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Greetings! It is that time of year again, and BWW-Crystal City is pleased to be hosting the 21st annual McCarthy Cup Showdown tournament, which shall begin on Tuesday (duh), 26 February. This is a shade earlier than in recent years, but it allows us to end the tournament before Passover, avoiding the annual "shall we take a week off for Passover" debate.
I'm way too lazy to do one of those fancy, well thought-out, themed announcements that ANON does when he hosts (although I'm more than happy to mostly cut and paste his rules from last year). Instead, I'll just cut to the chase. The rules are pretty much what they've been the past few years (spelled out in full below). We will have a four-week qualification phase, in which each team's best three scores will be used for qualification for, and seeding in, the single-elimination phase. One change for this year is that in the single elimination phase, each week the highest remaining seed will play the lowest remaining seed, and so forth (think NFL playoffs) rather than having teams move through a pre-populated bracket.
One request for y'all: at this point, I have no idea how to get to BadBart, so if one of you is willing the cross-post this over there (or send to the mailing list, or however BadBart functions nowadays)--and then also to pass along the names of any teams signing up over there--I'd appreciate it. Similarly, feel free to forward this announcement to teams that may not be on any forum or mailing list but may nonetheless be interested in the tournament.
OFFICIAL RULES:
As has become customary for this tournament, it is for wetware teams only. This means no computers and no references of any kind are to be used 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 this is the only purpose for which the device is being used, and it is being used in and for the location of the team. Just to be clear, if a team violates this rule or engages in 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 (assuming someone is willing to pass that information along to me) or otherwise contacting TIMUR. All teams must register no later than MIDNIGHT (EST) ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24. We reserve the right to personally invite additional qualified teams after the deadline to round out the field. Play will commence on February 26 and will continue weekly until the end of the tournament. If past years are any guide (and barring unforeseen circumstances), the probable ending date of the tournament will thus be APRIL 16.
There will be two phases to the tournament. First, a four-week qualifying phase will start on February 26 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 March 19 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 (this seems to have happened to at least one team in almost every past tournament). In such cases, the week of the glitch/crash will serve as the dropped score for those teams.
The second phase will be a single 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 single-elimination will be determined by the cumulative score described above. In a change for this year, in each round the highest remaining seed will face the lowest remaining seed, second highest vs. second lowest, etc.
Should Buzztime have a system-wide repeat game (or other disruptive glitch affecting much or all of the system) during the tournament, that week’s scores will be ignored and the tournament will be extended by a week (or possibly two, depending on teams' Passover preferences). Teams faced with a sudden close or loss of Buzztime at their home location may play at another location as long as they notify TIMUR 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.
In his announcement last year, ANON called the McCarthy Cup "the ugliest trophy in any field of human endeavor." That is quite probably true. It is nonetheless highly coveted, and I'm sure will be welcomed with open arms by the team skillful enough to claim it, and to earn the right to attach its plaque to the trophy's base--which has become a veritable Showdown Hall of Fame. As we all know, with great power comes great responsibility: in the case of McCarthy Cup, the winner's responsibility is to host McCarthy Cup XXII next year.
BWW-Crystal City will participate.
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