The competition will start out with 32 contestants, each have been pre-paired up randomly with another contestant totaling 16 pairs. In the first round, one pair of contestants will be called at a time to sit at a table facing each other, with one judge. Before the game I will have already coin-flipped for every pair of contestants to see which player goes first and at this time in the game the players will be told who won the coin flip. For the sake of example, let’s say Player 1 was chosen in the coin flip.
Player 1 now starts off the game by choosing from a list of 6 Harry Potter-related categories (Spells, Characters, Mythical Creatures, Hogwarts, Magical Objects, Dark Arts) from their own stack. Each player will have exactly 1 stack containing 1 question from each of the 6 categories that they will answer to (totaling 6 questions per person). Each player will have exactly 60 seconds to answer his or her question, otherwise it is considered false.
Each question is worth 2 points apiece. If Player 1 answers their question correctly, it is now Player 2’s turn to choose a category from their own stack. If Player 1 answers their question incorrectly, then Player 2 now has a 10 second chance to rebound on Player 1’s missed question for extra points. If Player 2 answer’s the rebound question correctly, Player 2 receives 1 point.
The game will continue until all the cards are read. Afterwards the points that have been recorded by the judge throughout the game will be revealed along with the winner who will then move to round 2 after all the other pairs in round 1 have gone.
In the event of a tie at the end of a game for any pair, a Sudden Death question will then be asked. This Sudden Death question will be in the form of, “Name as much/as many as you can…” and will be written down by the players instead of said aloud. The players will then have exactly 60 seconds to answer the question to its full extent and the player with the most correct response will advance to the next round.
This will continue through the 2nd round (8 pairs), 3rd round (4 pairs), 4th round (2 pairs), and finally the 5th round (last remaining pair) until there are 1st and 2nd place winners. These players will then receive their prizes.
We will have some serious Potterfans there to compete, therefore answering the questions must be done carefully. I will only accept completely correct answers. Mispronounced (i.e. saying “Fermione” is incorrect, but saying “Her-mee-ohn” would be accepted)/misspelled answers will be incorrect. There may be a time when extra information is needed to answer the question correctly, by which time the judge will ask “Extra information, please” and the player must give said information in a timely manner.
Don't worry, I'll repeat all of these rules at the competition.
And I think that's about it! If you have any questions, either comment or email me and I'll answer it on the blog for everyone to see.
Here are a few comments and reminders:
**If you want to compete in November, you MUST SHOW UP TO TRYOUTS IN OCTOBER. This is because I need to make the pairs for the 1st round before the competition starts. In the event of a contestant dropping out and not wanting to compete, those who did not make it through tryouts may be then asked to compete, but this is pretty much the only exception.
**There is no age limit! Yay! I want everyone to play, from those just barely old enough to read a 7 volume series to 90-year olds who still have a sense of imagination. Bring your friends, Pottermoms, Potterdads, younger and older siblings, everyone you know who loves Harry Potter to come and either join in on the competition or just come to support you and have fun.
**Join the facebook group and click "follow" on this blog, please! We need all the support we can get and the more who get in on the excitement, the better. Here's a link to the facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=110722982315533&ref=mf
Also, the "Event" for the tryouts is up on the facebook page if you would like to join, although it is not required to join the page in order to try out for the competition :)
Stay posted, Potterfans! In my next entry I'll be giving out a sample question!
Yours truly,
HPC founder
Ravenclaw House
