UTC will host its 4th annual Moc Masters open academic quizbowl tournament on Sun., August 8, 2004. This is a one-day open event held in tandem with our open trash tournament, Muck Masters, on Sat. 8/7/04. TIME & PLACE: To allow extra travel time afterwards, registration will begin at 8:30 AM EDT on Sun. 8/8/04, with announcements at 8:50 and play starting at 9 AM. How long we'll run depends on field size and packet availability, but 5-5:30 PM or so is a reasonable guess. Tournament headquarters will be Holt 124 on the UTC campus. (Yep, we're back in Holt for the summer tournaments.) ELIGIBILITY: This tournament is open to all interested players, assuming they fulfill three basic tasks (let me know you're coming, pay fees, and arrange for a packet as described below.) Current or former academic affiliation, or lack thereof, doesn't matter. If you want to play, then form a team, tell me in time, and submit a packet or make arrangements otherwise (see below.) If you want to make yourself available as a free agent to join a team -- or if you have a partial team in need of free agent help -- let me know and I'll spread the word. FORMAT: 20 questions per round, untimed. Packet submission is expected unless other arrangements are made in advance (see guidelines and timetables below.) Teams will be four players each, with alternates OK as long as there are no substitutions in mid- match. Depending on the number of teams, the format will be round robin or bracketed round robin. This of course means I need to know the number of teams in advance. So if you're coming, TELL ME!!! Getting me your clever team names in advance will also help. FEES: Fees assume packet submission and offer generous discounts for services rendered: Base fee $80 per team. This assumes a usable packet of 25 tossups and 25 boni, blind to all other teams and meeting the guidelines below, is submitted by midnight Sun., July 18. Minimum fee after discounts: $40 per team if it involves blind questions for other tournaments; otherwise $50. Discounts: - $15 for each blind round of questions you provide by Sat. 8/7 for UTC's use this fall, either at the high school or college level (the latter, of course, only if you aren't planning to play at COTKU in October.) - $10 for an experienced reader, either for this tournament or the Muck Masters trash tournament at UTC Sat. 8/7/04 (*or* said reader can join us for dinner at Provino's after Muck Masters if they'd prefer, and who wouldn't?) - $5 for a working buzzer, one discount per team Penalties: + $10 for packet received after Sun. July 18, but before midnight Sun., July 25 + $20 for packet received after Sun. July 25, but before midnight Sun., Aug. 1 + $30 for no packet at all (please arrange with me in advance!) PACKET SPECS: FORMAT -- If at all possible, please send me packets in MS Word or RTF format. Please place the required parts of each answer in bold, please put answers on a separate line from the question, and please precede them with the word "Answer:". If you want to save me some more time, make the font 11 pt Times New Roman and the margins 1/2" all around. DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY -- Even though this is an open tournament, we are not looking for the world's toughest questions; we prefer a degree of difficulty considered moderate by current invitational standards. While not beginning with giveaway clues, most tossups should be answerable by most teams by the end of the question. Bonuses should be such that a novice team stands a good chance of getting at least 10 pts., a good team 20, and the best teams all 30 pts. DISTRIBUTION -- To make editing easier, we ask for 25 tossups and 25 bonuses per packet, distributed as follows: Literature 5 Recommended: at least 2 20th century, at least 2 pre- 20th century at least 2 U.S./Canadian, at least 2 non- U.S./Canadian Sciences 5 Required: at least 1 each of biology, physics, and chemistry History 5 Recommended: at least 2 20th century, at least 2 pre- 20th century at least 2 U.S./Canadian, at least 2 non-U.S./Canadian The remaining 10 should contain at least 1 each and no more than 3 of: Philosophy/religion/myth Fine arts Social sciences incl. geography Popular culture General knowledge/interdisciplinary STYLE NOTES -- Tossups -- average length 3 sentences. We want questions that begin with lesser-known details and gradually get easier. And please don't violate the pronoun rule -- e.g.,, if your first pronoun is "He..." the answer should be a person, not a title. Bonuses -- all bonuses worth a possible 30 pts.; no single- part all-or-nothing bonuses. We don't want 6-part boni unless they're very, very short, and even then use sparingly. Also use the 30-20-10 format sparingly. LODGINGS: We haven't arranged for a discount anywhere, but if you want one, let me know and I'll see what I can do. DIRECTIONS: Note that the entrance to the Holt Hall lot has changed.... >From Atlanta and points south -- take I-75 to Chattanooga, then I-24 west towards downtown, then follow the freeway splitoff for U.S. 27 North, downtown Chattanooga. From 27 North take the 4th Street exit, within sight of the Tennessee Aquarium. Go right on 4th St. (you have no choice) and follow it for ca. 1 mile. Go past the UTC Arena, after which E. 4th St. becomes part of E. 3rd St. After that, take the second right on Palmetto St. Go two blocks and turn right on Vine St. (just past the EMCS Building.) Just before the place where Vine St. is blocked off, the parking lot for Holt is on the right. * From Knoxville and points north -- take I-75 to Chattanooga, then I- 24 West; directions from there same as above. * From Nashville and points west/north: Take I-24 east to Chattanooga. As you round Moccasin Bend (freeway goes alongside river) watch for two exit lanes on the right; take the less rightward of the two, which will have signs above it for U.S. 27 N. Rest of directions are the same as above. * From Birmingham and points southwest: Take I-59 to the outskirts of Chattanooga, where it dead-ends into I-24. Get on I-24 East and follow the Nashville directions from there. TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR: Surprise, surprise. It's Charlie Steinhice (steinhic at bellsouth dot net.)
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