The Missouri University of Science and Technology Academic Competition Organization would like to invite you to the 5th Annual Missouri S&T Fall Tournament, to be held on our scenic campus in Rolla, Missouri on December 12, 2009.

This tournament has been certified by the Missouri Quizbowl Alliance, an organization dedicated to providing high-quality quizbowl tournaments to all Missouri teams. Visit http://www.moqba.org for more information.

Format:
This tournament will be run in the twenty tossup/bonus format. Games consist of twenty tossups worth ten points each followed by non-rebounding bonuses worth up to thirty points. Tossups will feature "powers" (additional points awarded for correct buzzes very early in the question) and "negs" (five point deductions for incorrect answers before the question is finished).

The field is currently limited to the first 18 teams to register, though we will make every effort to include all interested teams. This year, schools will be welcome to register multiple teams.

The tournament will feature a bracketed round robin and playoff, the exact specifications of which will be determined by the final field size. The field will not be divided into small and large school divisions, but the top-finishing small-school team (as well as the top four teams overall) will receive trophies, and an all-tournament team will be recognized.

Pricing:
Base fee for first team: $65
Base fee for second and subsequent teams: $60
Moderator discount: $20 discount for each competent moderator your school brings
Buzzer discount: $5 discount for each working buzzer system your school brings
Buzzer borrowing discount: $5 discount if we have borrowed your buzzer in the past year for an intercollegiate event
Alumnus discount: $5 discount if your school has an alumnus on the Missouri S&T team
Travel discount: $5 discount for every 100 miles your school traveled to the tournament (one-way, as determined by Google Maps)
Early registration discount: $5 discount if your registration is received before November 12, 2009
The minimum entry fee is $25 per team.

Formalities:
Please email me, Matt Chadbourne, at mwchadbourne at gmail dot com to sign up for the tournament. Registration on the morning of the tournament will begin at 8:00. Since the format we will be using may be unfamiliar to many teams, we will have a short team meeting at 8:45 to review the rules. The first round of tournament play will begin at 9:00.

After the completion of the tournament, each team in attendance will receive an electronic copy of the questions used.

Pending affiliation, this tournament will be a qualifier for the Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence National Scholastics Championship, to be held in June 2010 at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Top-finishing teams will automatically qualify for this national tournament, which regularly features many of the nation’s top teams.

A list of teams that have signed up for the tournament can be found on the Missouri Academic Competition Message Board (http://www.moquizbowl.com) and the Missouri S&T ACO webpage (http://web.mst.edu/~cbowl). Both lists will be updated regularly. Our tournaments traditionally fill extremely quickly, therefore it is highly advisable to reserve your spot early, and you are more than welcome to reserve your spot in the tournament before the payment process has been completed.

We hope to see you and your team in Rolla this December and wish you the best of luck as you compete this season. As always, if you have any questions about the tournament, don’t hesitate to ask.

Sincerely,

Matt Chadbourne

President, Missouri S&T Academic Competition Organization

List of registered teams: (to be edited as registrations come in)

Crocker
Elsberry
Eureka
Hancock (2)
Hannibal
Herculaneum
Houston
Pilot Grove
Savannah
Weaubleau


<div class="editby">Edited by <a href='http://s4.zetaboards.com/Academic_Competition/profile/88943/'>DeckardCain</a>, Sep 9 2009, 10:08:28 AM.</div>

Field update - 9/25:

Crocker
Elsberry
Eureka
Hancock (2)
Hannibal
Herculaneum
Houston
Pilot Grove
Rolla
Savannah
Weaubleau

Still waiting on a number of usual suspects. Registration is, of course, still open.

This tournament is now officially MSHSAA sanctioned.

Also, a field update (10/8 - 13 teams)

Clayton
Crocker
Elsberry
Eureka
Hancock (2)
Hannibal
Herculaneum
Houston
Pilot Grove
Rolla
Savannah
Weaubleau

Field update - 10/17

Clayton
Crocker
Elsberry
Eureka
Hancock (2)
Hannibal
Herculaneum
Pilot Grove
Rolla
Savannah
St. Clair
Weaubleau

A field update is on the way, but we're currently at 19 teams, which, as last year's MST Fall showed, is not the best number to work with.

I've upped the field cap to 21, so we can allow two more teams as of right now. I'll try to secure the necessary resources to host 24 teams, but I can't guarantee that yet, so if you'd like to reserve a spot, please do get in touch with me as soon as possible.

December 12 is an ACT test date. The majority of my players will be taking the ACT that day, so I won't be able to attend.

Ah, sorry to hear that. I believe we're going to pick a different weekend for this tournament next year, as the current one has already posed several issues.

Also, the current field:

Belle
Clayton (2)
Crocker
Elsberry
Eureka
Hallsville
Hancock (2)
Hannibal
Jefferson
Pilot Grove
Richland (2)
Rolla
Salem (2)
Savannah
St. Clair
Waynesville
Weaubleau

We're currently sitting at (edit) 20 teams, and are planning on capping the field at 21 (we'll try for 24, but I can't guarantee it), so anyone who would still like to enter needs to get in touch with me as soon as possible.


<div class="editby">Edited by <a href='http://s4.zetaboards.com/Academic_Competition/profile/88943/'>DeckardCain</a>, Nov 17 2009, 08:53:38 AM.</div>

edit: disregard


<div class="editby">Edited by <a href='http://s4.zetaboards.com/Academic_Competition/profile/88943/'>DeckardCain</a>, Nov 16 2009, 09:44:39 PM.</div>

The field cap has been increased to 24, so we now have room for four more teams.

PCH why aren't you signed up for this?

A very good question, I think.

Up to 21 teams.

I'll talk to Zenfell tomorrow morning at practice.

The field above is final at 21 teams; any new registrations will be added to the waitlist (though I don't anticipate anyone else signing up).

I will update coaches tomorrow.

so are you guys going?

I just wanted to note that a handful of spots have opened up due to teams dropping, so please email me ASAP (like, today) if you still want to attend.

Which post has the current field?

None of them, yet. This is the current field:

Belle
Clayton (2)
Crocker
Eureka
Hallsville
Hancock (2)
Hannibal
Parkway West
Pilot Grove
Rolla
Salem (2)
Savannah
St. Clair
Waynesville
Weaubleau

Good luck to everyone tomorrow!

Once again, I should be posting updates to http://www.twitter.com/moquizbowl

Eureka's still going? When I talked to them on Tuesday they said they weren't.

They're still coming as far as I know.

Semi-live updates will begin soon.

What questions is(are?) this tournament using? HSAPQ? NAQT? House-Written?

HSAPQ Tournament 9.

Clayton vs. Savannah for the championship, beginning now

Is the 29 PPB for Savannah in their game against Pilot Grove correct? It seems rather high...

Clayton 295, Savannah 95

I agree. Especially since the rest of the PPB scores were relatively low, for almost every team (were the bonuses ridiculously hard?)

Yeah, that's a typo... I'm working on finalizing the stats now.

And yes, this set was clearly overly difficult.

Congrats Ikshu and Clayton! Well played! Special mention to Parkway West for making a good showing as well.

Why do you say it was too difficult? (not contesting that judgment, since I too felt that there were some questions that were a bit much for high school players)
But in terms of difficulty, how would you say this set compares to, say, Mizzou Fall? I didn't go to that one, so I don't really have a good frame of reference for these questions.

Was this set any more difficult than the one they ran at Tiger Bowl? They were both HSAPQ, and no one said those were too difficult.

Sean and I both thought the set yesterday was more difficult than the Tiger Bowl set. Another problem was that the set had no feel for difficulty. The questions were fairly erratic in that regard. The Tiger Bowl set was much better.

So, do you (anyone who was there, preferably impartial) think these scores accurately represent the strengths of the competing teams? Of the teams who went, we've only played Parkway West (on good questions and bad questions) and Clayton (only on bad questions), so I'm not too sure how well these teams should have done. Seeing as Clayton pummeled Savannah, either Clayton is a lot better than we've been able to see so far or...

Also, are playoff stats going to be posted?

These are now up.