The fourth annual Vancouver Estival Trivia Open (VETO), was held on Saturday, July 20, 2002, at the swank Harbour Centre Campus of Simon Fraser University in downtown Vancouver, B.C.

This was a guerrilla-style tournament, meaning that there was no central editing. Unlike in previous years, all questions before the finals were written by members of the participating teams. For the two packets used in the finals, we are grateful to Gabe Desjardins for writing one of them and to Adam Bishop, Steven Nunes, and Bethany Wiseman of UWO for writing the other one.

Questions are available for free download! (saved on the Stanford Packet Archive)

UWO was supposed to host a VETO mirror with a packet swap, but it was cancelled for lack of interest. Consequently, the third annual Trans-Canada Championship Match was also cancelled.

We had ten teams, with a total of 36 players. In both number of teams and number of players, this was a record turnout for a quiz bowl tournament in Western Canada. Thus continued an unbroken trend in which each year's VETO has either matched or exceeded the Western Canadian records for both teams and players. Teams were:

• Mixed-Up (mostly SFU) — Ross, Mischa, Drew, Paulman
• FARSIDE — Peter
• SFU Junta — Carlos, Hanson, Sarah, Mike
• B2B (from six or seven different universities) — Brock, Bruce, Brian, Zhan
• Maple Ridge Secondary School — Dianna, Julianna, Teresa, Neal
• University of Chicago — Peter, Susan, David
• University of British Columbia — Grace, Luka, Jonathan, Ambrose, James Leong, James Lam
• Flying Penguin Circus (SFU undergrads) — Shaun, Sarah, Victoria
• University of Washington — Larry, Ryan, Brian
• Feast of Maximum Occupancy (SFU grad students) — Tara, Herre, Idris, Danny

Round-Robin Results

Actually, Brock and Bruce from B2B wrote most of the Maple Ridge packet as well. I was fully aware of this, and I knew that it would be easy to schedule a bye for B2B during the Maple Ridge packet, but then I simply forgot about this when I made the team assignments in the schedule. This was the biggest fiasco of the tournament. Nobody noticed the error until the Maple Ridge round was about to be played, and it was too late to shift the schedule around. UBC's surplus players, Jonathan and Ambrose, substituted for Brock and Bruce on the B2B team in this round.

A schedule had been constructed with letters A through J for the ten teams. But the actual matching of letters to teams was not made until VETO morning, because this being a guerrilla tournament, circumstances would likely arise that would require us to shift things around. The assignments were made pseudo-randomly based on fulfilling staffing needs and also took into account that:

• Washington had not arrived yet when the schedule was made (though they were there when the schedule was finished), so their round was scheduled for last, and they were given byes the first two rounds;
• two packets needed tape players, but A/V had supplied us with only three (of which one turned out to be non-functional), and another one wouldn't arrive until the afternoon, if at all, so one of these packets was scheduled to be read in one of the initial rounds with only three game rooms, and the other was scheduled for late in the day;
• one of the teams had not yet printed out its packet, and the computer room wouldn't open until 10 a.m., so this team's round was scheduled late in the day.

In each round, at least two teams had byes. These teams staffed the round.

#	winning team	score	score	losing team	question authors	other byes
1	B2B	265	35	Maple Ridge	FOMO	FPC, Washington, Mixed-Up
	Chicago	135	123	SFU Junta
	FARSIDE	296	86	UBC
2	Mixed-Up	235	30	FPC	SFU Junta	FARSIDE, Washington, FOMO
	Chicago	285	5	Maple Ridge
	B2B	140	115	UBC
3	SFU Junta	260	25	FPC	B2B	Chicago, Maple Ridge, UBC
	FARSIDE	175	85	Washington
	FOMO	165	150	Mixed-Up
4	Mixed-Up	240	90	Washington	Maple Ridge, plus Brock and Bruce from B2B	FOMO
	FARSIDE	275	25	FPC
	SFU Junta	170	70	UBC
	Chicago	240	70	B2B *
5	Mixed-Up	175	75	FARSIDE	UBC	SFU Junta
	B2B	150	95	FOMO
	Maple Ridge	125	65	Washington
	Chicago	150	125	FPC
6	Washington	250	130	FPC	SFU Junta	Chicago
	FOMO	150	100	UBC
	Mixed-Up	355	45	Maple Ridge
	B2B	210	205	FARSIDE
7	FOMO	200	110	FARSIDE	Chicago	Mixed-Up
	SFU Junta	220	165	Washington
	B2B	175	50	FPC
	UBC	175	-10	Maple Ridge
8	Chicago	130	30	UBC	Mixed-Up	FARSIDE
	FPC	30	0	Maple Ridge
	Washington	90	40	B2B
	SFU Junta	50	45	FOMO
9	UBC	215	20	FPC	FARSIDE	B2B
	Chicago	375	30	Washington
	FOMO	330	25	Maple Ridge
	SFU Junta	265	150	Mixed-Up
10	FOMO	245	125	Washington	B2B (an all-Canadian packet)	FPC
	UBC	190	180	Mixed-Up
	FARSIDE	285	25	Chicago
	SFU Junta	255	105	Maple Ridge
11	FARSIDE	200	115	SFU Junta	FPC	Maple Ridge
	Mixed-Up	270	45	B2B
	Chicago	255	135	FOMO
	Washington	130	80	UBC
12	SFU Junta	155	135	B2B	Washington	UBC
	FARSIDE	245	10	Maple Ridge
	Mixed-Up	265	170	Chicago
	FOMO	95	70	FPC

* As noted above, Brock and Bruce sat out the Maple Ridge round while Ambrose and Jonathan from UBC took their place on the B2B team.

We had reserved our rooms until 6 p.m., thinking that that is when the building would close. Since we didn't start playing games until after 10 a.m. — after setting up the schedule, announcing prizes, and playing an abbreviated demonstration round — and since the initial rounds went slowly, we didn't reach the end of the fourth round until 1 p.m. So we had five hours to eat lunch (only half an hour, at the food fair downstairs) and also play eight more regular rounds, plus the finals. We figured that if necessary, we could play the finals at the downtown apartment of one of our players, but all of the other rounds required four game rooms. We tried to pick up the pace a bit, but by 6 p.m. we still had one regular round to go. Uh-oh, what now? Security left us alone. We found out that Harbour Centre does indeed close normally at 6 p.m. on Saturdays, but on this day there was an Anime Evolution festival at Harbour Centre until 10 p.m. Whew. We played the last regular round in our game rooms, had our prize ceremonies in the main meeting room, and then, a bit late, we left our rooms because our reservations had expired.

Finals

The top two teams from the round-robin, Chicago and SFU Junta, faced off in a best-of-three series, in which the round-robin game counted retroactively as the first game in the series. Since Chicago had won that first game, SFU Junta would have to win both games 2 and 3. Results:

winning team	score	score	losing team	question authors
SFU Junta	100	70	Chicago	Gabe
SFU Junta	140	100	Chicago	UWO

Congratulations to SFU Junta for winning the fourth Vancouver Estival Trivia Open!

Individual tossups in the final two games (+10/-5):
SFU Junta: Hanson 1/1, Carlos 8/0, Mike 3/2, Sarah 2/0
Chicago: David 0/0, Peter 11/1, Susan 0/2

The finals were completed at 8:45 p.m.

Team statistics

W: Wins
L: Losses
TH: number of Tossups Heard
TP: Total Points
PPG: average Points Per Game
+10: number of tossups answered correctly
-5: number of incorrect interrupts
TUP: TossUp Points
BP: Bonus Points
B: number of Bonuses received
BAvg: average points per bonus
PPTH: average Points Per Tossup Heard
PA: total Points Against
Diff: average score difference

Rank	Team	W	L	TH	TP	PPG	+10	-5	TUP	BP	B	Bavg	PPTH	PA	Diff
1	Chicago	7	2	180	1765	196.1	87	7	835	930	87	10.7	9.8	1068	77.4
2	SFU Junta	7	2	180	1613	179.2	77	18	680	933	77	12.1	9.0	1030	64.8
3	Mixed-Up	6	3	183*	2020	224.4	86	20	760	1260	83	15.2	11.0	1075	105.0
4	FARSIDE	6	3	180	1866	207.3	87	16	790	1076	87	12.4	10.4	931	103.9
5	FOMO	6	3	180	1460	162.2	68	16	600	860	68	12.6	8.1	1035	47.2
6	B2B	5	4	180	1230	136.7	63	18	540	690	63	11.0	6.8	1255	-2.8
7	UBC	3	6	183*	1061	117.9	59	25	465	596	56	10.6	5.8	1206	-16.1
8	Washington	3	6	180	1030	114.4	55	12	490	540	55	9.8	5.7	1630	-66.7
9	FPC	1	8	180	505	56.1	33	6	300	205	33	6.2	2.8	1655	-127.8
10	Maple Ridge	1	8	180	340	37.8	25	20	150	190	25	7.6	1.9	2005	-185.0

* Three tossups were played in overtime in the game between Mixed-Up and UBC.

Individual player statistics

The last three columns indicate in which of the three previous VETOs the person played (Y if yes, or M if in the Ontario mirror).

Rank	Player	Team	+10	-5	Games	PPG	'99	'00	'01
1	Peter	FARSIDE	87	16	9	87.8	Y	Y	Y
2	Peter	Chicago	44	2	9	47.8	-	-	-
3	Drew	Mixed-Up	45	10	9 *	43.7	-	-	-
4	Bruce	B2B	37	7	8	41.9	Y	Y	Y
5	Brian	Washington	40	5	9	41.7	-	-	-
6	Susan	Chicago	38	5	9	39.4	-	-	-
7	Luka	UBC	34	5	9 *	34.4	-	-	-
8	Herre	FOMO	31	6	9	31.1	-	-	-
9	Ross	Mixed-Up	22	2	9 *	23.0	-	-	-
10	Carlos	SFU Junta	23	8	9	21.1	-	-	M
11	Hanson	SFU Junta	21	7	9	19.4	-	-	Y
12	Brock	B2B	20	9	8	19.4	Y	Y	Y
13	Mike	SFU Junta	18	3	9	18.3	-	-	-
14	Shaun	FPC	17	4	9	16.7	-	-	Y
	Sarah	SFU Junta	15	0	9	16.7	-	-	Y
16	Idris	FOMO	14	2	9	14.4	-	-	-
17	Tara	FOMO	15	5	9	13.9	Y	Y	Y
18	James Leong	UBC	16	13	9 *	10.4	-	-	-
19	Mischa	Mixed-Up	12	6	9 *	9.8	-	-	-
20	Dianna	Maple Ridge	10	3	9	9.4	-	-	-
21	Sarah	FPC	8	1	9	8.3	-	-	-
	Victoria	FPC	8	1	9	8.3	-	Y	-
23	Ryan	Washington	8	3	9	7.2	-	Y	-
	Danny	FOMO	8	3	9	7.2	-	-	-
25	Grace	UBC	5	3	5 *	6.8	-	-	-
26	Paulman	Mixed-Up	7	2	9 *	6.6	-	-	Y
27	Larry	Washington	7	4	9	5.6	-	Y	-
	David	Chicago	5	0	9	5.6	-	-	-
29	Neal	Maple Ridge	12	15	9	5.0	-	Y	Y
30	James Lam	UBC	2	0	5	4.0	-	-	-
31	Zhan	B2B	4	2	9	3.3	Y	M	M
32	Ambrose	UBC **	2	1	5 *	2.9	-	-	-
33	Julianna	Maple Ridge	2	1	9	1.7	-	-	Y
34	Brian	B2B	1	0	9	1.1	-	-	Y
35	Jonathan	UBC **	1	1	5	1.0	-	-	-
36	Teresa	Maple Ridge	1	1	9	0.6	-	-	-

* This person heard an additional 3/20 of a game's worth of tossups in overtime.

** Ambrose and Jonathan from UBC each played one round on the B2B team.

For leading the individual scoring, Peter from FARSIDE retains the title of West Coast Dominatrix of Relevant Knowledge (WC-DORK).

Packet statistics

Round		Total points			TUs answered			-5's			Bonus average
#	Games	min	med	max	min	med	max	min	med	max	min	med	max	Packet authors
1	3	258	300	382	12	13	15	4	4	5	13.3	14.6	16.8	FOMO
2	3	255	265	290	13	15	15	2	3	4	8.0	10.7	11.2	SFU Junta
3	3	260	285	315	14	15	15	3	3	3	8.3	11.4	12.0	B2B
4	3	240	305	330	14	14	16	0	1.5	6	9.3	10.9	13.6	Maple Ridge, plus Brock and Bruce from B2B
5	4	190	248	275	14	15.5	18	1	4.5	6	5.0	6.5	8.0	UBC
6	4	250	390	415	13	16	17	2	3.5	4	10.8	14.8	16.3	SFU Junta
7	4	165	268	385	12	13.5	16	1	3	8	7.1	10.6	14.7	Chicago
8	4	30	113	160	3	8.5	11	2	4.5	6	3.3	6.0	7.2	Mixed-Up
9	4	235	380	415	13	17	19	0	3	7	9.2	12.2	15.0	FARSIDE
10*	4	310	365	370	12	16.5	18	1	2.5	6	12.9	13.6	16.7	B2B (all-Canadian packet)
11	4	210	315	390	11	13	16	2	4	7	12.3	14.3	18.3	FPC
12	4	165	273	435	10	15	19	2	2.5	5	8.8	9.1	13.4	Washington
F1	1	170			11			2			6.4			Gabe
F2	1	240			14			4			8.6			UWO

* One game of Round 10 went into overtime, so 23 tossups were read.

Prizes

Honour	honouree	reason	prize	sponsor
Longest trip to VETO, according to the indo.com distance calculator	Zhan	visiting from Toronto	a double-sided painting showing the Krakatau volcano on one side and a traditional sailing boat of the Makassar and Bugis people on the other	Peter from FARSIDE
Best edible bonus	SFU Junta	guess the flavour of Jelly Bellies	a No-Cholesterol, Low-Sodium, Fat-Free Fruit-Filled Bar Made With Real Fruit	Peter from FARSIDE
Best overall packet	FARSIDE team	the FARSIDE packet	squirt guns	Hanson
Best question	Drew	a bonus that used a model skeleton	?	Hanson
Best trash question	Ryan	question about Rick James	?	Hanson
Best neg	Hanson	answering "Backstreet Boys" for a question on the Calgary Stampede	?	Hanson, but winner selected by players
Best-written Canadian sports question	Hanson	1986 Canadian World Cup soccer bonus	?	Mischa
Best numerical answer given in the tournament	Brock	"1982 Constitution Act"	Three copies of Vector	Bruce
Team that makes the biggest successful comeback during a game	FOMO	was down 85 points against Mixed-Up, but ended up winning	a model skeleton	Drew
Best auditory question	FOMO	Christian Bök reading bonus	a tape of the FARSIDE team's audio questions	Peter from FARSIDE
Best Canadian Literary Question	Bruce	title conjunction bonus	poster	Coach House Books, but winner selected by players
Most photogenic team	Flying Penguin Circus	missing a player who was supposed to be there	painting placemat	Drew, but winner selected by players
Most points on a particular Canadian authors bonus in a B2B packet	SFU Junta, on a showdown with Flying Penguin Circus	5 out of 6 answers correct	a copy of the Men With Brooms soundtrack, still in its shrinkwrap	Bruce
Best Visual Question Not Written By Bruce	Drew	the skeleton question	a copy of Stay as you are #8, a comic book zine	Bruce
Best individual performance on the UBC packet	Bruce	answered 7 tossups correctly, no incorrect interrupts	A Shania Twain CD	UBC team
Best Junta shootout	Washington team	the Nom-ah Garciaparr-ah tossup	?	SFU Junta team
Best religion question	Victoria	deism tossup	comic books about the Pope, Mother Teresa, and Madonna	SFU Junta team
Best comic book/ organic chemistry question	Chicago team	a 21st tossup that did not get read	Dazzler comic	SFU Junta team
Brock Stephenson award for negging	Peter from FARSIDE	16 negs in 9 games	a bubble-blowing kit	SFU Junta team
Out of Towners award	Peter from Chicago, Susan, Drew, Zhan, the Washington team	visiting Vancouver	postcards of SFU	SFU Junta team
Most bored player	Neal	taking a cell phone call during a game	magic writing board	Zhan
West Coast Dominatrix of Relevant Knowledge	Peter from FARSIDE	averaging 87.8 tossup points per game	handcuffs	SFU Junta team

General observations and lessons learned

• All teams showed up, and all had complete packets, even though some people admitted that they did not finish their questions until the night before.
• If players from some teams are writing questions for other teams, make sure that they all have a bye when the packet is read.
• Games were staffed by members of teams with byes. In the first three rounds there were three simultaneous games and four byes, while in the remaining nine regular rounds there were four simultaneous games and two byes. Generally this went well, so that people who did not want to read were not forced to do so. But things did get tight a couple of times during the byes of a single-player team. Aside from that stubborn person, every other team had at least three players.
• It was overly optimistic of us to expect to be able to fit 12 regular rounds plus two final rounds into a 9-hour day including announcements, a demonstration game, a lunch break, and prize ceremonies (with 22 prizes, by my count). We were lucky that the building stayed open late. Before the mirror in Ontario was cancelled, we had planned to finish up by 5 p.m. in order to run the Trans-Canada Championship. This would not have been possible with so many teams, unless we had started earlier (like the night before!) or did not play a full round-robin.
• Ten teams was a good-sized field, but not excessive. A round-robin with more than ten teams would probably take too long.
• As often happens in a guerrilla tournament, there were a lot of repeats. Probably the most common repeats were works of Margaret Atwood. Most teams did not remove their questions that were repeats from previous rounds. As a commendable exception, Hanson ran around to all the rooms at the beginning of one of the Junta rounds to announce that the second tossup should be discarded because it was a repeat.
• Harbour Centre was a good, central location, and this year we got rooms with windows. Room 1315 is our nominee for having the best view from any game room in any quiz bowl tournament anywhere.
• We look forward to seeing you next year!

"Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it!" — famous last words

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