Newsletter II.9
West Coast ACF
Gaius Stern June 1996
A final hello in this extra issue to all. The newsletter
continues to grow and pick up new subscribers in states all over the
country. As always, I welcome comments or advertisements for your own
tournament in the newsletter from any subscriber. I do however request
that members not mail to the entire subscriber list when advertising
events or polling inquiries, but send me private mail and I will put your
message in its entirety in the next issue.
Contents:
Buzzer systems Needed: new players to beef up teams
BYU Summer tournament info How to get free questions from FTP
Preliminary Fall Schedule Moving? Get the newsletter next term
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The following is a repost of the buzzer information. Please note
that the manufacturer of QUIZ-A-MATIC has gone out of business. The
product now endorsed by Collegebowl Inc. is Zeecraft Electronics. I
personally recommend Creative Electronics (manufacturer of Quizwizard II)
and also Specialty Design Corps, manufacturer of the everpopular
fire-siren system "the Quik Pro."
If there is interest in the Logitek or Shelty Systems Buzz-Box, I
can try to arrange a discount. Write me back if either of these systems
seem right for your club.
Creative Electronic Design "Quizwizard II"
Designed for High School Certamen. System is a box with 12 or 16
thumb activated buzzers held in hand at end of long chords. Only the
moderator can tell who rang in from display (i.e. players can not see).
System can be set for individuals or teams of 4 players each. System is
delicate, so be careful with it.
_______________________________________
\ | / |
________\|/_____ (each team has 4 buzzers) |
| | (This drawing not to scale) | |------__
| 1st A2 | |-----| A2 |_|
| 2nd B4 | | |------
| 3rd C1 | |
| | | |------__
| reset x | |-----| A3 |_|
| | |------
---------------- you ring in
with thumb
Major advantage: tells who rang in 2nd and 3rd also
Special features: System tells who rang in 1st, 2nd, AND 3rd.
Price: x8 players = $420 x12 players = $495 x16 players = $570
Address/phone:
Creative Electronic Design Inc.
2565 Celia Dr.
Beaver Creek, Ohio 45434 - 6815
(513) 426-1506
*********** contact me before buying this system and I might
*********** be able to arrange a discount for you.
Electramatic Inc. "The Judge"
Comes in a briefcase. Players hit "footpedals" to signal an
answer which lights up green or red light corresponding to each buzzer.
Locks out all other responses until reset.
Major advantage: Very durable and portable.
Special features: None
Price: x8 players = $350 x10 players = $375
Address/phone:
Electramatic Inc.
1815 Jefferson St. N.E.
Minneapolis, Minn 55418
(612) 781-9588
Logitek Electronics "Quiztron"
This system accommodates 8 players. A pyramid shaped light of
either blue or green plastic sits in front of each player. They make a
dull beep when players ring in on thumb-activated buzzers.
Major advantage: whole room can see who buzzed first
Special features: None
Price: x8 players = $355.00 x10 players = $403.00
x12 players = $390.00 x 15 players = $438.00
Address: Logitek Electronic System
3320 Bering Drive
Houston, TX 77057
1-800-231-5870 713-782-4592
e-mail: logitek@broadcast.net
Shelty Systems "The Buzz Box" Ontario, Canada
This system is a a no frills basic kit. Its price is pretty low,
even if you are in the US and must pay extra shipping charges from
Canada. Players activate buzzer with thumb. It runs on a 6 volt adapter.
Major advantages: None
Special features: None
Price: 8 player model = $330.00 Canadian ( = approx. $250 US)
Address: Shelty Systems
21 Maida Vale Avenue
Scarborough, Ontario
M1K 2X6
e-mail ruhtra@oliver.turing.toronto.edu
Specialty Design Corp.
Each player presses a thumb activated, hand held buzzer which is
connected to a fire siren-type light in front of him/her. When
activated, the buzzer emits either a dull buzz or a higher pitched (and
more annoying to some) beep. A special discount is available to anyone
who calls and says they read about this system in the newsletter. The
discount is approximately 15% but may be higher. I STRONGLY recommend
this system. Firstly it works well and people think it looks
"professional." Secondly, the company pres is very nice.
Major advantage: whole room can see who buzzed first.
__
----------------- |()|
| o | |--|
| o |------|__|---(thumb activated buzzer)
| o |
| |
| | __
| o | |()|
| clock o | |--|
| o |------|__|---(thumb activated buzzer)
----------------|
|___________________(reset using thumb activated buzzer)
Special features: None
Price: 2 x 4 $489 - 10% (includes shipping)
2 X 5 $569 - 10% " "
2 X 6 $618 - 10% " "
3 x 4 $618 - 10% " "
Address/phone:
Specialty Design Corp.
715 N. 19th Street
Bessemer, Alabamas 35020
Phone 205-428-1224 or 428-1223
Wats 1-800-284-6377
Zeecraft Tech. "Challenger I, II, or III"
Each player has a little box with a buzzer and a light on it.
Everyone can see who rang in first. They sell several different models,
so I advise calling and getting their brochures. Prices refer to
"Challenger II" Models for 8 - 16 players can be ordered and they rent
out for weekends, as well. Some players have complained the hand-held
buzzer is very large and not designed for players with small hands. It
is similar to the size of a ski pole handle.
Major advantages: none
Special features: built in clock can be ordered for extra
Price: x8 players = $445 x12 players = $545 x16 players = $635
Address/phone:
Zeecraft Tech.
Ridge Road
RR2 Box 157 -H
New Milford, PA 18834
1 - 800 662-7475, (717) 465-7475
BYU PLANS A SUMMER FUN TOURNAMENT
This summer, Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah would like
to host an ACF style tournament. There is no entry fee. Teams are asked
only to submit a clean pack of questions. Players from multiple schools
may merge to form a team, and eligibility is wide open to all who wish to
play. For more information, please write to Craig Harmon at paris@byu.edu.
Craig asks that anyone interested please write him so that he can
choose a date that will accomodate all. If the BYU location proves an
obstacle to many of you, it is remotely possible that the location could
move to Berkeley. PLEASE NOTE: The Berkeley club will not be running
this event. We prefer to leave the entire administration of this proposed
event in the capable hands of the BYU club and will only lend a building
if Provo, Utah proves difficult to arrange. It is BYU's hope that this
tournament will appeal to players further East who do not come to the
West during the school year. So please write Craig and let him know
whether you can attend and when.
TENTATIVE FALL SCHEDULE
Please note that this schedule is subject to change and may
contain errors. If you observe an error, please write to
gaius@uclink2.berkeley.edu to make a correction. Many events are
tentative and subject to change:
12 Oct. Oklahoma High School Boren Cup
12-13 Oct. Stanford Campus IMs
19 Oct. U-Missouri Kansas City Shootout in Old West IV
20 Oct. Stanford Campus IM finals
25-26 Oct. Iowa State Beautiful and Damned Invitational
27 Oct. Berkeley Fall High School Competition
1-2 Nov. Berkeley Fall Invitational (to be named)
15-16 Caltech Technophobia I
22-23 NAQC at Stanford, Michigan, Oklahoma
Dec 7 - Berkeley Certamen for high school Latin teams
Other schools who are considering hosting a tournament are said
to include Texas A&M and UM-Rolla.
HIGH SCHOOL PROSPECTS AND RECRUITS
If anyone knows graduating high school players, especially those
participating in one fo the many "High School National Championships,"
the teams out west would greatly appreciate it if you recommend us to
them. Not only are we eager to recieve new players in established clubs,
the ACF is eager to help students set up clubs and create new programs at
colleges not yet on the circuit. I am sure this situation holds true for
the rest of you, but to illustrate the picture in California:
Two years ago, the only schools with established clubs were
Stanford, UC Berkeley (then in 3rd semester), UC Davis, Cal State Fresno,
and USC. The latter has been defunct since then. Of those schools, only
Berkeley and Stanford have hosted tournaments. The situation is
improving. This year Caltech organized, and several other schools in So
Cal have expressed interest as well. Next year there promise to be more
tournaments out West than ever before.
The situation in the Southwest is equally ripe for growth. Aside
from Oklahoma and the UT-Austin tournaments, there were no other
invitational events two years ago. Now there is the possibility of
several more in the SW.
The Midwest is also growing, although there, the dearth of tournaments
was never as severe. In addition to the established teams at
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Chicago, and Carleton, newer programs such as Iowa
State, Iowa, and UMKC have all held tournaments of their own. This year
Illinois did not rehost Dr. Seuss, but they are likely to run something
next year. Ohio State has also entered the picture. This is a team
which sometimes travels a long way and often is a serious contender.
So finally, we ask if you have contact with young high schoolers,
whether they play quizbowl, Great Auk, Certamen, or whatever, please
encourage them to jumop aboard a team in college. The ACF will gladly
lend them advice and materials to get started. Past experience tells us
one of the best ways to land recruits will be to run a table at a major
throughfare the first few datys of classes. Including your buzzer system
may also help, since many people will recognize it immediately if they
have ever played before. Also, OFFER FOOD at your first meeting of the
year. For some reason, this helps make a strong impression.
Good luck!
HOW TO GET NUMEROUS FREE PRACTICE QUESTIONS from the FTP SITE
By tapping into the ftp site, one can download a large number of
free questions posted by tournament hosts in previous years. Please DO
NOT ever use these questions as your own submissions to an invitational
tournament. A) it is unethical to pass them off as your own work
B) Everyone else has had a chance to see them too. The questions are NOT
clean!!! Feel free to use them as practice questions, but for nothing
else.
Directions to download the questions:
If you have not used anonymous ftp before, this is how it goes:
your system> ftp -i ftp.pitt.edu ***
*** address is about to change to:
http://www.papyrus-inc.com/college-bowl
You will be prompted for a username. Type "anonymous".
You will then be prompted for a passwd. A passwd is not necessary, but
the standard practice is to type your e-mail address (which then gets
logged in the syslog, I believe).
ftp> cd /group/college-bowl
ftp> ls
You will then have a number of directories to choose from. For
example you can choose the 1993 ACF regionals (held at Chicago)
acfreg2.93 (ACF Chicago, 2/93).
ftp> cd acfreg2.93
ftp> ls
You then should have a file called README (which lists the schools, and
maybe someday will have final results and individual standings), and
a number of compressed files (i.e. ending in .Z). Each file contains
the toss-ups and boni of a particular team.
If you want all the sets, type:
ftp> binary
ftp> mget *
Because you put the "-i" in the first line up above, the program will
not keep asking you whether you want files; it will assume you want all
of them and will send them all back to your system.
[Note: If you _want_ to be asked sometimes, omit the -i. You
can then toggle confirmation at will by typing:
ftp> prompt
-- pkh]
ftp> quit
your system> uncompress *
And voila, you have a number of tourney sets, ready to use for your
next practice.
HOW TO KEEP YOUR SUBSCRIPTION IF YOU ARE CHANGING ACCOUNTS
If you are moving accounts or know someone whom you wish to have
added to the subscriber list, just mail me at gaius@uclink2.berkeley.edu
to have an address added or deleted or changed from the list. Back
issues are also available for anyone who wants them.
Happy summer everyone! See you in Fall.
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