The 15th annual Vancouver Estival Trivia Open (VETO) was held on Saturday, July 27, 2013, at the University of British Columbia.

This was a guerrilla-style tournament, meaning that all questions were written by members of the participating teams, and there was no central editing. Question packets were shared with a mirror tournament (VETO's Eastern Trivia Open: full stats available) being held the same day at the University of Toronto.

Some of the question packets will be available for free download! (saved on the Collegiate Quizbowl Packet Archive)

All staff were drawn from the participating teams during their bye round. Thanks to Mischa for getting us space at UBC.

We had seven teams, with a total of 23 players. Team rosters were as follows. If a team is named after an institution of higher education, it does not necessarily mean that all of its members are affiliated with that institution.

• [Blvu] Bellevue College — Mike B., Alejandro, Chris
• [FrSd] FARSIDE — Peter
• [Oreg] University of Oregon — Phil, Amy, Laurie
• [SFU.] Simon Fraser University alumni — Geoff, Ross, Brittany Z., Joanne
• [UBC.] University of British Columbia — Mike W., Steph, Trevor, Iugene
• [UW.A] University of Washington A — Joelle, Michael, Evan, Matthew
• [UW.B] University of Washington B — Brittany B., Andrew, Will, Steve

Round-Robin Results

We used the following schedule. Every team except FARSIDE had at least three members who could run a game room by themselves. The FARSIDE team had only one member, so its packet was played in two rounds: the first round was moderated by the sole team member, and then the two teams that played in that round helped run the second round. The FARSIDE rounds were scheduled immediately after lunch, so that four teams got a longer lunch break.

      Room 201  Room 204  Room 205    pack
      ========  ========  ========    ====
 9:30 FrSd-SFU. Oreg-UBC. UW.A-UW.B | Blvu
10:00 SFU.-Oreg FrSd-UBC. Blvu-UW.B | UW.A
10:30 FrSd-Oreg SFU.-UBC. Blvu-UW.A | UW.B
11:00 UW.B-FrSd Blvu-Oreg UW.A-SFU. | UBC.
---------------------------------------------
      Lunch at the Student Union Building
---------------------------------------------
 1:00 Blvu-UBC.                     | FrSd (SFU., Oreg, UW.A, UW.B still lunch)
 1:30 UW.A-Oreg UW.B-SFU.           | FrSd (Blvu and UBC. also reading)
 2:00 UW.A-UBC. UW.B-Oreg Blvu-FrSd | SFU.
 2:30 UW.B-UBC. Blvu-SFU. UW.A-FrSd | Oreg

Here are the standings for the round-robin (full SQBS tables are available).
Teams were ranked by win-loss record, with average points per game as tie-breaker.

Rank	Team	W	L	T	Pct	PPG	PAPG	Mrg	10	-5	TUH	PPTH	P/N	G/N	BHrd	BPts	P/B
1	UW B	6	0	0	1.000	235.8	116.7	119.2	55	11	120	11.79	0.00	5.00	55	920	16.73
2	UBC	4	2	0	0.667	185.0	135.0	50.0	49	10	120	9.25	0.00	4.90	49	670	13.67
3	Bellevue	3	3	0	0.500	193.3	143.3	50.0	52	18	120	9.67	0.00	2.89	52	730	14.04
4	Oregon	3	3	0	0.500	160.0	168.3	-8.3	46	10	120	8.00	0.00	4.60	46	550	11.96
5	SFU alumni	3	3	0	0.500	145.8	160.0	-14.2	43	9	120	7.29	0.00	4.78	43	490	11.40
6	UW A	2	4	0	0.333	95.8	209.2	-113.3	33	7	120	4.79	0.00	4.71	33	280	8.48
7	FARSIDE	0	6	0	0.000	121.7	205.0	-83.3	33	5	120	6.08	0.00	6.60	33	425	12.88

Individual Statistics

Rank	Player	Team	GP	10	-5	TUH	P/TU	G/N	Pts	PPG	'99	'00	'01	'02	'03	'04	'05	'06	'07	'08	'09	'10	'11	'12
1	Phil	Oregon	6.0	45	9	120	3.38	5.00	405	67.50	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Y	Y	-	Y	Y
2	Peter	FARSIDE	6.0	33	5	120	2.54	6.60	305	50.83	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
3	Will	UW B	6.0	33	8	120	2.42	4.12	290	48.33	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	Trevor	UBC	6.0	25	5	120	1.88	5.00	225	37.50	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Y	-	-	-	-
5	Mike	Bellevue	6.0	25	9	120	1.71	2.78	205	34.17	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Y	Y	Y	Y
6	Mike	UBC	6.0	22	5	120	1.62	4.40	195	32.50	-	-	-	-	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	-	Y	Y	Y
7	Ross	SFU alumni	6.0	17	3	120	1.29	5.67	155	25.83	-	-	-	Y	Y	M	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
8	Joelle	UW A	6.0	16	4	120	1.17	4.00	140	23.33	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Y
9	Andrew	UW B	6.0	14	3	120	1.04	4.67	125	20.83	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	Alejandro	Bellevue	6.0	14	4	120	1.00	3.50	120	20.00	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Y	-	Y
11	Chris	Bellevue	6.0	13	5	120	0.88	2.60	105	17.50	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Y	Y	Y	Y
12	Michael	UW A	5.0	9	1	100	0.85	9.00	85	17.00	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
13	Geoff	SFU alumni	6.0	10	2	120	0.75	5.00	90	15.00	-	-	-	-	-	Y	Y	Y	-	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
14	Joanne	SFU alumni	6.0	9	1	120	0.71	9.00	85	14.17	-	-	-	-	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	-	Y	Y	-	-
15	Matthew	UW A	6.0	7	1	120	0.54	7.00	65	10.83	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
16	Brittany	SFU alumni	6.0	7	3	120	0.46	2.33	55	9.17	-	-	-	-	-	Y	-	Y	-	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
17	Brittany	UW B	6.0	4	0	120	0.33	inf	40	6.67	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Y	-	Y
18	Steven	UW B	6.0	4	0	120	0.33	inf	40	6.67	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Y	-	-
19	Iugene	UBC	3.0	1	0	60	0.17	inf	10	3.33	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
20	Steph	UBC	6.0	1	0	120	0.08	inf	10	1.67	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Y	Y
21	Evan	UW A	6.0	1	1	120	0.04	1.00	5	0.83	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
22	Amy	Oregon	6.0	1	1	120	0.04	1.00	5	0.83	-	-	Y	-	-	-	-	-	-	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
23	Laurie	Oregon	6.0	0	0	120	0.00	0.00	0	0.00	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Y

For leading in the individual stats, Phil takes over the title of West Coast Dominatrix of Relevant Knowledge from Peter, who was WC-DORK for fourteen straight years, ever since the inaugural VETO.

Playoffs

UW B 220, UBC 70
UW B: Will 6 1 55, Steven 2 0 20, Brittany 0 0 0, Andrew 3 1 25
UBC: Steph 0 0 0, Trevor 0 0 0, Mike 2 2 10
Bonuses: UW B 11 120 10.91, UBC 2 60 30.00

Bellevue 170, Oregon 105
Bellevue: Mike 4 3 25, Chris 3 1 25, Alejandro 0 2 -10
Oregon: Phil 4 1 35, Amy 0 0 0, Laurie 0 0 0
Bonuses: Bellevue 7 130 18.57, Oregon 4 70 17.50

Bellevue 245, UBC 115
Bellevue: Mike 5 1 45, Chris 2 0 20, Alejandro 2 2 10
UBC: Steph 0 0 0, Trevor 2 0 20, Mike 5 1 45
Bonuses: Bellevue 9 170 18.89, UBC 7 50 7.14

UW B 205, Bellevue 55

Bellevue: Mike 1 2 0, Chris 2 3 5, Alejandro 2 0 20
UW B: Will 6 2 50, Steven 1 0 10, Brittany 0 0 0, Andrew 2 1 15
Bonuses: Bellevue 5 30 6.00, UW B 9 130 14.44

End of the finals. From left to right:

• Second-place team Bellevue — Alejandro, Chris, Mike (all of whom were on last year's champion team).
• VETO champion team UW B — Will, Andrew, Brittany, Steven.

Audio recordings of the semifinal and final games are saved on the Internet Archive for your listening pleasure.

After our final, there was supposed to be a Trans-Canada Championship Match between the winning team in Vancouver and the winning team at the Toronto mirror, but this had to be postponed to a later date because by the time we were ready, the Toronto team had to go their separate ways home.

Prizes

Honour		Honouree	Prize	Reason	Sponsor
West Coast Dominatrix of Relevant Knowledge		Phil of Oregon	handcuffs	scoring 67.5 points per game	Peter of FARSIDE, but selection determined by stats alone
Most negs		Phil of Oregon	washcloth	getting nine -5's in the round-robin, including (as tie-breaker) at least one in every game	Brittany of UW B
Best science question		Evan of UW A	a periodic table of the elements, signed by the discoverer of 10 of them	tossup about nitrogen	Peter of FARSIDE
Best kids' question		Joanne of SFU	Buzz Jr.! Jungle Party	tossup about Judy Blume	Mike of Bellevue
Winner in crunch time		UW B team	Nestlé Crunch bar	winning the final	Jordan Palmer in Toronto, but selection determined by stats alone
Top scorer on losing team during crunch time		Alejandro of Bellevue	Cadbury Crunchie bar	scoring 20 points on tossups in final	Jordan Palmer in Toronto, but selection determined by stats alone
Worst repeat		Joelle of UW A	a broken record	as reader of one of the playoff rounds, the scapegoat for not throwing out a repeat	Peter of FARSIDE

General observations and lessons learned

• The teams were roughly the same as last year, and the number of teams was the same (at both locations!), so we were able to use the same schedule.
• After two years of playing VETO in windowless rooms at UBC's very modern I. K. Barber Centre, we moved across the street to the older Buchanan D building. The great advantage of Buchanan was that our game rooms had windows that we could open to get fresh air, and through which we could watch leafy green trees swaying in the wind outside. The biggest disadvantage was that there didn't seem to be any drinking fountains, so thirsty people were compelled to drink from the taps in the bathrooms. It was also a warm day, and the exposure to the outside elements may have kept the rooms, especially south-facing 204, warmer than the Barber Centre would have been.
• Some of the moderators had occasional difficulty and puzzlement over what they were reading. This is normal when reading unedited packets, but these were questions written by the moderators' own teammates. It would be better if teammates read their questions to each other in advance, even if they won't have time to make corrections.
  Alternatively, we could have had more readers, or reconfigured the schedule so that more teams had more help. For example, in 2006, we also had seven teams, but only three of these teams had to run three game rooms by themselves; the other four teams had help from two other teams when their packets were being read. But the cost was that our round-robin in 2006 required two additional rounds.
• In past years, some packets had tossups of length that is typical on the modern university quiz bowl circuit, but that tried the patience of the players at VETO. This was not a problem this year. Tossups were not too short, either, but just the right length.
• The Senate expenses scandal was the favourite topic of the day, and came up in at least four packets. The most common repeats at VETO always seem to be about either current events or something Canadian, and this time it was both.
• We Canadians were impressed with some of our visitors' appreciation of Canadian culture, as displayed for example in deeper knowledge of the works of Margaret Atwood, Canada's most prominent author.
• This was the first time that the majority of the players at VETO were Americans who have never lived in Canada. Below is a chart displaying numbers of players at VETO each year, where I have divided the players to the best of my knowledge into two categories:
  • "C": Canadian, or have lived in Canada (this includes at least a couple of Americans);
  • "N": never lived in Canada (all from the United States).

  Year    Canadian or have lived in Canada    Never lived in Canada
  1999:    8                          CCCCCCCC                   0   Total  8
  2000:    8                          CCCCCCCCNNNN               4   Total 12
  2001:   21             CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNNN               4   Total 25
  2002:   30    CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNNNNN             6   Total 36
  2003:   30    CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC                   0   Total 30
  2004:   27       CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC                   0   Total 27
  2005:   23           CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC                   0   Total 23
  2006:   24          CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC                   0   Total 24
  2007:   16                  CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC                   0   Total 16
  2008:   25         CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNN                 2   Total 27
  2009:   13                     CCCCCCCCCCCCCNNNNNN             6   Total 19
  2010:   20              CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNNNNNNNNN        10   Total 30
  2011:   15                   CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNNNNNNNNNN       11   Total 26
  2012:   14                    CCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNNNNNNNNNN       11   Total 25
  2013:    9                         CCCCCCCCCNNNNNNNNNNNNNN    14   Total 23
  

  What jumps out from the lower part of this chart is the substantial recent growth in the number of visiting American players, beginning in 2008, when the Oregon alumni started returning, and 2009, when the University of Washington students and other Seattle residents started returning (actually, these were all different people from the UW students and alumni who showed up in the early years). There was a five-year period when nobody from Oregon or Seattle came to VETO, and all of us were Canadians or at least lived in Canada. Since this chart also shows a general downward trend in the number of Canadians participating in VETO, we are fortunate that so many are willing to come so far to play with us.

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

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