 1 buzzer, 1 staffer)
Whitman (1 team, 2 buzzer)
Quince Orchard (1 team, 1 buzzer)
St. Anselm's (1 team, 1 buzzer)
St. Joseph's, NJ (2 teams, 2 buzzer, 1 staffer)
Wilmington Charter (6 teams, 3 buzzers, 1 staffer)
Hunter (1 team, 2 buzzers, 1 staffer)
Richard Montgomery (3 Teams, 1 buzzer)
Calvert Hall (1 team)
Thomas Jefferson (3 teams, 1 buzzer)
Centennial (1 team)
Maggie Walker (2 teams)
Sidwell Friends (1 team, 1 buzzer)
Maret (1 team)
Robinson (1 team, 1 buzzer, 1 staffer?)
Howard (1 team, 1 buzzer)
Walter Johnson (1 team, 1 buzzer)

Total: 29 teams, 18? buzzers

Expressing Interest (via thread, email, in person, etc.):
Isaac
South Range

St. Anselm's is interested in this.

CR expresses interest.

Whitman is interested.

Self-incompatibility in plants wrote:CR expresses interest.

Yes, but please make sure to make the science actually accessible this year. It was a problem last November.

Based on the coaches reaction to last year's tournament, this is probably one I will be going alone to.

I could see State College coming

Wilson HS will probably make the long trek to GDS for this

Dr. Isaac Yankem, DDS wrote:

Self-incompatibility in plants wrote:CR expresses interest.

Yes, but please make sure to make the science actually accessible this year. It was a problem last November.

I can assure you as the head editor of this set that I will strive to make the science questions uniformly accessible, both within science as a category and in comparison to other categories, and that we are taking the appropriate steps to keep all the categories in line with each other in terms of difficulty. This set is unaffiliated with the No Name Tournament from last year, and is for the most part going to be by a new set of writers; I made a little edit to the first post to reflect that the science in NNT was not written by GDS, and is therefore not reflective of the type of science we aim to write this year.

Awesome. Thanks Matt. I'm sure the questions will be awesome. We can't wait. As long as this doesn't conflict with the University of Delaware's Blue Hen Invitational (i don't think it does but it might be a week different), we'll be there.

Dr. Isaac Yankem, DDS wrote:As long as this doesn't conflict with the University of Delaware's Blue Hen Invitational (i don't think it does but it might be a week different), we'll be there.

The current plan is for the Blue Hen to be on the 20th. I specifically counseled them to not use the 13th so that both of us could potentially go to GDS.

Barring conflicts Charter is interested, probably in the 1 to 2 teams range.

Bad Boy Bill wrote:

Dr. Isaac Yankem, DDS wrote:As long as this doesn't conflict with the University of Delaware's Blue Hen Invitational (i don't think it does but it might be a week different), we'll be there.

The current plan is for the Blue Hen to be on the 20th. I specifically counseled them to not use the 13th so that both of us could potentially go to GDS.

Barring conflicts Charter is interested, probably in the 1 to 2 teams range.

Alright Mr. Tressler! Good job.

RM is interested.

WJ is interested as well.

TJ's interested in this with multiple teams

Hunter is interested.

St. Joe's is interested.

Sidwell is definitely interested.

A post from Sidwell! This is exciting.

Yeah, on that note, welcome to the boards, Michael! It's always good to see more DC-proper quizbowl teams emerge. Hope to see you around!

This tournament is now PACE-affiliated.

Bumped to ask your intended start time to aid us in formulating potential travel options.

We intend to start registration at 8, start the opening meeting at 8:45, and begin the first round at 9. I'll be updating the first post with more information as it gets finalized.

EDIT: The first post is about to have general registration information added. Once those edits are done, consider registration open.
EDIT2: Those edits are done.

Bumping this thread to remind people / let them know that, with about two months to go, the question writing is currently well underway and this tournament is still happening. So far, only four (edit: five, yay Whitman) teams have registered by emailing me at REDACTED, with the last of those being about a month ago. Registration is open - sign up!

Robinson is interested.

With six weeks to go, writing and editing are both underway, with about half the questions written; in terms of the field, Quince Orchard and St. Anselm's bring us up to 7 teams.

EDIT: And the addition of St. Joseph's of NJ and a Charter bus to our field gets us up to 15. In light of the increased registrations (and ever-so-helpful willingness of teams to bring staffers), we've decided to increase the field cap to 36 and eliminate the cap on teams per school.

Hunter and three teams from RM bring us to 19?. The field has been filling fast, but we're still missing a lot of teams who we'd really like to be there, so register now if you want a guaranteed spot!

EDIT: And Calvert Hall brings us to 20?

We now know that, if you're paying by check, checks should be made out to "GDS" with "Quizbowl" in the subject line. The first post will be edited with that information, along with a running field tally. (Our field is filling up fast, so get your registrations in quickly, especially if you've expressed interest above!)

RyuAqua wrote:We now know that, if you're paying by check, checks should be made out to "GDS" with "Quizbowl" in the subject line. The first post will be edited with that information, along with a running field tally. (Our field is filling up fast, so get your registrations in quickly, especially if you've expressed interest above!)

Come on, State College and Gov, you know you want an opportunity to play each other and crush us weaklings on an excellent set.

We'd like to express interest in bringing another team, but i've yet to bring it up to them officially. I'll ask by Thursday and send messages out to them.

Centennial would like to bring 1 team definitely with one buzzer set. If we bring more teams, we will probably also bring more buzzer sets as well.

Maggie Walker has let me know that they'll be at this tournament with 1 to 3 teams.

This is an SAT date, so it looks like my juniors can't come... but i'm seeing if i can enlist a team of others for a second team from CR. Our A Team is still good (and in full attendance), but i'd like to bring another so they can play on what i'm expecting are great questions, even if they'll be worse than our usual B Team. I'm still communicating with them and i'll try to find out as soon as i can.

It looks like an outstanding field has already registered. Sadly, if I am reading your latest field update correctly, it appears State College has rescinded its interest. That's too bad.

Any updates on other interested teams?

And SJHS can bring another buzzer system if you wish. Would you like us to do so?

Should know by Monday whether we or I'm fielding a team for this.

Edward Powers wrote:It looks like an outstanding field has already registered. Sadly, if I am reading your latest field update correctly, it appears State College has rescinded its interest. That's too bad.

Any updates on other interested teams?

And SJHS can bring another buzzer system if you wish. Would you like us to do so?

More buzzers are always appreciated, so yes.

It's not that they rescinded their interest; State College was definitely interested in going, according to an email from their coach, but they'll be on spring break.

To use the phrase "rescinded their interest" was a poor use of words on my part---I appreciate the correction.

And I will bring a 2nd buzzer system.

Archbishop Spalding has dropped, and Robinson is in, bringing us to 26?-30? teams.

If you have a more exact idea of how many teams your school will be bringing, I'd appreciate the information as soon as it becomes available.

RyuAqua wrote:Archbishop Spalding has dropped, and Robinson is in, bringing us to 26?-30? teams.

If you have a more exact idea of how many teams your school will be bringing, I'd appreciate the information as soon as it becomes available.

Dr. Barnes told me today that we're bringing one team.

Don't exactly know why there's a question mark next to RM. We're definitely bringing three teams.

Howard (tentatively) brings us to 27, with the possibility of up to 29.

We're looking at a 13-packet set, so barring unforeseen last-minute registrations, if we get 28 teams, we could run four brackets of 7, with six prelim games including one bye for each team, but would have to make up some bizarre playoff format with no more than four playoff games, assuming the need for a two-packet final.

The next number that makes sense from there is 30 teams, so if you were considering bringing a second team or have extra players, now is the time to let me know, so we can plan for the appropriate number of scab teams, etc.

Sorry for being indecisive, but I'm now 99.9% certain that WJ is coming. I asked Mr. Whipple to email you with details and he will have it done soon. Expect 1 team and 1 buzzer system.

I'm almost certain now that we won't have that second team, just one. Sorry for not making it clear til now. We'll still have that buzzer set and i'll still volunteer to moderate.

As of today, WJ and Maggie Walker B bring us up to 29 teams. If you're a team in the area that hasn't registered yet, do so within the next 24 hours, so we can figure out bracketing. If we get one more team, we'll probably run five brackets of 6 for prelims and playoffs; if we get two or three, we'll probably do four brackets of 8, with seven prelim games, then break to groups of 4 for three playoff/consolation rounds.

(Isaac Hirsch Academy of the Arts and Sciences still hasn't responded, for one. Are you coming?)

No, sorry. Blake doesn't wanna and I can't line up a ride.

OK, at this point, it's looking like, despite the previously advertised field cap, we're going to close registration, capping this at 30 teams and set up a waitlist, with possible field expansion after that if last-minute interest spikes uncontrollably. So if you're registered for a certain number of teams, but have an extra player or two who would be willing to play on a scab team, bring them along.

With 30 teams, there'd be five brackets of six; the top two from each bracket, plus two wildcards determined by bonus conversion, record, and PPG, would go to two playoff brackets of 6. From there, if one team has two more wins than any other, they win outright, if two teams have the same record, they play a one-game final, and if two teams differ in record by one game, they play an advantaged final. The remaining teams would play consolation rounds.

RyuAqua wrote:OK, at this point, it's looking like, despite the previously advertised field cap, we're going to close registration, capping this at 30 teams and set up a waitlist, with possible field expansion after that if last-minute interest spikes uncontrollably. So if you're registered for a certain number of teams, but have an extra player or two who would be willing to play on a scab team, bring them along.

With 30 teams, there'd be five brackets of six; the top two from each bracket, plus two wildcards determined by bonus conversion, record, and PPG, would go to two playoff brackets of 6. From there, if one team has two more wins than any other, they win outright, if two teams have the same record, they play a one-game final, and if two teams differ in record by one game, they play an advantaged final. The remaining teams would play consolation rounds.

Regarding the playoff brackets: will there be a championship bracket and then a bracket below them, or will there be two even brackets that play parallel round robins followed by placement games?

Cantaloupe (disambiguation) wrote:

RyuAqua wrote:OK, at this point, it's looking like, despite the previously advertised field cap, we're going to close registration, capping this at 30 teams and set up a waitlist, with possible field expansion after that if last-minute interest spikes uncontrollably. So if you're registered for a certain number of teams, but have an extra player or two who would be willing to play on a scab team, bring them along.

With 30 teams, there'd be five brackets of six; the top two from each bracket, plus two wildcards determined by bonus conversion, record, and PPG, would go to two playoff brackets of 6. From there, if one team has two more wins than any other, they win outright, if two teams have the same record, they play a one-game final, and if two teams differ in record by one game, they play an advantaged final. The remaining teams would play consolation rounds.

Regarding the playoff brackets: will there be a championship bracket and then a bracket below them, or will there be two even brackets that play parallel round robins followed by placement games?

I think he means two brackets of "evenly placed" playoff teams, probably, and then the top two would face off in a final. Although i certainly would like to see, as TJIAT did this Fall, a final placement game for all teams so we can really determine the official placement. There are going to be a lot of great teams at this event, having one more game won't be a problem since they should go quickly... that, and i think all the great teams here deserve to know their official final placing. As long as there is another packet to fulfill this, i hope this happens.

Yeah, it'd be two evenly-matched playoff brackets, with cross-bracket placement games to determine 1st through 12th places after the five playoff rounds.

RyuAqua wrote:Yeah, it'd be two evenly-matched playoff brackets, with cross-bracket placement games to determine 1st through 12th places after the five playoff rounds.

Perfect. We can't wait. We'll see you Saturday morning.