Geoword
Geoword
Starting next week, the QBReader website will have a new functionality called Geoword. Similar to Beterword, Geoword is an online, single-person event in which a player may test their skills on a packet of original tossups. A free-to-play sample is available on the website linked here.
New packets will be available to play every other week on Saturday and close the following Saturday, with each biweekly game called an "opus." Each opus will be divided into three divisions based on difficulty: High School, Division II, and Division I. These roughly correspond to high school regs-plus difficulty, ICT Division II difficulty, and ICT Division I difficulty. Note that questions in an opus may be upconverted or downconverted from other packets in the same opus. For the sample, you are free to play any and all of the three divisions' packets; however, in the future, you will only be able to choose one of the three divisions to play per opus. You will be allowed to switch divisions in between opuses, though.
Packets will consist of 22 tossups each with the following distribution. This distribution will remain the same across all divisions:
4 History:
1 American History
1 European History
1 World History
1 Ancient/Other History
4 Science:
1 Biology
1 Chemistry
1 Physics
1 Other Science
4 Literature:
1 American Literature
1 British/Commonwealth Literature
1 European Literature
1 World Literature
3 Fine Arts:
1 Visual Fine Arts
1 Auditory Fine Arts
1 Other Fine Arts
4 RMPSS:
1 Religion
1 Mythology
1 Philosophy
1 Social Science
3 Other:
2 Geography/Current Events/Other Academic
1 Pop Culture
Opus 1 will be released on June 24, 2023. We hope you enjoy the sample and future weeks of Geoword!
New packets will be available to play every other week on Saturday and close the following Saturday, with each biweekly game called an "opus." Each opus will be divided into three divisions based on difficulty: High School, Division II, and Division I. These roughly correspond to high school regs-plus difficulty, ICT Division II difficulty, and ICT Division I difficulty. Note that questions in an opus may be upconverted or downconverted from other packets in the same opus. For the sample, you are free to play any and all of the three divisions' packets; however, in the future, you will only be able to choose one of the three divisions to play per opus. You will be allowed to switch divisions in between opuses, though.
Packets will consist of 22 tossups each with the following distribution. This distribution will remain the same across all divisions:
4 History:
1 American History
1 European History
1 World History
1 Ancient/Other History
4 Science:
1 Biology
1 Chemistry
1 Physics
1 Other Science
4 Literature:
1 American Literature
1 British/Commonwealth Literature
1 European Literature
1 World Literature
3 Fine Arts:
1 Visual Fine Arts
1 Auditory Fine Arts
1 Other Fine Arts
4 RMPSS:
1 Religion
1 Mythology
1 Philosophy
1 Social Science
3 Other:
2 Geography/Current Events/Other Academic
1 Pop Culture
Opus 1 will be released on June 24, 2023. We hope you enjoy the sample and future weeks of Geoword!
- Adventure Temple Trail
- Auron
- Posts: 2770
- Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2008 9:52 pm
Re: Geoword
What is the writing/editing team for this event?
Matt Jackson
University of Chicago '24
Yale '14, Georgetown Day School '10
member emeritus, ACF
University of Chicago '24
Yale '14, Georgetown Day School '10
member emeritus, ACF
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- Lulu
- Posts: 65
- Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2020 10:05 pm
Re: Geoword
I will be the "head" editor for these questions. Writers at the moment include Aum Mundhe (Ridgewood), Richard Niu (Cornell), Forrest Weintraub (Columbia), Andrew Zeng (Stanford), and Nathan Zhang (Cornell); however, we may add more writers if necessary.
Amogh Kulkarni
Wayzata 2018-2021
Chicago 2021-2023
GSU 2023-2025
Wayzata 2018-2021
Chicago 2021-2023
GSU 2023-2025
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- Lulu
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- Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2020 10:05 pm
Re: Geoword
A couple of quick announcements. First, I forgot to mention this in the original post, but games beyond the sample will cost $2 per opus for now; however, we may change this price in the weeks to come. Second, I am proud to announce that Jason Hong (Brown) has joined our entourage of writers!
Last edited by Serpentine284 on Sun Jun 25, 2023 10:15 am, edited 2 times in total.
Amogh Kulkarni
Wayzata 2018-2021
Chicago 2021-2023
GSU 2023-2025
Wayzata 2018-2021
Chicago 2021-2023
GSU 2023-2025
- Mike Bentley
- Sin
- Posts: 6466
- Joined: Fri Mar 31, 2006 11:03 pm
- Location: Bellevue, WA
- Contact:
Re: Geoword
Cool to see this start up. After having played the D1 sample, I do wonder if you all want to tone down the difficulty a little bit. For a format where you're asking people to individually answer all questions, it's going to feel harder than playing as a team. And even as written, it looks like the top players aren't converting a pretty significant number of questions.
Also, the sample round doesn't seem to work on Firefox. Works on other browsers though.
Also, the sample round doesn't seem to work on Firefox. Works on other browsers though.
Mike Bentley
Treasurer, Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence
Adviser, Quizbowl Team at University of Washington
University of Maryland, Class of 2008
Treasurer, Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence
Adviser, Quizbowl Team at University of Washington
University of Maryland, Class of 2008
- ryanrosenberg
- Auron
- Posts: 1891
- Joined: Thu May 05, 2011 5:48 pm
- Location: Palo Alto, California
Re: Geoword
I'd be strongly opposed to toning down the difficulty, there are a lot of other outlets to answer questions less difficult than college nationals.Mike Bentley wrote: ↑Mon Jun 19, 2023 4:42 pm Cool to see this start up. After having played the D1 sample, I do wonder if you all want to tone down the difficulty a little bit. For a format where you're asking people to individually answer all questions, it's going to feel harder than playing as a team. And even as written, it looks like the top players aren't converting a pretty significant number of questions.
Also, the sample round doesn't seem to work on Firefox. Works on other browsers though.
Ryan Rosenberg
North Carolina '16
NYU '26 (ideally)
ACF
North Carolina '16
NYU '26 (ideally)
ACF
- Mike Bentley
- Sin
- Posts: 6466
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- Location: Bellevue, WA
- Contact:
Re: Geoword
I agree it's nice to have something harder than Buzzword but comparing the answer lines to some of this year's ACF Nationals this seems tougher on average. For a solo competition, if you're shooting for a certain difficulty it's probably better to come in a little below it rather than above. But in any event, I do plan on playing even if it does stay this hard.ryanrosenberg wrote: ↑Mon Jun 19, 2023 4:45 pmI'd be strongly opposed to toning down the difficulty, there are a lot of other outlets to answer questions less difficult than college nationals.Mike Bentley wrote: ↑Mon Jun 19, 2023 4:42 pm Cool to see this start up. After having played the D1 sample, I do wonder if you all want to tone down the difficulty a little bit. For a format where you're asking people to individually answer all questions, it's going to feel harder than playing as a team. And even as written, it looks like the top players aren't converting a pretty significant number of questions.
Also, the sample round doesn't seem to work on Firefox. Works on other browsers though.
Mike Bentley
Treasurer, Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence
Adviser, Quizbowl Team at University of Washington
University of Maryland, Class of 2008
Treasurer, Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence
Adviser, Quizbowl Team at University of Washington
University of Maryland, Class of 2008
Re: Geoword
Tested it on Firefox on a Mac and it worked for me—do you know what specifically didn’t work? (Was the audio not playing, or was something else not working, etc.)Mike Bentley wrote: ↑Mon Jun 19, 2023 4:42 pm Also, the sample round doesn't seem to work on Firefox. Works on other browsers though.
- cemeterysummoning
- Lulu
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- Location: void
- Contact:
Re: Geoword
It didn't work for me (Firefox on Linux); when it asks to confirm the level (e.g. "high school,") the button that should take you to the game page doesn't lead anywhere, and it leads you back to the level selection page.thedoge wrote: ↑Mon Jun 19, 2023 9:04 pmTested it on Firefox on a Mac and it worked for me—do you know what specifically didn’t work? (Was the audio not playing, or was something else not working, etc.)Mike Bentley wrote: ↑Mon Jun 19, 2023 4:42 pm Also, the sample round doesn't seem to work on Firefox. Works on other browsers though.
However, it seems that once I start the game on another browser (I used Chromium) and then go back to Firefox, it lets me continue the game.
Re: Geoword
I've fixed the bug causing the division selection not to work on Firefox. If anyone is curious (this may be of help for future web developers), this is effectively what I did: https://stackoverflow.com/a/70780452
- naan/steak-holding toll
- Auron
- Posts: 2517
- Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2011 11:53 pm
- Location: New York, NY
Re: Geoword
Strongly agree with Ryan. For D1, I think tougher answers in particular are a wise choice given the format. Beterword-style formats excessively reward conservative play, since you get at least 10 for waiting until the end, but nothing if you get it wrong anywhere; this is different from normal quizbowl, where you also get nothing if an opponent beats you to the buzz because you waited. With a number of harder answerlines, an average player's EV for waiting the whole tossup out is a good bit less than 10, and I think that's important to have in a stronger field.
Will Alston
Dartmouth College '16
Columbia Business School '21
Dartmouth College '16
Columbia Business School '21
Re: Geoword
Would be interesting to see a Beterword-style format that omits giveaways or has a wider range of point values than 10-20 in order to change this, and maybe reward specialists more.naan/steak-holding toll wrote: ↑Wed Jun 21, 2023 1:26 am Beterword-style formats excessively reward conservative play, since you get at least 10 for waiting until the end
David Bass (he)
Johns Hopkins University
University of Virginia '23
Jamestown High School '19
Member, PACE
Johns Hopkins University
University of Virginia '23
Jamestown High School '19
Member, PACE
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- Lulu
- Posts: 65
- Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2020 10:05 pm
Re: Geoword
Opus 1’s release will be delayed until Monday, June 26. Apologies for the inconvenience.
Amogh Kulkarni
Wayzata 2018-2021
Chicago 2021-2023
GSU 2023-2025
Wayzata 2018-2021
Chicago 2021-2023
GSU 2023-2025
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- Lulu
- Posts: 65
- Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2020 10:05 pm
Re: Geoword
The first opus of Geoword will be released for play tomorrow, with play ending next Monday, July 3. We'll also be moving the price up to $2.50 due to taxes and fees. Thank you for your understanding!
Amogh Kulkarni
Wayzata 2018-2021
Chicago 2021-2023
GSU 2023-2025
Wayzata 2018-2021
Chicago 2021-2023
GSU 2023-2025
Re: Geoword
Opus 1 is officially out! Let me know if you have any issues, especially with payment (I won’t be able to get to anything until the evening).
Re: Geoword
Venmo is now a payment option, if people prefer that.
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- Lulu
- Posts: 65
- Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2020 10:05 pm
Re: Geoword
Opus 2 of Geoword is officially available to play! In addition, Opus 1 has now been closed. We have amended our closure policy as well; after an opus has closed, it will still be available to play, but your performance will not count on the leaderboard or player stats page.
Amogh Kulkarni
Wayzata 2018-2021
Chicago 2021-2023
GSU 2023-2025
Wayzata 2018-2021
Chicago 2021-2023
GSU 2023-2025
- Kouign Amann
- Forums Staff: Moderator
- Posts: 1188
- Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 12:44 am
- Location: Jersey City, NJ
Re: Geoword
Really enjoying this, especially the difficulty as mentioned above. Small criticism of the audio itself: I would love a little more attention to even pacing and careful enunciation, and perhaps it would benefit the readers to take some time in advance of recording to look over the packet for words that might trip them up.
Aidan Mehigan
St. Anselm's Abbey School '12
Columbia University '16 | University of Oxford '17 | UPenn GSE '19
St. Anselm's Abbey School '12
Columbia University '16 | University of Oxford '17 | UPenn GSE '19
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- Tidus
- Posts: 547
- Joined: Sun Dec 29, 2013 12:24 am
Re: Geoword
Enunciation is good. I would also note that I keep messing up when I'm prompted -- it would be really nice if the prompt would take the new answer and append it somehow to the old -- because I keep answering how I reflexively answer in quizbowl which isn't quite how Geoword works. But that's just me. I'm having fun thus far.
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- Lulu
- Posts: 65
- Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2020 10:05 pm
Re: Geoword
Geoword Opus 3 is out now!
Amogh Kulkarni
Wayzata 2018-2021
Chicago 2021-2023
GSU 2023-2025
Wayzata 2018-2021
Chicago 2021-2023
GSU 2023-2025
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- Lulu
- Posts: 65
- Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2020 10:05 pm
Re: Geoword
A couple of quick announcements:
- Due to outside circumstances, we will be delaying the release of Opus 4 to next Saturday. We apologize for this inconvenience and hope that Opus 4's quality will be better for it.
- Due to lower interest, we will be removing the HS division for future opuses. To accommodate for the players originally participating in the HS division, the Division II difficulty will be lowered, roughly corresponding to a "high school nats-plus" difficulty. We hope that those who had been playing either the HS or DII division continue to play and find the questions interesting and rewarding.
- Due to outside circumstances, we will be delaying the release of Opus 4 to next Saturday. We apologize for this inconvenience and hope that Opus 4's quality will be better for it.
- Due to lower interest, we will be removing the HS division for future opuses. To accommodate for the players originally participating in the HS division, the Division II difficulty will be lowered, roughly corresponding to a "high school nats-plus" difficulty. We hope that those who had been playing either the HS or DII division continue to play and find the questions interesting and rewarding.
Amogh Kulkarni
Wayzata 2018-2021
Chicago 2021-2023
GSU 2023-2025
Wayzata 2018-2021
Chicago 2021-2023
GSU 2023-2025
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- Lulu
- Posts: 65
- Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2020 10:05 pm
Re: Geoword
Opus 4 is out now! Reminder that there are only two divisions for this opus.
Amogh Kulkarni
Wayzata 2018-2021
Chicago 2021-2023
GSU 2023-2025
Wayzata 2018-2021
Chicago 2021-2023
GSU 2023-2025
- Kouign Amann
- Forums Staff: Moderator
- Posts: 1188
- Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 12:44 am
- Location: Jersey City, NJ
Re: Geoword
On Opus 4, I scored 20 points and was given a celerity of 1.000 for all correct buzzes before the end of the question. Didn't happen in any of the first three opera, nor—from a quick look at the non-round numbers on the leaderboard—did it happen to anyone else. Anyone have any idea what's up?
Aidan Mehigan
St. Anselm's Abbey School '12
Columbia University '16 | University of Oxford '17 | UPenn GSE '19
St. Anselm's Abbey School '12
Columbia University '16 | University of Oxford '17 | UPenn GSE '19
Re: Geoword
That's very odd. What browser & operating system were you using? Maybe it's something with that.
- Kouign Amann
- Forums Staff: Moderator
- Posts: 1188
- Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 12:44 am
- Location: Jersey City, NJ
Re: Geoword
Safari 14.1 on MacOS 11.3.1, it looks like.
Aidan Mehigan
St. Anselm's Abbey School '12
Columbia University '16 | University of Oxford '17 | UPenn GSE '19
St. Anselm's Abbey School '12
Columbia University '16 | University of Oxford '17 | UPenn GSE '19
Re: Geoword
Unfortunately, I was unable to figure out what the cause of this bug was. However, I have used a new, more precise method of calculating celerity going forward that should hopefully prevent this sort of thing from happening in the future? (Also will cause everyone's celerity to be slightly better because it is more precise.)
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- Lulu
- Posts: 65
- Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2020 10:05 pm
Re: Geoword
Opus 5 is now available to play!
Amogh Kulkarni
Wayzata 2018-2021
Chicago 2021-2023
GSU 2023-2025
Wayzata 2018-2021
Chicago 2021-2023
GSU 2023-2025
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- Lulu
- Posts: 65
- Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2020 10:05 pm
Re: Geoword
With Opus 6 coming out on Saturday, here are a few announcements about the future of Geoword:
- Opus 6 will be the last edition of standard Geoword in what we are calling the "first folio" (analogous to a season of Buzzword, for example). With the school year starting, Geoword will no longer be running standard, 22-question opera every two weeks. While a second folio is not confirmed yet, we hope to be able to bring you more standard Geoword next summer!
- Full statistics for the first folio will be released soon after the conclusion of Opus 6, including category statistics throughout the summer. The statistics will be available in the Geoword section of QBReader.
- While standard Geoword opera will not continue into the school year, we will be having an "off-season" of sorts, filled with non-standard themed events. Due to its nature, these events will not be run on the typical biweekly schedule that Geoword has traditionally been run on; however, we do hope to have at least one event per month ready for people to play. The first off-season event will be a packet entirely on the early 2010s sitcom Community, and will open on September 30 (sorry Chicago players, I already read the packet to you all). A rough schedule of the rest of these events will be posted soon.
We hope you liked this summer of Geoword, and good luck for the rest of the year!
- Opus 6 will be the last edition of standard Geoword in what we are calling the "first folio" (analogous to a season of Buzzword, for example). With the school year starting, Geoword will no longer be running standard, 22-question opera every two weeks. While a second folio is not confirmed yet, we hope to be able to bring you more standard Geoword next summer!
- Full statistics for the first folio will be released soon after the conclusion of Opus 6, including category statistics throughout the summer. The statistics will be available in the Geoword section of QBReader.
- While standard Geoword opera will not continue into the school year, we will be having an "off-season" of sorts, filled with non-standard themed events. Due to its nature, these events will not be run on the typical biweekly schedule that Geoword has traditionally been run on; however, we do hope to have at least one event per month ready for people to play. The first off-season event will be a packet entirely on the early 2010s sitcom Community, and will open on September 30 (sorry Chicago players, I already read the packet to you all). A rough schedule of the rest of these events will be posted soon.
We hope you liked this summer of Geoword, and good luck for the rest of the year!
Amogh Kulkarni
Wayzata 2018-2021
Chicago 2021-2023
GSU 2023-2025
Wayzata 2018-2021
Chicago 2021-2023
GSU 2023-2025
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- Lulu
- Posts: 65
- Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2020 10:05 pm
Re: Geoword
Opus 6 is now out! In addition, the new forums thread for the Geoword off-season is up and available here.
Amogh Kulkarni
Wayzata 2018-2021
Chicago 2021-2023
GSU 2023-2025
Wayzata 2018-2021
Chicago 2021-2023
GSU 2023-2025
Re: Geoword
Category stats leaderboards now exist for each opus! To access these, go to the stats page for an opus and click on the category stats link.