Duke University is now pleased and proud and all that other stuff to announce its First Ever De-Affiliation Bowl, to be held on Saturday, February 19, 2000, on the scenic and beautiful campus of Duke University in Durham, NC. The tournament is, like most tournaments, packet-submission. Details on the packet submission to come later… on this page.

In the meantime, though, and for now, there are much more important things, like price and distribution. Here are the price and distribution requirements:

PRICE:
* $85 base fee, first team
* $70 base fee, additional team(s)
* $10 DISCOUNT if team bring a buzzer (limit 2 per team)
* $20 DISCOUNT if your packet is in by 12/15/1999
* $10 DISCOUNT if your packet is in by 01/15/2000
* $10 PENALTY if your packet ISN’T in by 02/01/2000
* $25 PENALTY if your packet STILL ISN’T in by 02/11/2000
* $20 flat fee, purchasing questions

MISCELLANY:
* $10 PENALTY for bringing clocks (this is an untimed tourney)
* $5 DISCOUNT for bringing a moderator

NON-ATTENDEES:
* FREE QUESTIONS for any freelance authors whose stuff we use

(Now that we have your attention)

Ah, the most controversial element of all, isn’t it? You should submit 25 tossup and 25 boni (plural of bonus, know thy Latin). The topics are quite varied, mainly because we like flexibility as much as is humanly possible.

CATEGORY ONE:

In this category go things that could be considered "Literature". This includes actual literature of all types (we will begrudgingly accept Danielle Steele questions, but that isn’t an invitation!), mythology, and philosophy. It contains 6 tossups and 6 boni, totaling 12 questions. Of these questions:

* At least three must be about Americans or their output
* At least three must be about Brits or their output
* At least three must be about stuff that is 20^th-Century
* At least three must be about stuff that is at least 500 years old (pre-1500)
* At least four must be about characters or plot element in books

20^TH-CENTURY: Any book published on or after January 1, 1901 is 20^th-Century. Also, any author who lived the majority of his life in a certain Century is part of that Century. For example, Mark Twain (1835-1910) is most definitely 19^th-Century, while Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), despite having written mainly in the 19^th Century, is considered 20^th. Just figure out how many years the guy lived through each century, and the larger value wins. If you’re still confused, ask me.

CATEGORY TWO:

In this category are all things history. This includes historical events, non-writing people of all types, religions not classified "mythology" (people and events – works are "literature", of course), and anybody who has ever won a Nobel Prize of any type. Like its sister category, "literature", the "history" category will contain 6 tossups and 6 boni. Of these twelve questions, the following subrules apply:

* At most three should be on battles
* At most three should be on war veterans
* At most three should be on politicians
* At most three should be on Nobel Prize winners
* At most three should be on scientists
* At most three should be on Supreme Court cases
* At most three should be on religious events
* At most three should be on all other historical stuff

Obviously, there’s a lot of overlap in these. Basically, it all depends on what the person’s most famous for, defined by the "giveaway clue". For example, Dwight D. Eisenhower would be a war veteran if the last fact about him were his command of the Allied Forces; he’s a politician if the last fact is his two-term Presidency. We’ll be the final arbiter on what goes where, but since there’s seven categories and twelve questions, chances are you’ll be okay if you plan well. And remember, just because we name a category doesn’t mean you need to write a question in it – although it’s pretty hard not to.

CATEGORY THREE:

This category will be the most interesting. This category is for all things known as "science". I mean real science. In this category is stuff you would learn if you were like the Duke Directorate – science and engineering majors. To be fair, we will restrict this to four tossups and four boni. You’re welcome. Of the eight questions that are really, truly, science:

* One or two will be about biology, health, or medicine
* One or two will be about chemistry
* One or two will be about physics
* One or two will be about math or math computation
* One or two will be about any other science (geology, computers, etc.)

There will be no biographies. The biographies are in the history section. There CAN be computational chemistry or computational physics, but only (you guessed it) one or two total computation questions.

CATEGORY FOUR:

In category four is a subject near and dear to everyone’s heart – trash! Trash consists of stuff that you probably didn’t pick up in class. That covers a lot. For that reason, we are asking for five tossups and five boni. We like trash. Trash is good. Of the ten:

* At most three on The Big Four (MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL)
* At most three on all remaining sports
* At most three on movies
* At most three on "TRASH music"
* At most three on non-sport games
* At most three on television

These categories need not be represented. In case you’re wondering about what a certain topic falls into (for example, is Pokemon a game or TV) send me the question and I’ll let you know. Furthermore, there can only be one question on any particular league, television show, musical decade, or game.

CATEGORY FIVE:

Ah, the generic catch-all category. The remaining eight questions will contain stuff that you don’t have anywhere else. For example:

* Up to two questions on "non-TRASH music"
* Up to two questions on art
* Up to two questions on geography
* Up to two questions on current events
* Up to two questions on social science
* Up to two questions on foreign languages

QUESTION STYLE:

* No tossup shall exceed five lines of 12-pt. Times New Roman text on my computer.
* No tossup shall be "FAQTP".
* No tossup shall involve spelling.
* Pronunctiation guides will not be considered part of the length of the tossup. (And there was much rejoicing.)
* The answer shall be prefaced by ANSWER: .
* The relevant part of the answer shall be in ALL CAPS. If an initial is ever sufficient, set it aside with Boldface.
* All bonuses shall be worth thirty points. Twenty point boni will result in a fine of $5 per offense. Ten point boni will result in a fine of $10 per offense.
* Boni shall be three or four parts normally, or five or six parts rapid-fire. A rapid-fire bonus is like "given the book, name its author" and should not be overdone.
* 30-20-10 boni are acceptable in moderation.
* Boni should not exceed ten lines in length. For a three-part bonus, that’s one line of intro, two lines per part of question, and a line for the answer.
* Rapid-fire boni should have a one-line intro, one item for the "question", and the answer. The answer could be on the same line as the question, but it doesn’t quite matter.
* Questions should be written so that the average (mean) score per team is 200 +/- 25 points.
* Questions will be returned if they do not meet distributional requirements, break any rules aforementioned, or are just plain beyond the tournament director’s editing capabilities.
* Conversely, don’t even think of dumbing down questions for the TD’s benefit.

QUESTION FORMATTING:

* Sort your questions by category.
* Order them in order from most wanting to hear to least wanting to hear. This will help resolve repeats.
* Send them in any of these forms, from most preferred to least preferred:

- RTF
- MS Word 97 or earlier
- WordPerfect 5.x or 6.x
- DOS Text

* CLEARLY indicate which team wrote the questions. And make sure they’re the ONLY team to have heard them.
* Tell us who’s on the team as of the time of the writing.

SLAMMING:

We’re here to have fun, so let’s see some noses bent out of shape. All of the following items are fair game:

* College Bowl Company, Incorporated, for being held on the same day as us; and yes, we know they chose first (we should be grateful, though; their one-team rule means we get to snatch all the "B" teams as our own... but still, they are... grrr, can't say it, won't risk lawsuit)
* The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (Do I NEED to say why?)
* Any member of our team (especially Andy Goss, David Shifren, or Tennyson Liu, should you know who they are)
* Fraternities (The bums keep us awake on Saturday night)
* Anyone on your team (provided they let you)
* Regis Philbin (Is that your final show as host?!?!?!?)
* Kathie Lee Gifford (Can't have one without the other...)
* Chuck Woolery (I feel the need for something other than Greed, ya bum)
* Chip Beall (UGH!)

Prizes will be awarded for the best question written and for the best insulting question written… among others.

Anyway, to sign up for this here tournament, contact apg@duke.edu (that would be Andy Goss for those who don’t know). Please tell us you’re coming before you send in your packet (or at least tell us WITH the packet). Registration deadline is 02/01/2000. There is no cap on teams yet, but it will probably not be reached… whatever it is. This is subject to change.

Thank you for coming. See you on February the 19^th… provided you’re not busy with those white-and-yellow people.

ANDY GOSS
GRAND POOBAH
DUKE UNIVERSITY QUIZ BOWL TEAM

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