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The Fellowship voted last night that the theme of this year’s Sandbag Tournament would be in honor of a film that made its debut 50 years ago:
(*starting softly and then swelling to a roar, the mystic opening notes of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” begin to play*)
The trivia drought had lasted now for endless years, and the reign of the terrible quiz shows had long since ended. Here in triviadom, in the continent known as North America, the battle for Showdown supremacy had reached a new climax of ferocity, and the victor was not yet in sight. In this barren, desiccated, and site-poor land, only the small or the swift or the fierce could flourish, or even hope to survive.
Late one Tuesday night, Trivia Screen-Watchers suddenly came face to face with a New Trophy. Placed on a slab of black granite, it mysteriously beckoned them to gather in groups regularly and compete for tournament survival using only their superior wits. More than thirty of these groups paid homage to the New Trophy willing it into existence. It bound them together even as they competed, and created a robust, continent-wide community. Now they were masters of the trivia world, and were not quite sure what to do next. But they would think of something.
That something, of course, is the 12th Annual Sandbag Tournament:
OFFICIAL RULES:
From its inception, this tournament has been by, of, and for those teams dedicated to wetware play. Thus, the main qualification for entering this tournament is that teams must be those that have committed themselves to use assembled brainpower only as a general rule. This means no computers and no references of any kind during gameplay, either paper or electronic (or telecommunication from outside the location). Using the Buzztime Playmaker app on electronic devices such as iPhones, iPads, or Droid phones is fine, of course, as long as the device is not also being used to look up or receive answers from elsewhere, and it is being used in and for the location of the team. Just to be clear, if a team engages in these activities or any form of cheating, it is a disqualifying offense.
All teams that abide by this primary rule are welcome to play, either by signing up on ScaRatings or BadBart or otherwise contacting ANON. All teams must register no later than MIDNIGHT (EDT) ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 26. We reserve the right to personally invite additional qualified teams after the deadline to round out the field. Play will commence on August 28 and will continue weekly until the end of the tournament with one exception: There will be no tournament game on September 18 so as not to disadvantage teams with players who observe Yom Kippur. If past years are any guide (and barring unforeseen circumstances), the probable ending date of the tournament will thus be October 23.
There will be two phases to the tournament. First, a four-game qualifying phase will start on August 28 in which the total points for each team will be tracked. Each team will be able to drop one low score for the final cumulative total after the September 25 game (again, not counting the September 18 game). The top teams thus calculated will advance to the knockout phase of competition. This will give teams the ability to stay in the competition even if a glitch or system crash knocks them out one week. In such cases, the week of the glitch/crash will serve as the dropped score for those teams.
The second phase will be a standard bracketed elimination phase. The number of teams in the knockout round will depend on how many teams sign up (for example, if only 18 teams sign up, we would be more likely to have 8 rather than 16 in the final round). Seedings for the brackets will be determined by the cumulative score described above.
Should Buzztime have a system-wide repeat game during the tournament, that week’s scores will be ignored and the tournament will be extended by a week. Teams faced with a sudden close or loss of Buzztime at their home location may play at another location as long as they notify ANON in advance of the game and continue to follow contest rules in the new location. In general, we take no responsibility for and offer no solution nor redress for localized problems (i.e. power outages, lack of players due to illness or vacation, etc.) with one possible exception: If a team in the semi-finals or finals suffers a documentable and unavoidable mid-game crash, its victorious opponent may invite that team to a rematch, but is under no obligation to do so.
The winning team will receive not just the glory of being the brainiest bunch out there, but also the custody for one year of the beautiful Sandbag Trophy, the right to have a plaque with its team name and date inscribed on it placed on the base, and the responsibility of running the 13th annual tournament next fall. How they will celebrate the win is up to them, of course, but I keep getting an image in my mind that maybe it will involve throwing a bone high into the air.
(By the way, for those who are too young to remember or did not get it from the clues above, the movie in question is “The Love Bug” starring Dean Jones, Michelle Lee, and Buddy Hackett.)
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Anon
"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."
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