Ignis Virtual East Updates
Update 3: 2/1
Hi everyone,
Ignis Virtual is just a few days away! In preparation, we've compiled some resources for you to use on the day of the tournament.
Schedule: The schedule for the tournament has been finalized and is available at https://prometheus.science/east/schedule. The opening ceremony begins at 8:30 AM EST, with the first rounds starting 30 minutes later. Lunch will be from 12:20-1:00 PM EST, dividing round robin and double elimination rounds.
During the tournament, the schedule and results will be available live at https://prometheus.science/east. This will be the main document you'll use during the tournament, indicating which teams move on, where matches will be taking place, and the timing for each round. Because the field is still changing, divisions currently only have placeholder names, but this will be updated soon with division assignments for Sunday. Again, if you can't attend the tournament or will have a different number of teams than you signed up with, let us know ASAP.
Links: Links for Zoom and prometheus.buzz will be sent out on Thursday or Friday to both team contacts and individual team members. When you get this, make sure each of your team members have the same information, as both links are necessary to compete. Everyone on your team must sign up on prometheus.buzz before the tournament begins; team rosters are only updated at the beginning of each round. If you haven't already, make sure you submit a roster so we know who to send this information to and to confirm your spot in the tournament.
Guide: To help you during the tournament, we've compiled a player guide with the general links and information you need. This does not include the individual links mentioned above, but should include everything else you need to know about the tournament. We recommend reading this in its entirety, especially if you've never competed at an online science bowl tournament before. You can access the guide at https://prometheus.science/east/guide.
Again, you'll receive more information on Thursday or Friday for the tournament on Sunday. If you have questions about any of this, please let us know.
Update 2: 1/26
Hi everyone,
We've been getting lots of questions about what Ignis Virtual will look like, both in terms of the overall format and individual matches. Some of this information is available on our website, but not all, so here's what you need to know for the tournament:
Format: Matches are held head-to-head, similar to how science bowl works in-person; this is NOT the same as NSB's format during the pandemic. Round-robin divisions will be hosted in individual Zoom meetings, with matches between teams taking place in breakout rooms within those meetings. Once there, a moderator will host the match, reading questions and managing buzzing using prometheus.buzz. Team coaches/advisors are allowed to join the Zoom to spectate but will not be able to see prometheus.buzz, only what's happening in the Zoom room. If you'd like to have someone else spectate, email contact@prometheus.science explaining who and why.
A master schedule document will be sent once the field and divisions can be confirmed. This will include the teams in each division and the schedule of matches for each. The same document will also have live score updates and results, making it the most important link to have during the tournament. As a reminder, the first five matches of the tournament will be a round-robin format that will seed teams for a larger double elimination bracket.
Matches: A few days before the tournament, links will be sent out to competitors and team contacts to register for prometheus.buzz. This is necessary to compete in the tournament, as all matches and room assignments will be taken care of through the system. Members who register after the tournament has started will only be allowed to compete in the next full round after they do so. During the competition, all players have to do is go to the website and log in, then the system will automatically assign them to the correct match.
Once the match starts, players will have a single button to buzz in during questions, the same as how they would with a normal buzzer system. Unlike similar buzzing websites such as buzzin.live, the system will automatically keep score and time questions, both of which will be visible inside the website. An example of what a match looks like in prometheus.buzz can be seen at https://prometheus.science/virtual.
X-Risk: As many of you know, Prometheus is replacing the standard Energy category with X-Risk, short for "existential risk." Existential risks are risks that could affect all of humanity and potentially cause its extinction, including artificial intelligence, bioweapons, climate change, nuclear war, and other smaller risks. We're including this category because we believe these topics need more attention in the world and are the most relevant parts of science in the current and future world. Most of these questions will connect to more well-known science topics, but we recommend spending some time learning more about them before the tournament. A brief overview of the category and links to more information can be found at https://prometheus.science/mission.
Requirements: Team members should not be in the same room, as this allows them to communicate and cheat more easily and gives them an advantage over other teams. We expect most teams to compete independently from home, although gathering in the same place is allowed as long as competitors are separated.
A single camera will be required for round robin matches showing players' faces or hands, whichever they prefer. In double elimination matches, players' hands must be shown at all times, using either the same main camera (e.g. by sitting farther back from the device) or a separate device's camera. Be prepared to set this up; in fact, we suggest practicing it beforehand to avoid delays between matches. We highly recommend using a computer to buzz with and may end up requiring it, as we can't guarantee prometheus.buzz will be fully functional on other devices.
If you're confused about any of this or have questions not answered here, feel free to ask!
Update 1: 1/21
Hi everyone,
If you're receiving this email, your team is currently registered for Ignis Virtual East on February 5th. We're excited to have you compete! Here's the information you need to know right now:
Field: The current field is available on our website here and will be updated live as more teams register. The tournament currently has 77 teams registered with a field cap of 80 teams. Although your team(s) may be marked as confirmed, we cannot guarantee any schools more than two teams in the tournament. The schools from the recently canceled in-person tournament at Centennial High School will be guaranteed spots, so we may need to move teams to the waitlist to make room for them. If more teams sign up, we may choose to expand the field to accommodate everyone.
Teams: If you expect to have a different number of teams than you signed up with, please let us know ASAP via our change form for registrations. If you'd like to drop out of the tournament entirely, please email us and let us know the reason why. Your spot(s) in the tournament are only confirmed once you submit a roster, which does not have to be final.
Schedule: A tentative schedule for the tournament is available on our website at https://prometheus.science/east/schedule. We currently expect the tournament to run from about 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM EST with a break halfway through for lunch. This schedule will likely change slightly, however, and may change significantly if we decide to expand the field.
Format: The tournament will be run similarly to Prometheus 2022 and most other science bowl tournaments, beginning with a round robin in pools where the top teams advance to a double elimination bracket. We expect that 32 teams, the top two from each initial pool, will advance to double elimination. A full bracket with division assignments will be released closer to the tournament.
The tournament will be run on Zoom using prometheus.buzz, our custom buzzing software. If you'd like to practice buzzing virtually, the site is similar to other buzzing websites such as buzzin.live, albeit with more features such as automatic scoring and team assignments. Links for this will be sent out to both team contacts and competitors prior to the tournament.
If you have any other questions, just let us know!