Re: Two more

• From: shawn_pickrell
• Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 10:30:53 -0800
• Message-ID: <000S6I0ET.000JQEGI3.12170551-quizbowl_at_...>

I *really* like the bonus sinking idea.


It creates a great deal of STRATEGY to this game,
plus it doesn't "reverse-penalize" teams who get the
tossup only to stumble across an area where they know
nothing and the other team knows everything. 

I
also think that bonus sinking would make good TV.


Bouncebacks with sinking, I can go along with.

For
example: if you're down by 40 with three questions to go,
do you sink the bonus, or do you chance it, and hope
that you know more than the 5 point leadin? In most
cases, sinking wouldn't need to be done, but in the
second half the decision to sink or not to sink would be
crucial. 

In timed tournaments, boni can be sunk to
avoid wasting precious clock seconds on an area that
the people know nothing about. The only bad thing
about sinking in timed tournaments is that more boni
will have to be produced. 

As for "sinking"
their way to victory, this is no worse than playing the
"run-it-out" style of soccer/football/basketball. So long as
one team is getting the tossups, they deserve to be
able to win. 

As for the second idea, while I
like it, I am not quite as enthusiastic about it as
the idea of bonus sinking. 

(I also wonder how
much it would *really* be used? Probably no more than
1-2 times in a 20 question match.)

Shawn
Pickrell