The Quizbowl Resource Center

The University of Chicago is pleased to announce that we will be hosting ACF Regionals on Saturday, February 28th, 2009. Shamelessly copied from various ACF tournament announcements:


Fees:
Base fee: $120 per team
Buzzer systems: -$5 each
Staffers: -$10 each
Laptop: -$5 each (max 1 per team)
Travel: -$10 for every 200 miles traveled (one-way)
International: -$20
Teams new to ACF: -$25
Teams new to quizbowl: -$75
High school teams: -$50

Packet Reminders:
All experienced teams are required to submit packets for ACF Regionals. For details regarding who is required to submit a packet and what your packet should look like, please consult the official ACF Packet Submission Guidelines (http://www.acf-quizbowl.com/documents/packetsub.php). There will be discounts and penalties for timely and untimely submissions; they are detailed in the guide and summarized below:

* Packet submitted by:
* Jan. 4: -$50
* Jan. 18: -$25 (-$50 for optional packets)
* Feb. 1: No penalty (-$25 for optional packets)
* Feb. 8: +$25
* Feb. 15: +$50

If you do not make special arrangements with the editors and do not submit a packet by Feb. 15, you will not be allowed to play. There will be no exceptions to this rule. Also, please take special note of the formatting rules for packet submission. Read this carefully: if your packet violates the formatting guidelines, it will be sent right back to you.

Difficulty:
ACF Regionals is intended as a regular-difficulty event. Please look at ACF Regionals 2008 as an example of the target difficulty of this tournament. If you are unsure whether a particular answer choice is appropriate for this tournament, contact the editors and we'll let you know. In general, you should strive to adhere to the question writing practices outlined in the Guide linked to above.




To register or if you have questions/concerns contact Nolan Esser at [email protected].
Time/Place details will follow.
Thanks,
Nolan Esser

Field (Updated as needed):
Illinois (2)
Michigan (1)
Minnesota (2)
UIC (1)
Miami (2)
UChicago (1-2)
Iowa (1)
Toronto (1)
Missouri (1)
Louisville (1)
Carleton (1)
Joe Thompson/Others (1)

Illinois will attend with two teams.

This is during Michigan's spring break, so we will likely have 0-1 teams.

Minnesota will be there with 1-3 (most likely two) teams.

The tournament will be held at Harper Memorial Library: http://maps.uchicago.edu/mainquad/harper.html

Now that I know that there will be ACF Regionals at the University of Chicago, UIC can send players on their U-Passes. We expect to send just one team, though, for I have time to write only one packet for ACF Regionals now that I realize that I need to write some or all of a packet for the GARBAGE Mirror the following day.

Go San Diego Chargers,
Rom Masrour
CPS/UIC

Before I forget, I'd like to request that one person from each program attending send me an e-mail with a phone number that could be used to contact the team if something comes up right before or during the tournament. Thanks.

I'd like to make a plea for buzzers/laptops (esp. buzzers). Something like 3 out of 4 of our buzzers are broken and the club laptop has died. Also, if I could request that teams e-mail me to confirm the number of teams they're sending when they know, that would be great.
Thanks

We will bring at least one buzzer, I am sure.

Sorry for announcing this so late, but Iowa plans on bringing one team to the tournament. We'll also be bringing one buzzer system and multiple laptops (if necessary).

We're bringing two teams, and can provide three buzzers.

We managed to get one team together, and should be able to bring a couple of buzzer sets.

We plan to send one team. We will confirm this with you soon.

maxis7 wrote:We plan to send one team. We will confirm this with you soon.

Impressive.

cornfused wrote:

maxis7 wrote:We plan to send one team. We will confirm this with you soon.

Impressive.

Huh? Well, we came down to Ann Arbor for ACF winter. It was a good experience on the whole, barring the long drive on icy roads.

David Seal told me to remind everyone that we're hosting a mirror of GARBAGE on Sunday the 1st if people are interested in attending.

Missouri-Columbia will be for certain with one team, and we are trying to see if we can get a 2nd.

maxis7 wrote:

cornfused wrote:

maxis7 wrote:We plan to send one team. We will confirm this with you soon.

Impressive.

Huh? Well, we came down to Ann Arbor for ACF winter. It was a good experience on the whole, barring the long drive on icy roads.

More impressive because Toronto to Ann Arbor is 283 miles and Toronto to Chicago is 520.

cornfused wrote:

maxis7 wrote:

cornfused wrote:

maxis7 wrote:We plan to send one team. We will confirm this with you soon.

Impressive.

Huh? Well, we came down to Ann Arbor for ACF winter. It was a good experience on the whole, barring the long drive on icy roads.

More impressive because Toronto to Ann Arbor is 283 miles and Toronto to Chicago is 520.

No, no; you have to dig up to un-derail the thread.

MaS

Please add one team from Carleton to the field. They can bring two buzzers. They are all first or second-year players, for whom a packet submission is optional, and I'm pretty sure they won't be opting. If Paul Drube apologized for adding a team "late" on Jan. 31, we should do so doubly for coming in 11 days later...

I should probably state that unless I get vocal complaints opposing the move, I've decided to cap the tournament at Midnight on the 15th, that being the final packet deadline. If you've worked something out where you don't have to write a packet and haven't told me you're attending, then we might be able to work something out.

We should have a finalized number of teams for you in the next few days. 1-3 is still the correct range.

As per my earlier request, I still need contact info (e-mail and/or phone number) from the following schools. The point of this is to hopefully minimize unnecessary delays. For example, if its suddenly 10AM and your not at the tournament, I'll be able to get in touch with you:
Carleton

P.S. David Seal has asked me again to reiterate that we're holding a GARBAGE mirror on Sunday, which evidently hasn't garnered that much interest, so if you're interested, contact him at [email protected]

Barring anyone dropping, the field is as you see it. Minnesota/Missouri, can you folks let me know how many teams you'll be sending as soon as possible. Thanks

Habitat_Against_Humanity wrote:Barring anyone dropping, the field is as you see it. Minnesota/Missouri, can you folks let me know how many teams you'll be sending as soon as possible. Thanks

We'll have two.

Missouri is just one team.

Ok, here's the where/when stuff:

Where: As mentioned above, the tournament will be held in the Harper Memorial Library at 1116 E. 59th St. A map of the campus/quad can be found at http://maps.uchicago.edu/mainquad/. As for parking, I would recommend trying to find something on 59th street or University Ave, neither of which are metered (I think). Parking lots are few and far between on campus, so something near Harper on the street would most likely be your best bet. Hopefully, the streets won't be packed on a Saturday morning.

When: Registration will begin at 8:30, but earlier is always better (The building will be opened at 8, which is when I plan on getting there). We will begin play at 9 sharp, so be late at your own risk. If you haven't already, send me an e-mail with a phone number so we can get in touch if you end up running late.

Also, if I could get people to tell me exactly how many buzzers they'll be bringing, that would be great

Thanks,
Nolan

Michigan should have a couple of buzzer sets.

Chicago people, on a Saturday morning, how long can we expect to spend on the road to get here if we are staying at O'Hare?

Google Maps calls it about an hour with traffic; I would budget a little over an hour to cover parking, etc. If someone who, unlike me, isn't part of the great quizbowl society of non-drivers wants to offer another estimate, feel free--but we are serious about starting on time, so if you want to ensure you won't be forfeiting any matches, I would aim on the early side.

myamphigory wrote:Google Maps calls it about an hour with traffic; I would budget a little over an hour to cover parking, etc. If someone who, unlike me, isn't part of the great quizbowl society of non-drivers wants to offer another estimate, feel free--but we are serious about starting on time, so if you want to ensure you won't be forfeiting any matches, I would aim on the early side.

For CO last year it took me around 30 minutes to do the actual driving bit on Saturday morning, but I'd budget for an hour.

I mean, I guess it could conceivably take an hour, so budget that much. Finding parking won't be the reason to count for that long, though. There will be tons of places along the Plaisance even if 59th is crowded, and the only metered area is Ellis.

EDIT: the map above doesn't show where the Plaisance is, but it's between 59th and 60th; in other words, immediately south of the tournament building.

Just to confirm - we'll be bringing 2 buzzer sets.

I probably should have mentioned this before, but lunch from Domino's will be provided free of charge.

Can princesses like myself pay you extra money to order our team a deep dish pizza instead?

Nope. You cannot.

Chicago A, Minnesota, Iowa, and Toronto are undefeated at lunch, I think, but am not sure.

Chicago beat MN A in the finals.

OK, Chicago beat Minnesota in an advantaged final is what I've heard. I would like to thank Chicago for doing a nice job hosting the tournament, and for making the unfortunate but right decision to turn the playoffs from a full round robin to a cross bracket. Incidentally, I would like to thank the packets for deigning to show up in time for the tournament to get started an hour late. Having to get two of our games cut because of that was a real nice touch.

Chicago A vs. Minnesota A

Chicago A did indeed defeat Minnesota A in the first game of an advantaged final.

In third was a three-way tie between Toronto, Illinois A, and Iowa at 8-3.

Nolan did a great job of running this tournament - I don't think anything that went wrong could have avoided by him, and he handled all issues efficiently and with a minimum of delay.

Sorry for the delay, but here are the final stats. :
Prelims:
http://bowl.uchicago.edu/2009%20ACF%20R ... dings.html
Playoffs with Finals:
http://bowl.uchicago.edu/2009%20ACF%20R ... dings.html

I'd really like to thank everyone who showed up both to staff and to play this tournament. Special thanks go out to Bryce Durgin, who drove all the way from Notre Dame to do stats, Jack Glerum, Leah Williams, Ray Sun, and Kannan Mahadevan, who came in from various locations around Chicago to read, and to Susan for helping me out with so many many things.

Overall, I'm pleased with the final result. Again, thank you to everyone who both staffed and played.

The playoff stats don't seem to have working team detail. Also, round report? I don't crusade for this as much as Chris does, but since the first playoff game between Chi A and Minn A featured the former getting 29 ppb, I'm especially curious.

Hmm... I don't know what's up. I'll check with who posted it and see if it can get fixed.

everyday847 wrote:The playoff stats don't seem to have working team detail. Also, round report? I don't crusade for this as much as Chris does, but since the first playoff game between Chi A and Minn A featured the former getting 29 ppb, I'm especially curious.

That was actually the final rather than the first playoff game, and I'm 95% sure it was Brown's packet.

Seems to be working fine for me now.