The Quizbowl Resource Center

I plan on writing a guerrilla packet by myself next week which would allow some team to play without writing.

mhayes wrote:The deadline makes things interesting. I have to speak with Jake to see what our plans are. So far, the team is just me and him and I still have to write 16 more tossups.

So for now, I am tentatively committing to play in this event. The team is myself and Jake Sundberg, though we are certainly looking to add teammates if anyone would like to join.

Note that you don't have to have your questions finished by the deadline. You just need to have your team organized.

Volunteering for this, under the conditions mentioned above (my share of a packet will be mostly history and hastily written while ICT is printing).

bt_green_warbler wrote:Volunteering for this, under the conditions mentioned above (my share of a packet will be mostly history and hastily written while ICT is printing).

I'd be willing to join you if you'd like. I'd write science and a couple more non-lit questions.

MicroEStudent wrote:

bt_green_warbler wrote:Volunteering for this, under the conditions mentioned above (my share of a packet will be mostly history and hastily written while ICT is printing).

I'd be willing to join you if you'd like. I'd write science and a couple more non-lit questions.

Would you guys be willing to team up?

I won't be there, unfortunately, but I'd be happy to contribute one or two non-science questions (and maybe a math question if you desperately need science) for teams, or for a guerrilla packet.

Bentley Like Beckham wrote:

mhayes wrote:The deadline makes things interesting. I have to speak with Jake to see what our plans are. So far, the team is just me and him and I still have to write 16 more tossups.

So for now, I am tentatively committing to play in this event. The team is myself and Jake Sundberg, though we are certainly looking to add teammates if anyone would like to join.

Note that you don't have to have your questions finished by the deadline. You just need to have your team organized.

Ah. Sorry, I misunderstood.

mhayes wrote:

MicroEStudent wrote:

bt_green_warbler wrote:Volunteering for this, under the conditions mentioned above (my share of a packet will be mostly history and hastily written while ICT is printing).

I'd be willing to join you if you'd like. I'd write science and a couple more non-lit questions.

Would you guys be willing to team up?

I'd be okay with it if Jeff is.

Matt Bollinger, Will Butler, and I are teaming up. Anyone interested in playing with us is welcome to get in touch!

EDIT: we have secured the services of one Chris Ray. Hopefully someone else writes a crazy-ass tossup on Ogden Nash this year.

Univ of Oxford will take part. We aim to produce a "British Dream Packet"; I hope this will be acceptable since none of us will play it.

mhayes wrote:

MicroEStudent wrote:

bt_green_warbler wrote:Volunteering for this, under the conditions mentioned above (my share of a packet will be mostly history and hastily written while ICT is printing).

I'd be willing to join you if you'd like. I'd write science and a couple more non-lit questions.

Would you guys be willing to team up?

This team is happening.

Edit: Jeff has trouble reading the rest of the thread. This team has four players now.

bt_green_warbler wrote:

mhayes wrote:

MicroEStudent wrote:

bt_green_warbler wrote:Volunteering for this, under the conditions mentioned above (my share of a packet will be mostly history and hastily written while ICT is printing).

I'd be willing to join you if you'd like. I'd write science and a couple more non-lit questions.

Would you guys be willing to team up?

This team is happening. We're looking for a fourth, preferably one who knows literature, to supplement our existing strategy of "hope someone wrote a packet with 10 tossups each on semiconductors and people who fought at the Battle of Marston Moor."

I am also on the team, check further up the thread.

DarkMatter wrote:I am also on the team, check further up the thread.

You may be the most qualified to handle the lit. Are you up for it?

DarkMatter wrote:I am also on the team, check further up the thread.

Sorry, I did not read the thread closely enough (didn't know Matt was speaking on behalf of anyone but himself.) Team settled, then!

mhayes wrote:

DarkMatter wrote:I am also on the team, check further up the thread.

You may be the most qualified to handle the lit. Are you up for it?

I'll give you what I can, you know I'm hit or miss with lit. Don't count on me for poetry though.

*Also, who is that guy you're using as your avatar?

DarkMatter wrote:Also, who is that guy you're using as your avatar?

The one and only Glenn Gould.

grapesmoker wrote:

Sir Thopas wrote:
edit: the Detroit airport is the best place to sleep.

I can vouch for this.

I don't know how moderators for this thing works, but if needed I could possibly read. If not needed, I think I'll just sit this one out, but if is anyone is desperately in need of a fourth let me know.

itsthatoneguy wrote:I don't know how moderators for this thing works, but if needed I could possibly read. If not needed, I think I'll just sit this one out, but if is anyone is desperately in need of a fourth let me know.

I could help staff this as well.

Bentley Like Beckham wrote:Details on where to submit your packets will be forthcoming.

I was wondering where this might be. Oxford are flying to the States on Wednesday and it would be nice to get this sorted before then as our internet access is bound to intermittent thereafter. Or would you rather I just bring a flash drive with the packet on it?

Also, were there any formatting requests, e.g. do you want power and super-power marks like last year?

Bring the questions on a flash drive.

Yes, please include super-powers and regular powers in your tossups.

In terms of staff, it wouldn't hurt, although since it looks like we'll only have 5 teams I imagine people on byes can largely read.

If Mike Cheyne is still writing that 6th packet, that can be used for a finals.

I am still writing it (with an assist from Zach Foster).

I'm making good on my threat not to play. Enjoy, if this is your sort of thing.

theMoMA wrote:I'm making good on my threat not to play. Enjoy, if this is your sort of thing.

I would hope that quizbowl is everyone's sort of thing!

every time i refresh i have a new name wrote:

theMoMA wrote:I'm making good on my threat not to play. Enjoy, if this is your sort of thing.

I would hope that quizbowl is everyone's sort of thing!

I look forward to your attendance at the nearest Tournament By the Sea VIII mirror.

theMoMA wrote:

every time i refresh i have a new name wrote:

theMoMA wrote:I'm making good on my threat not to play. Enjoy, if this is your sort of thing.

I would hope that quizbowl is everyone's sort of thing!

I look forward to your attendance at the nearest Tournament By the Sea VIII mirror.

I think you're greatly exagerating the problems of the questions in the previous two tournaments. Please explain to me why you didn't like the Arthur, Kandlikar, Bentley or your own packet last year.

If there are any teams out there still looking for a mediocre player, I'm your guy. Will buy you dinner and/or dance around for your amusement in lieu of writing.

MicroEStudent wrote: I'd be okay with it if Jeff is.

I attempted to send you a PM, but it's stuck in my outbox, so I'm not sure if you received it.

I'll be volunteering to gather our questions for this, so you can PM me for details in case you didn't get my original PM.

minusfive wrote:If there are any teams out there still looking for a mediocre player, I'm your guy. Will buy you dinner and/or dance around for your amusement in lieu of writing.

Jordan, do you wanna team up for this. I am looking for some teammates as well

Lucy Lane wrote:Jordan, do you wanna team up for this. I am looking for some teammates as well

That sounds good. Now we are two.

Lucy Lane wrote:Jordan, do you wanna team up for this. I am looking for some teammates as well

Cheynem wrote:I am still writing [the sixth packet that will be used for the finals] (with an assist from Zach Foster).

Is this not still in effect?

I imagine having a teammate who had written the finals pack might come in handy, if we can get to that game.

EDIT: "Fixed" formatting, which is not my friend at the moment...

Any team/teams with space for two more free agents? ASU representatives Ian and I are interested in playing this if it's not too late to sign up.

I assume now that a sixth team has formed, my packet will be used so that they can play.

So we have 5 confirmed teams. It sounds like there is a 6th packet being written and a 6th team interested in playing. However, we cannot run this tournament with 6 teams and 6 packets since byes are required. We could possibly run it with 7 teams and 6 packets, although we couldn't play an entire round robin which would be lame.

Therefore, unless a 7th team can be found who is willing to write a packet, we will go with just 5 teams in the packet writing teams' bracket. If there's sufficient interest, I'll allow a second bracket to be formed of people who didn't write a packet. Teams in this bracket will have to pay the intentionally high fee of $10 a person. This money will go toward buying dinner for the people who actually took time to write the 5 or 6 tossups needed to make this tournament happen.

Both Ian and I will be arriving relatively early in the afternoon, so we (or probably mostly me, since he has a big econometrics test next week) can probably throw together a 7th packet during the few hours before this event starts. Note that if I write more than 6 tossups for a packet, a significant fraction of the rest will be vertebrate zoology, because I'm also studying for a big test of my own next week.

Cheynem wrote:I assume now that a sixth team has formed, my packet will be used so that they can play.

So as my understanding, which may be flawed, goes, Zach and myself are claiming MC's packet (Mike-I owe you big time) and ASU is becoming the 7th team, which is writing a pack?

minusfive wrote:

Cheynem wrote:I assume now that a sixth team has formed, my packet will be used so that they can play.

So as my understanding, which may be flawed, goes, Zach and myself are claiming MC's packet (Mike-I owe you big time) and ASU is becoming the 7th team, which is writing a pack?

Well, it would be nice to be able to share your packet and not have to write one, but we're willing to write one if we need to (of course you know not to expect much quality from a packet written at the last minute). I also just got a message from Colin McNamara offering to help write some questions, though I'm not sure if he's actually playing.

minusfive wrote:

Cheynem wrote:I assume now that a sixth team has formed, my packet will be used so that they can play.

So as my understanding, which may be flawed, goes, Zach and myself are claiming MC's packet (Mike-I owe you big time) and ASU is becoming the 7th team, which is writing a pack?

Yes, this is my understanding of the situation as well.

Because it looks like we'll have 2 additional packets, let's move the starting time up to 8:30 PM. We will meet in the lobby of the hotel. I'll post more specific details tomorrow. If this is going to be a problem for anyone, please let me know.

By the way, if you have a buzzer and/or hotel room we can use, please let me know.

Bentley Like Beckham wrote:Because it looks like we'll have 2 additional packets, let's move the starting time up to 8:30 PM.

One of my teammates (Jeff Hoppes) is flying in at 8:40 PM, so this might be a problem for us, though I'm not sure how many other teams this would affect.

We should at least try to meet around 8:30 so we can be ready to go. We can also perhaps read Jeff's packet first.

I'll be getting to the hotel late tonight, but won't have a laptop. However, my room can be used for matches tomorrow.

I have no idea when we might be getting into Chicago tomorrow because we haven't decided what time we will be leaving tomorrow morning, so it might end up being somewhat of a problem. I will edit my post later tonight after we have practice to reflect any updates regarding when we will arrive tomorrow.

Edit: Looks like we'll be there on time since we are leaving at 7 AM

Cheynem wrote:We should at least try to meet around 8:30 so we can be ready to go. We can also perhaps read Jeff's packet first.

For the reason Matt mentions, a first-round bye would be awesome.

bt_green_warbler wrote:

Cheynem wrote:We should at least try to meet around 8:30 so we can be ready to go. We can also perhaps read Jeff's packet first.

For the reason Matt mentions, a first-round bye would be awesome.

That would be appreciated.

Cheynem wrote:We should at least try to meet around 8:30 so we can be ready to go. We can also perhaps read Jeff's packet first.

Now that I think about it, since my plane arrives at 7:30 pm, there's a non-zero chance that I'll also be late, but this depends on the turnaround time for getting a hotel shuttle to pick me up.

Nate and Jake, I'll e-mail you guys the question set sometime tomorrow just in case you two are there before me and Jeff.

American Airlines just canceled my flight. I'm on one that gets in at 8:55 now, so I'll be late to this.

If someone could text me at 9:00 to let me know where to go, I'd appreciate it.

585-260-2827.

I think the low cloud in Chicago is causing chaos at the moment. One of our team is stuck in Denver. But we'll be down in the lobby at 8.30.

Yeah, I just found out that my flight into Chicago will be delayed by an hour, so three members of team Hoppes won't be at the hotel for 8:30 PM. Even with the bye, this makes things a bit tricky.

Just wanted to give a heads up.

If you need to contact me, the area code for my number is four eight four. The rest of the number is 716-5715. We'll still meet in the lobby (to the right of the elevators if you're coming up the escalators from the main entrance to the hotel) at 8:30 PM and decide what course of action to take. I suspect there will be people around to fill in temporary spots until teammates having travel issues arrive.

Posting from SFO to say that my flight will be at least 45 minutes late. Please feel free to begin playing quizbowl without me; I may or may not be a special mystery guest arriving sometime around round 4.