Venetian (March-April, Individuals, Online)

[oriley]

This is the announcement for Venetian, a buzzer-free, league-style tournament for high school individuals. Details on the format can be found here.

The tournament will take place over Discord and Zoom. Each player will play one game per week, on either a Sunday or a Tuesday, at times which work for each player’s schedule. Games are expected to last about 30 minutes each. Each player will play five or six games depending on field size.

Games will be played the weeks of March 12, 19, and 26, as well as April 9, 16, and (potentially) April 23. No games will be scheduled during IPNCT/ICT week at the beginning of April.

The target question difficulty of this tournament is most similar to 2018 EFT, which can be found on the hsquizbowl archives. This difficulty may be altered slightly as the tournament goes on—but only slightly—to approach 90/50/10 conversion rates. If it is determined that this difficulty is “too easy” for the best players, the difficulty of the finals packet may be increased.

One of the goals of the format is to provide a balance between specialism and generalism. The format will allow players to play some bonuses in their favorite category in the beginning, while forcing them and their opponents to deal with disliked categories near the end of the packet.

Registration
To register to play this tournament, players should fill out this form.

Moderators will be paid $5 per game read (about $10/hr). To register to staff for this tournament, staffers should fill out this form. Players who wish to moderate games do not need to fill this out—that is covered in the player form.

Fees
Base fee: $25
Moderator discount: -$5 per game read

Clarification: players who read five games will get to play for free, yes.

Deadlines
The registration deadline is midnight Central Time on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. Players must submit payment prior to midnight Central Time on Thursday, March 9, 2023, or they will be dropped from the field. Players who cannot meet this clause should email me, and alternate arrangements may be possible. Registration is not considered final until payment is received. Players’ spots in the field are not guaranteed until payment is received. Position on the waitlist will be determined by the time when payment is received, not the time the form is filled out.


This tournament is open to all high school students, regardless of ability or experience level. There will be multiple rebrackets during the tournament to allow players to play more games against players of similar ability.

Feel free to email any questions or concerns to oriley1201 AT icloud DOT com.
Thanks!

[oriley]

FAQs

Payment
Every player is paying up front, except for those who have made separate arrangements with me privately. Contact me at oriley1201 AT icloud DOT com if this presents an issue for you, and we’ll see what we can do.

Who is writing the questions?
Me.

How do I know the questions will be good?
Each packet is put through a rigorous series of playtests, including, but not limited to, inviting science players who don’t like me to insult my questions. If you played 2022 KICKOFF, I edited the history and current events for that set.

I cannot download [Discord/Zoom].
Feel free to email me and we can discuss potential arrangements. This can be worked around.

Can we get a field update?
Sure.

[oriley]

The field will expand to 24 and then by each multiple of four. We have enough staff to expand as much as interest demands.

Current Field (24)
Dwij Bhatt (IL)
Braden Booth (MO)
Rachel Ezrielev (MD)
Sanjeev Ganesh (TX)
Ali Hamzeh (TX)
Yaj Jhajhria (CA)
Archit Kalra (IN)
Rohan Kher (IL)
Richard Lin (CA)
Omkar Marathe (IL)
Towery McNeil (MS)
Anila Moparthi (IL)
Sinecio Morales (IL)
Rushil Murikinati (MN)
Rohan Navaneetha (OH)
Danny Peelen (PA)
Kevin Peng (MD)
Jason Qin (IL)
Varun Sathyajeeth (OH)
Aditya Sharma (NC)
Benny Shtutman (SC)
Hari Veginati (IL)
Camden Williams (MO)
Michelle Yu (MD)



”Field Statistics”
Top states
1. Illinois (7)
2. Maryland (3)

Midwest vs. Everywhere Else
1. Midwest (12)
2. Everywhere Else (12)

[oriley]

The registration deadline is three days from now, on Wednesday the 8th. Get those signups in!

[oriley]

The registration deadline has passed, and we reached our target of 24 signups. All players and staffers should expect emails from me throughout the course of the day—of course, we begin playing this coming Sunday. Enjoy the tournament, everyone!