Cross-posting on behalf of Jonchee Kao of Bellarmine:
Bellarmine College Prep and the NCQBA are pleased to announce BELLArmine’s Fall Original Novice Tournament Extraordinaire (BELLAFONTE), which will be held on October 12, 2013 in San Jose, California. This tournament is aimed towards introducing to quiz bowl as many schools and players from the Northern California quiz bowl circuit as possible.
We will be using the 2013-14 SCOP Novice set. This particular set of questions is intentionally geared towards newer teams. For similar questions, please see the 2012–13, 2011–12 and 2010–11 SCOP sets.
For teams newer to quiz bowl, please read this introduction to quiz bowl and this digestible Powerpoint about the basics of the game. We heavily urge all teams to familiarize themselves with the game’s structure before arriving at the tournament, as we will not set aside time to explain anything more than the particular format we are adopting.
The initial field cap will be 72 teams, with possible expansion, dependent on the number of staffers and buzzers we have available. Teams are also restricted to six players each. Please break up any larger teams into two or more teams. There is no limit to the number of teams that can come from any single school. We urge all teams attending to bring buzzers and staffers, as we need those to run a tournament this large, and after a certain number of teams register, we may even require them. (Please read the first entry of NCQBA’s FAQ here for why schools new to quiz bowl should buy buzzers.)
The tentative tournament structure will be 6-team preliminary brackets with 5 games of round robin preliminary play followed by a rebracketing into playoff rounds, the structure of which will be determined by the number of teams who register for this event. We anticipate that rounds will go from 9:00 until approximately 4:30, followed by an awards ceremony. The exact round timings and other logistical information will be emailed to teams approximately a week before the tournament. Please do not plan to leave early without telling us beforehand.
Eligibility
All teams of high schoolers from the same school are eligible to play in this event, although players who have competed at the NAQT High School National Championship Tournament or the PACE National Scholastic Championship in the past two years must have received special permission from the tournament director. All middle schoolers are welcome as well, but they should be aware that they will be competing against high school teams.
Fees
- base fee: $50 per team
- –$5 for second or subsequent team from the same school
- –$25 for teams composed entirely of students that have not competed at a pyramidal high school quiz bowl tournament prior to the 2013–14 school year: “pyramidal quiz bowl” does not encompass other academic/trivia competitions like Science Bowl or Quiz Kids
- –$10 per working buzzer (please do not bring buzzers that are not in good working condition)
- –$10 per staffer
We will have a brief meeting for all staffers before the start of the tournament. We will also give a discount of $5 for half-day staffers (those who can staff from Round 1 until lunch or from lunch until the conclusion of the day). All staffers, including half-day staffers, will also receive lunch.
- –$10 per 75 miles driving, one way, rounded down
- –$5 for payment before Saturday, October 05, 2013 (Details about pre-payment will come later.)
- The minimum fee after all discounts have been added is $0.
To register: please email Jonchee Kao (jonchee.kao15@bcp.org) by Saturday, October 05, 2013, indicating how many teams, buzzers and staffers that your school will bring as well as the contact person (and cell phone number) for your team. Also include the first names (and distinguishing last initials if necessary) of the members of each team. If you wish to change any of your team rosters before the tournament, please email us ahead of time. All teams will be emailed statistical data about the tournament.
Registered teams will be provided with more detailed information before the tournament. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me or Chris Fleitas (cfleitas@bcp.org). We hope to see your team there!
