Kristin writes: <<<I've been thinking about the recent discussion here for a couple of days, and it occurred to me that what we're talking about here are *bonus* points. IMHO, *bonus* points ought to be a reward for getting the tossup correct, and therefore, I don't think that there should be bouncebacks.>> It's a perfectly valid opinion; mine just happens to be different: I would like to see SOME college tournaments have bouncebacks. [I don't think I'd want to see all of them use bouncebacks, just as I wouldn't want to see every tournament be timed or untimed.] <<I think Eric said something along the lines of, what's the point of getting the tossup when you have a chance at the bonus anyway?>> But the important distinction is that the tossup gets you the FIRST chance at a bonus. <<And even an advantage at the bonus, since one wrong answer has been ruled out already? I find it ironic that the team that correctly answers the tossup would have that slight disadvantage when it comes to the bonus . . . >> In my mind, the "advantage" of having exactly one answer removed from the "answer space"--which isn't as big an advantage as you might think(*)--is *far* outweighed by having the first shot at a bonus.... <<Further, I think that the game is too dependent on bonus points [...] I would support experimentation with having boni worth only 20 points as opposed to 30, thus making the game more reliant on tossups, which are a result of direct competition. I think 20 points would still be enough to reward superior knowledge, as Eric (I think) put it.>> I'd rather raise the value of the tossups to 15 (or, as I said before, 20). That would re-emphasize the tossups without changing the flow of the game as much. [Then again, I see nothing inherently wrong with reducing the boni to 20, as long as bonus conversions don't fall significantly further....] I will say that I am certainly open to new ideas and suggestions; personally, I've made it a goal to try and incorporate at least one (relatively)new idea into each tournament I run. PE5: bonus laming at an academic tournament. My next tournament: who knows?
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0: Sat 12 Feb 2022 12:30:42 AM EST EST