GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Update)

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GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Update)

Post by Wynaut »

I am pleased to announce GEODUCK (Geographic Designs of the Unusual and Conventional Kinds), a tossup-only tournament dealing with all things geography. All questions will be written by me, Kenji Shimizu, over an even spread of both natural/physical and human geography. Many of these questions will also cross over into other subject areas of the quizbowl distribution (and yes, that includes science!), so even people traditionally averse to hearing geography questions will find something that they'll enjoy.

This tournament will consist of 10 packets of 24 tossups, with 15-point powers (and no superpowers). Questions will be capped at 8 lines in 10-point Times New Roman font after powermarking. The overall difficulty of both clues and answerlines will be similar to the quizbowl portions of the 2014 and 2015 U.S. Geography Olympiad, and will test knowledge of both specific (e.g. cities, landmarks) and general (e.g. agricultural, demographic trends) answers, with a conscious attempt to increase the amount of questions about the latter. To ensure a balance between conventional and unusual material, this tournament will also follow a difficulty quota a la VCU Open 2015 or Eyes That Do Not See.

The distribution is an extrapolated and slightly modified version of the typical Geo Monstrosity distribution, and is as follows:
3 United States
1.5 Other North/Central America/Caribbean
1.5 South America
4 Europe
4 Asia/Middle East
3 Africa
1 Australia/Oceania/Antarctica
3 miscellaneous/common links
1 geography-minded trash
2 other academic

The “common link” distribution is only for common links that do not neatly fit into any other part of the distribution. For example, the "dolphins" tossup from 2015 USGO, which uses clues from the Caribbean, Brazil, and China, would fit here, but the "Buddha statues" tossup from the same tournament, which uses clues from Japan and southeast Asia, would fit perfectly in the Asia distribution.
Questions in the “other academic” distribution would fit better in a category other than geography at a regular college tournament, but are still geography-related. Social science and space “geography” questions would fit here, although they are definitely not the only possibility.
Fictional geography will still show up in both the Trash and Other Academic distributions.

This tournament is currently 25% complete, and will most likely be ready for mirrors by the second summer open/potential side event weekend (late July/early August 2017). It will likely cost $10 per player.
Last edited by Wynaut on Mon Sep 11, 2017 12:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by CPiGuy »

Yayyyyyyyy!

Great name, by the way. I'll be trying very hard to play this in person.
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by Corry »

As the dude who's currently writing this year's iteration of Geography Olympiad, I will most certainly play this.
Last edited by Corry on Mon Mar 20, 2017 9:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by $5 Bits of Broken Chair Trophy »

Lit
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by lumosityfan »

Yes! Hopefully I'll get a chance to play this!
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by Important Bird Area »

I WILL DESTROY YOU

(seriously, this sounds great and I look forward to playing it)
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by Father Comstock »

Geo is what got me hooked on quiz bowl. I'M SO READY.
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by kitakule »

Father Comstock wrote:Geo is what got me hooked on quiz bowl. I'M SO READY.
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by A Dim-Witted Saboteur »

Hopefully this will compensate for my middle-school geo bee and IGeO inadequacies!

In all seriousness, I am definitely going to play this.
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by kitakule »

Any chance that there'll be a Skype mirror for this? I don't think I'll be able to make it to any of the in-person summer opens but I'd still love to play this.
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by Corry »

Hey, I just remembered this was happening. Any updates on your progress? I'd be pretty stoked to play this sometime in the next few months.
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by Cheynem »

I assume this is happening because I talked to Kenji last night, but can we get a confirmation on the number of packets and the completion status?
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by Wynaut »

This is currently 75% done. There will be 10 packets of 24 tossups only.
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by Wynaut »

I would like to thank the fine folks at Berkeley and VCU for mirroring and playing this set. I hope you all enjoyed it!

I'd like to have a private discussion forum for this set up in the next few days, as well as the logistics for an online Skype/Discord mirror (which will most likely happen toward the end of the month).
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by aseem.keyal »

As someone who doesn't have much interest in geography and played this set on a whim, this set was a blast! Tons of fun and fresh tossups in each packet, I'd highly recommend anyone who's even slightly interested in geography (or not) to play this.
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by naan/steak-holding toll »

This tournament was superb. I highly recommend playing.
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by bmcke »

This was such a good tournament. Kenji is clearly a good writer and a careful editor.
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by Fado Alexandrino »

aseem.keyal wrote:As someone who doesn't have much interest in geography and played this set on a whim, this set was a blast! Tons of fun and fresh tossups in each packet, I'd highly recommend anyone who's even slightly interested in geography (or not) to play this.
This is a Very True Statement.
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by Senator_Jay »

Very much enjoyed this! Thanks for writing the set :)
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by nadph »

This was a terrific set. Thank you for writing it.
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by Corry »

Well since this is apparently the best geography tournament ever, I'm even more interested in playing an online mirror of this - is that still happening?
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by kitakule »

Corry wrote:Well since this is apparently the best geography tournament ever, I'm even more interested in playing an online mirror of this - is that still happening?

Just wanted to bump this for visibility. Is this skype mirror still a thing?
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by A Dim-Witted Saboteur »

kitakule wrote:
Corry wrote:Well since this is apparently the best geography tournament ever, I'm even more interested in playing an online mirror of this - is that still happening?

Just wanted to bump this for visibility. Is this skype mirror still a thing?
I really, really want this skype mirror to be a thing
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by Wynaut »

I'm going to organize sign-up sheets for the online mirror soon. I'm aiming to hold this on either one of the weekends of the 23rd or the 30th. I will also need other staffers for this -- post here if you're interested in staffing.

Considering that Discord is gaining favor among online mirrors, I'm considering holding it there as well. Feel free to post any feedback concerning dates/platforms.
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Re: GEODUCK (Geography Side Event)

Post by Wynaut »

I will be holding the online mirror of GEODUCK on Sunday, September 24, on Discord, starting at 12:00 noon EDT. Once again, the entry fee will be $10/person. It would be best to hold off your payments until I get an issue concerning people unable to find my Venmo resolved.

Here is the sign-up sheet. I'm tentatively capping off the field at 8 teams. Anyone interested in staffing should also place their names on this sheet -- if you're free on this weekend and have no plans to play/have already played this tournament, it would be greatly appreciated.

Let me know if you have any major objections to the date/time/venue.
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Re: GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Updat

Post by Wynaut »

Reminder that there's still time to sign up for the online mirror, and if you're free to staff on Sunday, please do so! A full logistics announcement will be coming shortly.
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Re: GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Updat

Post by naan/steak-holding toll »

Wynaut wrote:Reminder that there's still time to sign up for the online mirror, and if you're free to staff on Sunday, please do so! A full logistics announcement will be coming shortly.
I suspect you would be more likely to get staff if you informed them of compensation?
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Re: GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Updat

Post by A Dim-Witted Saboteur »

Given that only 12 people have signed up, could we play this as doubles so people can play more than 2 different teams?
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Re: GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Updat

Post by Wynaut »

I forgot to mention that, since I've converted most of the tossups in Packets 9 and 10 for use in different tournaments (including one I have yet to announce), I only have 8 packets to read for this mirror.

As such, I'll be splitting everyone into 4 teams and run it as a double round-robin with a finals game, for a total of 7 rounds. We'll still start at 12:00 noon EDT this coming Sunday.

I've made the Discord server, which anyone playing/staffing can join here. Be in the #lobby channel 30 minutes before the start of the tournament, in case anyone has any last-minute issues.

In addition, I will pay $20 to the first person who volunteers to read rounds on Sunday. You can post in this thread, email me, or PM me on Facebook/Discord if you're interested. This has gone to Richard Yu. Thank you very much!
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Re: GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Updat

Post by Wynaut »

Team "McMurdo on the Orient Express" (Jakob Myers et. al.) defeated Team "Geoduck Amuck" (Alex Schmidt et. al.) to win the online mirror! Stats will be posted soon.

I will also be reading Packets 6, 7, and 8 in the Quizbowl Discord here at 8:00 PM EDT. This will happen at a later date.

If you haven't paid me but have already contacted me about payment, I will resolve these situations over the next week.
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Re: GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Updat

Post by $5 Bits of Broken Chair Trophy »

Any idea when stats will be posted?
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Re: GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Updat

Post by Corry »

DuPhos wrote:Any idea when stats will be posted?
Also interested in seeing this!
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Re: GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Updat

Post by Antrobus63 »

Agreed. Stats would be great, but so I'd also like to pay you.
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Re: GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Updat

Post by Beetle »

Have stats been memory-holed?
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Re: GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Updat

Post by A Dim-Witted Saboteur »

Stats yes or stats no?
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Re: GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Updat

Post by armitage »

There's a stats spreadsheet but it seems like Kenji is busy with other things. I can make a copy of the spreadsheet if someone else wants to spend 10-20 min dumping it into SQBS
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Re: GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Updat

Post by A Dim-Witted Saboteur »

Online mirror stats are now up: http://www.hsquizbowl.org/db/tournament ... standings/ Thanks for writing a great tournament, Kenji!
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Re: GEODUCK - Geography Side Event (NEW: Online Mirror Updat

Post by Belgium »

When can we expect this set to be posted? Only about half the packets were read in Cambridge, and I'd love to play the rest in practice.
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