2016-17 Tournament Schedule: Planning, Discussion, etc.

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Re: 2016-17 Tournament Schedule: Planning, Discussion, etc.

Post by Jewish Pugilist »

Ferlinghetti's Axis wrote:There's SUN being produced by a bunch of people from Florida, but at Fall-minus difficulty it doesn't exactly fill the niche that MUT covered.
It is definitely no substitute for MUT, which will be missed in Florida where it is usually played in May. SUN's original purpose was to cater to both University underclassmen and Community Colleges player in the area due to Spring largely being filled with tournaments that are "Regular" difficulty and above.

On another note, I would be willing to contribute History questions to a regular or regular minus tournament if that came about.
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Re: 2016-17 Tournament Schedule: Planning, Discussion, etc.

Post by RexSueciae »

Ewan MacAulay wrote:Cambridge are writing a 14-packet set for the 11th of March that is intended to land around college regular difficulty. We'd be happy to offer it up for transatlantic mirrors if there's interest.

Caveat: some of the history and literature as currently written will probably not play well among American audiences and may require adaptation.
If you're looking for someone to edit an American version and convert history / literature / other questions, I'd be willing to help.
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Re: 2016-17 Tournament Schedule: Planning, Discussion, etc.

Post by AGoodMan »

Progcon wrote: There are also a lot of great writers out there who haven't been "discovered" yet so to speak. If you get a few experienced editors (I'd say one for each major category of Lit, Science, History, and Fine Arts) and a bunch of newish but motivated writers, I think you could produce some good content.
Though I would much rather play this hypothetical, MUT-esque, regular-minus tournament, I am also open to contributing a few questions if anyone needs a "newish but motivated writer". (I can write history, Judeo-Christian, etc.)
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Re: 2016-17 Tournament Schedule: Planning, Discussion, etc.

Post by Aaron's Rod »

randomguy1997 wrote:
Progcon wrote: There are also a lot of great writers out there who haven't been "discovered" yet so to speak. If you get a few experienced editors (I'd say one for each major category of Lit, Science, History, and Fine Arts) and a bunch of newish but motivated writers, I think you could produce some good content.
Though I would much rather play this hypothetical, MUT-esque, regular-minus tournament, I am also open to contributing a few questions if anyone needs a "newish but motivated writer". (I can write history, Judeo-Christian, etc.)
Bensonfan23 wrote:In the spirit of this, and what Vasa was suggesting, if someone is actually trying to make another regular difficulty-ish tournament happen around March/April, I would gladly help write the science (or history, if that's what's needed) for such a tournament.
I already messaged Vasa about this, but given that people have already volunteered for history and for science, I'm also "newish" and would be willing to do work on Fine Arts/RMP/other (all the stuff in the "last" quarter of the distribution). I'd hate to see the regular-minus niche in the spring go unfilled.
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Re: 2016-17 Tournament Schedule: Planning, Discussion, etc.

Post by Charbroil »

Aaron's Rod wrote:
randomguy1997 wrote:
Progcon wrote: There are also a lot of great writers out there who haven't been "discovered" yet so to speak. If you get a few experienced editors (I'd say one for each major category of Lit, Science, History, and Fine Arts) and a bunch of newish but motivated writers, I think you could produce some good content.
Though I would much rather play this hypothetical, MUT-esque, regular-minus tournament, I am also open to contributing a few questions if anyone needs a "newish but motivated writer". (I can write history, Judeo-Christian, etc.)
Bensonfan23 wrote:In the spirit of this, and what Vasa was suggesting, if someone is actually trying to make another regular difficulty-ish tournament happen around March/April, I would gladly help write the science (or history, if that's what's needed) for such a tournament.
I already messaged Vasa about this, but given that people have already volunteered for history and for science, I'm also "newish" and would be willing to do work on Fine Arts/RMP/other (all the stuff in the "last" quarter of the distribution). I'd hate to see the regular-minus niche in the spring go unfilled.
I wasn't planning to play MUT anyway, so I'd also be willing to contribute to this in any category (though I'm weaker in science and music). If a team gets together to "Americanize" the Cambridge tournament, I'd also be willing to help out with that. Feel free to PM me or email me at [email protected]
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Re: 2016-17 Tournament Schedule: Planning, Discussion, etc.

Post by theMoMA »

I agree with Shan; I'd happily contribute somewhere on the order of a half-packet to keep MUT going (i.e. 20-30 questions in a particular area of the distribution), if an enterprising collegiate team wanted to take the lead and make the tournament happen. Perhaps a team with writing resources, like Maryland/Michigan/Chicago, would be interested.

I'm guessing (although I can't speak for them) that various others in the Minnesota cabal could also step up to write one or two parts of the distribution. What no one seems to have time for this year, among the typical MUT coalition, is taking the lead on things like packet creation and administrative oversight. If a team could do that, and commit to writing a chunk of the tournament, I think we could probably pull something together.
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Re: 2016-17 Tournament Schedule: Planning, Discussion, etc.

Post by RexSueciae »

I've heard from five or six people who are very keen on writing, and whom I think can put out a quality product. Once I hammer things out, I think I'll get everybody together, make a forum post, all the stuff that usually happens with producing a question set.

Mark the calendars, there will be a late March / April regular-minus tournament happening in some form, unless I literally die in the intervening span.
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Re: 2016-17 Tournament Schedule: Planning, Discussion, etc.

Post by Æthelred the Unready Steady Cook »

This might be seen as a bit of Oxford-Cambridge one-upmanship, but the Oxford Open set was played this weekend in the UK, and people seemed happy with it. If people want to play a hypothetical tournament in March, all of the Oxford tournament is already written so you could start sorting out the things that need doing tomorrow. Its also 16 packets, with a tie-breaker in each, which is enough for anyone to play, and has only been seen by Chicago. The 16 packets means that if you wanted to replace some British history with other history from other packets then you could.

The difficulty is c. regular difficulty, although the science is regular minus and the history is a little harder than regular, because of the field in the UK. We have also played all of the packets, so we know about all the typos and the little mistakes so that saves some time proofreading.

I guess the ideal is that people can "Americanize" two sets, but for practical reasons I think taking on the set which people have already played and is completely written makes a lot more sense.
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Re: 2016-17 Tournament Schedule: Planning, Discussion, etc.

Post by naan/steak-holding toll »

Æthelred the Unready Steady Cook wrote:This might be seen as a bit of Oxford-Cambridge one-upmanship, but the Oxford Open set was played this weekend in the UK, and people seemed happy with it. If people want to play a hypothetical tournament in March, all of the Oxford tournament is already written so you could start sorting out the things that need doing tomorrow. Its also 16 packets, with a tie-breaker in each, which is enough for anyone to play, and has only been seen by Chicago. The 16 packets means that if you wanted to replace some British history with other history from other packets then you could.

The difficulty is c. regular difficulty, although the science is regular minus and the history is a little harder than regular, because of the field in the UK. We have also played all of the packets, so we know about all the typos and the little mistakes so that saves some time proofreading.

I guess the ideal is that people can "Americanize" two sets, but for practical reasons I think taking on the set which people have already played and is completely written makes a lot more sense.
I would like to play this. If someone wants to tack on an additional $5 mirror fee to compensate the Americanizers for their work, I would be totally cool paying that.
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Re: 2016-17 Tournament Schedule: Planning, Discussion, etc.

Post by Æthelred the Unready Steady Cook »

Periplus of the Erythraean Sea wrote:
I would like to play this. If someone wants to tack on an additional $5 mirror fee to compensate the Americanizers for their work, I would be totally cool paying that.
That is completely reasonable and we're more than happy to compensate people for helping to make it playable for an American audience. If people message me or email me (daoud[dot]jackson[at]merton[dot]ox[dot]ac[dot]uk) then we can put together a task-force, and I can share the spreadsheet and packets with people. I am more than happy to help people do this and to organize it, especially as I have done a fair amount of US history myself (much more than the average British quizbowl player) and because at this stage, I sort of know exactly what is in every tossup and thus what clashes with what else.

I don't know for sure what flies in the US and what doesn't but I would guess that the history and the misc/geo/art need the most work (you don't really want tossups on members of Thatcher's cabinet and suburbs of London), the lit and social science needs a bit (some things are fine tossups but would play a lot harder across the pond) and the science, music, world/European lit and RMP need neatening up, but not really wholescale revisions.
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Re: 2016-17 Tournament Schedule: Planning, Discussion, etc.

Post by CPiGuy »

Urech hydantoin synthesis wrote:MCAT will be delayed and turned to a summer open, so MARTYNAS JABLONKIS seems to be our only hope for a spring tournament (other than MUT, assuming it happens).
Is this still a thing that's happening over the summer?
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Re: 2016-17 Tournament Schedule: Planning, Discussion, etc.

Post by Ewan MacAulay »

Ewan MacAulay wrote:Cambridge are writing a 14-packet set for the 11th of March that is intended to land around college regular difficulty. We'd be happy to offer it up for transatlantic mirrors if there's interest.

Caveat: some of the history and literature as currently written will probably not play well among American audiences and may require adaptation.

This set has now been written and played, and it was generally well-received at the UK mirror. It consists of 14 packets of 24/24, with tossups powermarked and soft-capped at five lines. As warned, some of the history, literature and CE/GK/Trash will not play well for American audiences (though I'd say the set as a whole is less obviously British than Oxford Open).

I'd describe it as slightly harder than last year's Missouri Open or SCT. It should be fine to play without adaptation as a slightly whimsical summer event, or if a willing crew can be found, it could be Americanised and played as a regular season tournament.
Last edited by Ewan MacAulay on Wed Mar 22, 2017 10:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 2016-17 Tournament Schedule: Planning, Discussion, etc.

Post by Sigurd »

Canada is interested in a mirror of Cambridge Open, possibly in the near future. What would the mirror fee be for Cambridge Open and whom could I contact to further discuss a mirror of it?
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Re: 2016-17 Tournament Schedule: Planning, Discussion, etc.

Post by Ewan MacAulay »

Sigurd wrote:Canada is interested in a mirror of Cambridge Open, possibly in the near future. What would the mirror fee be for Cambridge Open and whom could I contact to further discuss a mirror of it?
Hi Isaac - great to hear you guys are interested. We're setting the mirror fee at £25 per team. If you'd like to discuss a mirror, best shout is to drop me a line at the e-mail address listed on my profile.
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Re: 2016-17 Tournament Schedule: Planning, Discussion, etc.

Post by Beevor Feevor »

CPiGuy wrote:
Urech hydantoin synthesis wrote:MCAT will be delayed and turned to a summer open, so MARTYNAS JABLONKIS seems to be our only hope for a spring tournament (other than MUT, assuming it happens).
Is this still a thing that's happening over the summer?
Are either of these tournament still planning on being written at all, and if so, could we get an update on them?

On an unrelated note, I think it's about time that one of these threads gets started again for next year. I'll post one myself if nobody does it within the next few hours, but I think it's important to start planning this stuff out now, so that we don't have projects fall through for the year like the two aforementioned ones.
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Re: 2016-17 Tournament Schedule: Planning, Discussion, etc.

Post by Beast Mode »

Beevor Feevor wrote:
CPiGuy wrote:
Urech hydantoin synthesis wrote:MCAT will be delayed and turned to a summer open, so MARTYNAS JABLONKIS seems to be our only hope for a spring tournament (other than MUT, assuming it happens).
Is this still a thing that's happening over the summer?
Are either of these tournament still planning on being written at all, and if so, could we get an update on them?
I posted in more detail about this in the 2017-18 thread, but MCAT won't be happening this year.
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