Tricon VI: Worldwide #Cheersmack (postponed)

Old college threads.
Locked
User avatar
Matt Weiner
Sin
Posts: 8145
Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2003 8:34 pm
Location: Richmond, VA

Tricon VI: Worldwide #Cheersmack (postponed)

Post by Matt Weiner »

Per the announcement of which tournaments will and will not be available prior to the end of July NASAT mirrors, I have been asked to revive the tournament we all know and are aware of, Tricon, as an additional side event option for this year. This tournament will be running at the Maryland NASAT mirror site and is available for any other summer NASAT mirrors or other quizbowl events happening this summer - contact me at [email protected] if you want to run it at your site. An online site may be considered if there is interest among people not playing physical sites - one or two potential online teams writing a packet in time for use in late July might incentivize this happening.

You can use this thread to form teams and let people know that you are writing or have completed a packet.

It's been several years since this tournament last ran, so let's review the parameters:

*This is a totally guerrilla (that is, 100% unedited, mostly free of charge [see below], and whatever "casual" may mean) tournament. It is a "hybrid" set with both academic content and a substantial (though less than 50%) amount of popular culture categories.
*Packets for this tournament will consist of 30 tossups with no bonuses, containing 1 question representing each of the 30 categories below. This distribution was developed in consultation with several quizbowl discussion venues containing varying perspectives (more serious and more casual players, etc) and the primary goal is to make sure that the tournament is enjoyable for anyone who might play it even though it will be pitched at a very high difficulty level. There were many good ideas that couldn't be included as I cut the list down to 30 topics, and hopefully we'll be able to use them all at a future edition of this tournament.

== WRITING PHILOSOPHY FOR THIS TOURNAMENT ==

*Questions should be approximately eight lines long in normal font parameters and should be marked with superpowers and powers. Generally, this tournament is scored on a 30-20-10 basis. If an individual site prefers to value the power sections differently that's up to them.
*For those who have never experienced this tournament, the idea is that it is an outlet to write on creative and difficult things that are too weird or too hard to include in any other quizbowl tournament, **but that you still genuinely expect someone playing this tournament to answer.** There should be a lot of "oh wow, someone finally found a chance to write on that cool thing I know about that doesn't quite fit the tone of ACF Nationals or Chicago Open" reactions. If you are writing according to any of the following philosophies than you are not getting the spirit of the thing:

*"I'm taking a standard Nationals/CO topic and just making it harder" --> WRONG!
*"I'm writing on things that I know the best players in quizbowl can't answer just to prove that I can do it" --> WRONG!
*"I'm writing bad questions on purpose, ignoring the distribution, writing questions whose answer is 'fuck this tournament', etc even though both participating in this event at all and writing a packet if I do participate are optional" --> WRONG! WHY WOULD YOU WASTE YOUR OWN TIME ON SUCH A THING, ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF HOW OBNOXIOUS THIS IS ASIDE? If you think this tournament is a stupid idea then just don't participate in it.

The Hirsch, Weiner, Adams, Douglass, and Carson packets from the original set, which may be found at https://collegiate.quizbowlpackets.com/638/, are good examples of the tone we are going for here.

Please write and randomize a packet containing precisely 1 of each question type listed below. Completed packets should be sent to Fred Morlan at [email protected] who will collate the set and send it out to mirror hosts (since I will be playing this tournament, do not send your packets to me). There will be no central editing of this set.

Be as creative as possible and write on whatever you want within the stated parameters - it's definitely OK to write some "hard questions on easy answers" here. What constitutes a question "on" or "pertaining to" some thing is totally up to your interpretation within the limits of common sense, good faith, and not trying to be more clever than you are, as specified above. Again, this should be an event that both provides fair competition on decent questions and has high levels of whimsy and innovation.

== INFO ON PARTICIPATING WITHOUT WRITING A PACKET ==


I encourage as many teams as possible to write for this event since it's a chance to write things that have no other place in quizbowl and most people find it very enjoyable to work on. With that said, we also want people who don't feel they have the experience or time to write to be able to participate. I'm going to suggest that each site allow teams who write packets to play for free, and also allow non-writers to play the tournament for a small entry fee (perhaps $5 per person/$20 per team) which will be used to purchase refreshments for staffers.

Another option that has been used in the past is to play this tournament with 5-person teams so that each team of writers can allow 1 person who didn't write to participate. Individual host sites certainly have this option as well.

Finally, individual sites may choose to use a "second buzz" option to help question conversion and manage the problem of large teams locking themselves out of questions. The way this usually works is that if someone negs, a different person from the same team may buzz in later in the question for a lower point value (e.g. 15/10/5 instead of 30/20/10). Some ways to implement the second buzz are "once at least two more words have been read to give the opponents a chance to buzz in" or "only at the end of the question and after one second has elapsed to allow the opponent a chance to buzz in first."

== THIS YEAR'S CATEGORY LIST ==

Science:

-A question on food science
-A question related to petroleum engineering or some aspect of the oil industry that is science-based
-A question involving extinct megafauna that are not dinosaurs or dinosaur-adjacent (anything that would be exhibited at Jurassic Park should be avoided even if it's not technically a dinosaur, e.g. pterosaurs)
-A question on an engineering disaster

History:

-A question on an attribute or trait of a historical person
-A question on Canadian history whose answer is neither a province nor a PM
-A question on Byzantine or medieval Slavic history

RMP:

-A question from a hypothetical “hard religion tournament” whose answer is something other than the name of a Christian heresy
-A question on a philosophy journal article
-A question about an underasked myth system

SS/CE/Geo/Misc Academic:

-A question rewarding knowledge of living/working on a farm
-A question written by opening an economics textbook to a random page and writing about something mentioned on that page
-A question using good geography parameters ("Tourism, economic impact of the physical landscape, interactions between humans and the environment, political conflict over resources and boundaries, and the impact of place on culture, history, and current events") but whose answer is the name of a city, town or village in North or South Carolina that is not home to any college with a Division I sports program
-A question about a specific murder or other subject covered by a "true crime" podcaster, but the entire question has to be written in an over the top satire of the way true crime podcasters talk
-A question relating to how a car works

Literature:

-A question on a non-canonical book (of at least 100 pages) that you were assigned to read in school
-A question on classical Greek or Latin literature that at least in part rewards direct knowledge of the language and/or poetic forms
-A question on a specific Emily Dickinson poem that has never been a tossup answer in quizbowl before

Non-film arts:

-A question on post-1980 jazz
-A question involving a composer from a country other than Russia that was part of the USSR
-A photography question on an answerline that has never been used in quizbowl before

Film:

-A question on a movie whose title begins with the phrase "once upon a time in"
-A question related to a Lifetime Original Movie
-A question on a movie adapted from a non-movie source that is not a traditional printed literary medium such as books, comics, etc

Non-movie popular culture:

-A question on anything from women’s sports except the WNBA
-A question on a baseball "event" whose answer is something other than a specific season or playoff series (e.g. "the pine tar game," "jose bautista's bat flip," etc)
-A question whose answer is the title of a specific TV show episode
-A meta-quizbowl question focused more on what someone would learn if there was a “history of quizbowl” textbook and not on gossip about current personalities
-A question on country, gospel, or bluegrass music
-A question on a TV show originating in a non-U.S. country

Due to overuse at the first Tricon, the following topics are completely banned from this tournament and may not appear in your questions in any way: the painter Duccio, Arrested Development (both the TV show and the early 1990s rap group), and the Salman Rushdie novel The Ground Beneath Her Feet.

Due to other reasons, the following topics are limited to no more than 1 question per packet: questions whose answer is the name of an album of music, questions that have anime content, or questions that use clues from the TV shows Futurama, Seinfeld, Community, or Parks & Recreation. You can write these if you really want to but only once per packet. Generally, any specific subject that could be its own "theme packet" such as a particular television show etc. should not appear more than once in your Tricon packet.

Again, contact Matt Weiner about mirrors, send packets to Fred Morlan, and post in this thread if you have other questions or want to publicly call for teammates/writing collaborators. I'm looking forward to a fun question set.
Last edited by Matt Weiner on Sun Sep 11, 2022 1:27 pm, edited 7 times in total.
Matt Weiner
Advisor to Quizbowl at Virginia Commonwealth University / Founder of hsquizbowl.org
RexSueciae
Tidus
Posts: 546
Joined: Sun Dec 29, 2013 12:24 am

Re: Tricon VI: Worldwide #Cheersmack (summer 2022 @ Maryland and elsewhere)

Post by RexSueciae »

I probably won't be appearing in person but I shall gladly write a packet for this.
Vasa Clarke

Maggie Walker '14
Virginia '18
William and Mary '21
User avatar
AKKOLADE
Sin
Posts: 15783
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2003 8:08 am

Re: Tricon VI: Worldwide #Cheersmack (summer 2022 @ Maryland and elsewhere)

Post by AKKOLADE »

Please send me packets to [email protected]. Make sure 'tricon' is in the subject.

Thanks!
Fred Morlan
University of Kentucky CoP, 2017
International Quiz Bowl Tournaments, CEO, co-owner
former PACE member, president, etc.
former hsqbrank manager, former NAQT writer & subject editor, former hsqb Administrator/Chief Administrator
User avatar
AKKOLADE
Sin
Posts: 15783
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2003 8:08 am

Re: Tricon VI: Worldwide #Cheersmack (summer 2022 @ Maryland and elsewhere)

Post by AKKOLADE »

I have not received any packets to date.
Fred Morlan
University of Kentucky CoP, 2017
International Quiz Bowl Tournaments, CEO, co-owner
former PACE member, president, etc.
former hsqbrank manager, former NAQT writer & subject editor, former hsqb Administrator/Chief Administrator
User avatar
AKKOLADE
Sin
Posts: 15783
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2003 8:08 am

Re: Tricon VI: Worldwide #Cheersmack (summer 2022 @ Maryland and elsewhere)

Post by AKKOLADE »

I'll use this thread to track packets as the come in.

We have one packet from:

Vasa Clarke
Fred Morlan
University of Kentucky CoP, 2017
International Quiz Bowl Tournaments, CEO, co-owner
former PACE member, president, etc.
former hsqbrank manager, former NAQT writer & subject editor, former hsqb Administrator/Chief Administrator
User avatar
AKKOLADE
Sin
Posts: 15783
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2003 8:08 am

Re: Tricon VI: Worldwide #Cheersmack (summer 2022 @ Maryland and elsewhere)

Post by AKKOLADE »

If anyone else is going to send in a packet, please do so by 6 p.m. eastern tomorrow.
Fred Morlan
University of Kentucky CoP, 2017
International Quiz Bowl Tournaments, CEO, co-owner
former PACE member, president, etc.
former hsqbrank manager, former NAQT writer & subject editor, former hsqb Administrator/Chief Administrator
User avatar
Matt Weiner
Sin
Posts: 8145
Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2003 8:34 pm
Location: Richmond, VA

Re: Tricon VI: Worldwide #Cheersmack (summer 2022 @ Maryland and elsewhere)

Post by Matt Weiner »

Due to the only packet for this besides my own coming from someone who won't be at the Maryland site, the low interest/surfeit of other events to get scheduled there, and only one other NASAT mirror site being interested in running the event later, we're going to delay this tournament to an online-only event. Hopefully this will allow individuals who are interested in writing and/or playing to get organized on their own.

I will be running this on a Discord sometime in the third week of August; exact details TBA soon.
Matt Weiner
Advisor to Quizbowl at Virginia Commonwealth University / Founder of hsquizbowl.org
User avatar
Matt Weiner
Sin
Posts: 8145
Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2003 8:34 pm
Location: Richmond, VA

Re: Tricon VI: Worldwide #Cheersmack (summer 2022 @ online)

Post by Matt Weiner »

Let's try for the afternoon of Sunday, August 21.

With the event being online, you can try to form a team with anyone who's interested. Sign up here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing
Matt Weiner
Advisor to Quizbowl at Virginia Commonwealth University / Founder of hsquizbowl.org
User avatar
Matt Weiner
Sin
Posts: 8145
Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2003 8:34 pm
Location: Richmond, VA

Re: Tricon VI: Worldwide #Cheersmack (August 21 @ online)

Post by Matt Weiner »

Per conversations at CO weekend, some people will be more likely to play/write this tournament if it's postponed until September. Our final attempt to run it will be Sunday, September 18. Please use the signup link in the above post. If we don't get at least 3 packets/4 teams pledged by September 10 then this will be postponed until at least next summer.
Matt Weiner
Advisor to Quizbowl at Virginia Commonwealth University / Founder of hsquizbowl.org
User avatar
Matt Weiner
Sin
Posts: 8145
Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2003 8:34 pm
Location: Richmond, VA

Re: Tricon VI: Worldwide #Cheersmack (September 18 @ online)

Post by Matt Weiner »

Due to insufficient signups from both players and writers, this tournament will not be held during the current academic year. I may give it another attempt next summer.
Matt Weiner
Advisor to Quizbowl at Virginia Commonwealth University / Founder of hsquizbowl.org
RexSueciae
Tidus
Posts: 546
Joined: Sun Dec 29, 2013 12:24 am

Re: Tricon VI: Worldwide #Cheersmack (September 18 @ online)

Post by RexSueciae »

Matt Weiner wrote: Sun Sep 11, 2022 1:27 pm Due to insufficient signups from both players and writers, this tournament will not be held during the current academic year. I may give it another attempt next summer.
In that case, I have another year to contribute a packet.
Vasa Clarke

Maggie Walker '14
Virginia '18
William and Mary '21
Locked