Dear Subscribers, Sorry that this April edition is so late and there was no March edition. There will be a May edition, and it will cover NAQT Nationals (which are given short shrift below). This is nearly the end of Eric's time helping me put out the newsletter, so I am reluctantly facing the prospect of dealing with this project alone next year. Eric has been a great help every month, and I will miss his efficiency and dedication. I would welcome anyone who is interested in helping keep the ACN afloat because as I move forward in my thesis, I predict I will be less able to get out a good newsletter. This issue contains results from the following contests: Colorado Trivia Bowl brief NAQT Nats blurb NAQT SCT recap CBI RCT recap UCLA Dennis Haskins Mirror Heavyweighted CA QB Calendar a few buzzer companies U-COLORADO TRIVIA BOWL REVIVED Lori Bailey The 2001 University of Colorado Trivia Bowl was held over the week of April 2. 64 teams competed in the single-elimination tournament which culminated in the final two teams meeting Friday evening, April 6 for the coveted Mouse-Ears Cup (where, like the Stanley Cup, every team that has ever won has its name inscribed on the trophy) plus a championship T-shirt and various other prizes. An alumni team, "Guys, Interrupted" defeated veteran team "Philbin's Phailures" (which boasted two Who Wants to Be a Millionaire contestants) 345 to 265. Most teams had at least one student, and many team members traveled from out of state to participate. Emphasis on pop culture questions was heavy, with a significant number of academic questions from all categories (including the natural sciences) mixed in. The sophisticated set-up allowed for video and audio toss-ups and bonuses along with the traditional moderator-read questions. Plans currently are to hold the Trivia Bowl next spring 2002. Changes currently being discussed include limiting the field to 48 teams and guaranteeing at least two games for every team. The $25 entry fee can be waived upon request for out-of-state all-student teams. Participating teams do not need to bring equipment or questions. More information will be sent to this newsletter as the time for the next tournament approaches. The contact is Lori Bailey . CHICAGO WINS NAQT ICT, MICHIGAN 2nd and 3rd The University of Chicago won its third ICT title in five years by defeating the University of Michigan A in St. Louis. Princeton University won its second consecutive undergraduate title and finished sixth overall. The University of Pittsburgh defeated Emory University to win the Division II title. Full results, standings, and statistics will be available shortly. UCLA DENNIS HASKINS MIRROR Ravi Menghani UCLA put on a mirror of the U-Tenn Dennis Haskins Memorial. Reminiscent of another SE competition, the old Tom Chuck "Duke Tournament of Fools" creation, the event took place on April Fool' Day. Thanks to everyone who took time off their Sunday to come to our tournament on April Fool's Day. There was a good mix of teams, with no team clearly in the lead until the very end. During the first 9 rounds, a round-robin was played. After this, three teams had to leave, the remaining teams played a round robin and Caltech emerged victorious with the best overall record. The 2nd and 3rd place teams, Capistrano Valley High and UCI, respectively, also received trophies. Congratulations to Egon (Jordan), Peter (Caleb), Ray, and Winston from the Caltech team. Academy Awardesque Statuettes were given to the Top 2 Scorers in the College division, Egon and Peter, and to the Top 3 Scorers in the High School Division, Jesus, Matthew, and "Penguin." An Honorable Mention goes to Willie Chen of UCI for scoring 5th overall, but 3rd among College players. TEAM STATS: Team Wins Losses PPG Opp PPG Bon C Caltech 11 1 348.3 134.2 20.11 Capistrano V 9 3 314.2 187.1 19.69 UCI 8 4 301.3 168.8 18.27 Los Alamitos 8 4 281.3 185.0 18.10 Dana Hills A 4 4 215.6 195.0 16.03 PVP 3 9 129.6 246.7 11.51 San Marino 2 6 118.8 250.0 12.50 Dana Hills B 1 7 96.3 269.4 10.92 Top 5 INDIVIDUAL STATS: Player Team Rounds PPG Jesus Los Alamitos 12 67.92 Matthew Capistrano V 12 55.00 Egon Caltech 12 46.25 Peter Caltech 12 44.17 Willie UCI 12 41.25 NAQT SCT RECAP Here is a quick recap of the results of the NAQT Sectional tournaments in the west and midwest, held the weekend of February 10. SCT: DIV 1ST 2ND UG Midwest I Chicago A Wisconsin Carleton II Carleton Chicago Northwest I Oregon Texas A&M none II Simon Fraser Texas A&M Southwest I Texas A Arkansas A Arkansas A II UM-Rolla Oklahoma C West I Berkeley A Cal Tech A Berkeley B II Stanford B Berkeley C CBI REGIONALS RECAP Congratulations to the following teams who will represent the west and the midwest in the 2001 College Bowl National Championship Tournament to be held the weekend of April 28 in Los Angeles. Region 8: Chicago Region 9: Wabash Region 10: South Dakota Region 11: Oklahoma Region 12: Texas-Austin Region 13: Utah Region 14: Washington Region 15: UCLA TOP HEAVY CALIFORNIA CALENDAR The California circuit has an odd phenomenon that there are a ton of contests in Fall with not enough weekends to host them all, and a total dryout after mid February. It is understandable that teams wish to use their competitions as fundraisers in Fall to attend all future contests, but if there were a few events in March and April, teams could use those events as fundraisers for the following year. In turn this would "extend" the season, and also allow those interested to raise more money. Currently a number of teams host a HS competition in Spring and use its proceeds to help fund or pay back expenses: Berkeley, UCI, UCLA, (Caltech used to). Berkeley and UCI run an earlier contest for HS, as well. Why not put on some college event in Spr 2002? Given that the majority of college teams are in So CAL, it would make sense for the host to be down there. ADDITIONAL BUZZER INFO From: Ed Maste Jem Designs Buzzer company has a new website with updated information about their product and prices. The URL is http://www.jemdesigns.com This system has a plastic box for each player with a button and a light. The boxes connect to one another and the last box connects to the console. The 8 player unit is only about $230 American (the company is in Canada) plus shipping. This is an inexpensive buzzer. Another company is the Quizzer http://www.quizzerltd.com/quizzer.html whose system looks a bit like a homemade unit. It is a wooden box and each buzzer is a wooden block with a button you press with a somewhat small light. The company's website also lists their phone and they will send you a brochure. Prices are in the $400s or more. Quizzer Ltd. 1-800-688-7849 Quizsystems Inc has a page at http://quizsystems.com/ and their new system is the Model1200. Each player has a 3 by 3 inch box with a tiny light and a button (plunger style). I would recommend getting the Jumbo LED light indicators. For 8 players it is $260, for 10 it is $290. Tabletop systems run a little bit more. I think I mentioned the Acegame system for British teams in a prior newsletter. The URL is http://www.webworld.co.uk/acegame/home.htm. The telephone in the UK is 01642 888 770 Johnson / Chadderdon Enterprises in Knoxville, Illinois makes a wooden system with a tiny light for each player on the wooden strip. Their website is http://www.misslink.net/chadderdon/owners.htm. Many of these systems can be looked at one after another using the links on Case Western's page. http://www.cwru.edu/orgs/trivia/internet/equip.html A few more send me info from time to time, so if you check the old newsletters on the Berkeley page, several of them had issues on "new" buzzer companies. That address is http://guir.berkeley.edu/quiz-bowl/news.html On a related topic, players may find the following link interesting. I do not know if any of it is serious. http://members.tripod.com/~hurstrh/nthof/history.htm Gaius and Eric P.S. Subscriptions to the newsletter are free and can be made for individuals or club mailing lists. 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