Vancouver Estival Trivia Open (VETO) weblog

UBC is returning. So we’ll have 7 teams in Vancouver.

Now here are some possible schedules for the round-robin.
If team G can staff 3 rooms, we can do it in 10 rounds.
This is the schedule we used last year:

 1. DE CF    | ABG
 2. BG EF    | ACD
 3. AC DG    | BEF
 4. AE FG    | BCD
 5. AG BD    | CEF
 6. BF CE    | ADG
 7. AB CG    | DEF
 8. BC DF    | AEG
 9. AD EG    | BCF
10. AF BE CD | G

We can reduce by one more round, to 9, if we combine three rounds into two.
Then we’ll have three teams that will have to staff 3 rooms.

1. DE CF    | ABG
2. BG EF    | ACD
3. AC DG    | BEF
4. AE FG    | BCD
5. AG BD    | CEF
6. BF CE    | ADG
7. AB CG DF | E
8. AD BC EG | F
9. AF BE CD | G

Restriction: B2B must have a bye when Daniel’s packet is read.
As a consequence, Daniel’s team cannot be E/F/G.

Here is a possible matching, listing who will bring each packet:
A: FARSIDE (Peter) - rounds 1 (author), 2 (author)
B: Brittany/Geoff/Dean/Tariq
C: UBC (Mike/Fred/Lavan) - round 5 (Toronto)
D: Daniel/Brendan/Ciarán Llachlan/Angus - rounds 6 (author), 4 (Toronto)
E: Junta (Carlos/Hanson/Mike/Shaun) - rounds 7 (author), 3 (Toronto)
F: Joanne/Mischa/Paulman/Ross - round 8 (Toronto)
G: B2B (Brock/Bruce/Victoria/Zhan) - rounds 6 (contributor), 9 (author)

Note that the ordering of the rounds in the schedule is completely arbitrary. We usually read home-grown packets first; B2B’s packet need not be the last one read!
Perhaps it would make more sense to play the rounds requiring three rooms first instead of last.

Also, speak up if you see an error in this schedule.

We now have four teams registered in Vancouver. Three of the teams are returning VETO champions, and the fourth team will have a first-time VETO player who was one of the Elite Eighteen of last year’s Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions! (UPDATE, June 30: Sorry, it turns out that Jeopardy! champion Robert Slaven will be out of town that day.)

We’re also expecting two other teams of SFU students and alumni, with rosters yet to be worked out.

Our cap is eight teams, or nine if we can get adequate staffing.

I haven’t yet heard back from anyone in Ontario about whether Toronto will be able to host its end of the Trans-Canada Championship Match. Anyone?
Also, Gabe Desjardins is taking a well-deserved break from writing for it this year. He had written all of the questions in the past three TCCMs, and all of the Canadian questions in the two before that.

As usual, since the earliest time we could end in Vancouver would be 5 p.m. PDT, the TCCM would have to be at 8 p.m. EDT or later in Toronto.

I have finally put up the web page for VETO 2006, and also the web page with question guidelines. See “Links” on the right.

OK, the mirror will be in Toronto at Hart House, the same place as last year.

In Vancouver, we’re requesting rooms at Harbour Centre again. Thanks to Tara for doing the booking!

I started a thread about modifying the Canadian content requirements for VETO this year. Is there anything else that anyone wants to do differently before we post the full announcement? Here’s what we posted last year:

• VETO 2005 announcement
• VETO 2005 question guidelines

Last year, the rule for Canadian content was that there had to be some in at least 4 of the first 20 tossups, and at least 4 of the first 20 bonuses. Also, don’t exceed 50% Canadian content overall in the packet.

I’d like to retain the 50% maximum (not that this has been an issue), but I’d also suggest that we require at least 1/1 (tossup/bonus) with some Canadian content in EACH of the categories of History, Literature, Geography and Current Events. And also require at least 1/1 NON-Canadian content in those same categories. My reason is just that in a Canadian tournament, there’s something wrong if NONE of the 3-4 Lit tossups (for example) refer to Canadian lit. I’d suggest also that there be at least 1/1 with Canadian references somewhere among the remaining categories (Science, Fine Arts, Religion/Philosophy/Mythology, Social Science, Popular Culture, General Knowledge).

However, I know from a discussion on QB-CANADA last summer that some people would prefer to have less Canadiana.

This is the first post in my VETO blog.

Tentative date for VETO this year: Saturday, July 15, 2006.