PENTATHANERD OFFICIAL RULES
General Rules
Trivial Quiz
Biathalon
LEGO Luge
Snow Sculpture / Snowflake
Hardware Teardown / Rebuild
Obstacle Course Relay Event
GENERAL RULES For All Competitions
Group And Individual Competition
Individuals compete against other individuals for total overall standings. Likewise, groups compete against other groups for total overall standings.
A group's overall score is the result of summing the event results for each declared individual competitor. Competitors competing as a part of a group will concurrently have their results considered as a part of the Individual's competition total. For any event with one member of the group competing, that individual will automatically be considered competing for the group. For any event with more than one member of a group competing, it must be declared before the competition which member will compete for the group and which is competing as an individual.
In each event, the winners are declared as individuals. If two or even all three members of the same group place in the top positions of an event, they shall earn those places (no exclusions for belonging to the same group); however, as noted above, only one member will be designated as contributing to the group's overall for that event.
Start time
For all events except the OCRE the starting time is as close to noon as possible. Contestants must be present and ready to play at 12pm. At 12:05pm, alternates will be assigned in order, filling any remaining vacancies for the competition.
Point Distribution
The general emphasis on point distribution is to place roughly the 70th percentile at 1000 points, with a minimum of 300 points for earnest competition (defined below) and a maximum of approximately 1300 points - more flexibility is given to timed events for a maximum, as points are usually geared to increase as the inverse log of time used. "Earnest Competition" is defined as putting forth at least a minimum effort in competition without manifest cheating or collusion on the behalf of the competitor. Some events will define Earnest Competition further in its rules.
Cheating
Manifest cheating in an event will result in immediate withdrawal of the competitor from the event. No score will be given to the competitor for that event. There is no such thing as the Best Cheat Award.
Judges
Events will have a non-competing Head Judge to make decisions as necessary in the rulings brought into question. This portion of the rules has been redacted. Pay no attention to this. Protests may be brought up to the Tournament Director, to be decided within 24 hours of the time of protest. Decisions of the Tournament Director are final.
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TRIVIAL QUIZ Rules
Format
There will be a general round of questions, followed by a championship round consisting of three on-location participants with the best scores.
General Round
The general round will consist of 30 questions in 15 minutes. All reference materials are allowed, including web searches and non-participating teammates. It is open to anyone registered to compete, on-location or off. However, only on-location participants may compete in the Championship Round.
Points are awarded for correct answers, and are distributed in three sections of 10 questions each:
Meh. - 30 points per correct answer
W00T - 50 points per correct answer
ZOMG - 70 points per correct answer
Incorrect answers will incur a 10 point penalty. In some instances, this penalty will be distributed - for example, in the case of multiple-response questions involving checkboxes - and changes will be detailed within the question.
Championship Round
The top three on-location participants will earn a place in the Championship Round. At stake is an additional 300/200/100 overall Pentathanerd Competition points, given to the first/second/third place champion respectively. The format will be a set of 30 questions in game-show format; questions are selected by the participant with the most recent correct answer (the third place finisher to start). The question will be read by the host. Participants may buzz in at any time, stopping the question, and attempt to answer the question within 5 seconds. An incorrect answer will allow the question to be re-read, and the remaining participants may attempt the question.
Points will be awarded for correct responses. Points will be deducted for incorrect responses. Participants must have a positive score at the end of the Championship Round in order to earn any bonus Pentathanerd Competition points.
Unlike the General Round, the participants in the Championship Round may not receive help from teammates or use any reference materials.
Point Distribution
The minimum points awarded for competing in the Trivial Quiz is zero. It is assumed that a participant should be able to answer at least 300 points worth of questions without much difficulty.
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BIATHALON Rules
Format
Participants will have Nerf guns and a single Nerf dart. There will be five targets that must be knocked over. Participants will run the mirror-symmetrical course in pairs. At the start, the gun must be uncocked and placed next to the participant with the dart separate from the gun. The judge will give a clear signal to begin. Participants will fire from behind an established firing line. After each shot, hit or miss, the participants must run out into the field and retrieve their dart. The scoring is time based, stopping after the last target is struck and the competitor has retrieved the dart and returned behind the firing line.
A shot fired while being over the firing line will result in a ten second penalty. This penalty is cumulative. Targets must be knocked over by a properly fired dart from either participant to count as having been struck. Multiple targets may be struck in one action, provided they are the result of a properly fired dart.
Points will be awarded based on the number of seconds remaining from an initial three minutes, earning 10 points per second. A minimum of 100 points will be awarded for having knocked over at least three targets within the time period.
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LEGO LUGE Rules
Format
Participants will design a luge out of LEGO pieces to be run down a luge course. Luges must remain at least 3/5ths intact and retain the rider with the craft to the end. The furthest distance will be used to determine placement.
Specifications
Each luge must fit within a container of 12 blocks wide by 16 blocks long by 6 blocks high (roughly 3 5/8" by 5" by 2 1/4", respectively). The weight of the luge must not be in excess of 5.5 ounces (roughly the weight of a LEGO train engine). Parts of the luge are not allowed to be freely rotational; wheels and pivot-points may be used, but only if the piece does not have free rotation or is likely to have free rotation.
Each luge must contain a LEGO person rider with head protection (safety first). The rider must remain with the luge for the duration of the ride. In the event of a rider's ejection, the distance for the run will be calculated at the last luge-occupied position, if possible.
The course will consist of roughly 4" width channels, as determined by a regulation 2-liter bottle. The course will be made out of snow and ice, with an attempt to have ice mostly along the expected luge path.
Spheres of legos are not allowed. The luge must be comprised entirely of unadulterated LEGO pieces, with the exception of a reasonable amount of paper and tape or stickers for logos or emblems.
Point Distribution
A minimum 300 points are awarded if the luge meets all qualifications and is able to begin its descent in the luge course. Another 200 points are awarded if the luge makes it at least 3/5ths intact past the indicated halfway point of the luge course. Another 200 points are awarded for finishing the course at least 3/5ths intact.
There will be judges to place value on the design of each luge in two categories: Creativity: 100 points max, and; Originality: 100 points max.
Finally, points will be distributed based on overall distance placement.
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SNOW SCULPTURE/SNOWFLAKE Rules
Format
The Snow Sculpture competition will be held provided there is forecast to be sufficient material out of which to make said sculptures withall. Failing that, the competition will instead involve snowflake construction, since obviously there were not enough at the time of the event.
The creations must in some way involve or incorporate the chosen Theme of the event. This will be determined and announced at the conclusion of Monday's Trivial Quiz event; at the same time, given weather forecasting, it will be determined whether the event will involve cold and externality versus papercuts and internality. Possible themes include but are not limited to: Famous Nerds, Integrated Circuitry, Sustained Fusion Reactions, and The Periodic Table.
Point Distribution
Creations will be judged based on five categories:
* Artistic Merit
* Creativity
* Effective use of materials
* Presentation
* Judge's Category
Each category will have a level value from 0 to 10, earning 20 overall competition points per level. Whole number levels will be awarded, with the exception of the Judge's Category.
The Judge's Category may be any category that the Judge wishes, with any point system guidelines, provided the net outcome of the category is within the range of -50 to +200 overall competition points. This category need not be announced by the judge, nor remain consistent among competitors.
In addition to the maximum possible 1000 points earned from judging, a base 300 points are awarded for earnest competition.
Ocular Fitness (aka The Brendan Clause)
A minimum level of decency is expected of all creations. Profanity or indecency of any sort (for example, kn*ckers, kn*ckers, or semprini) is punishable by disqualification of the event, resulting in zero points.
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HARDWARE TEARDOWN / REBUILD Rules
Format
This event is for individuals only. Similar to the Trivial Quiz, there will be a general round, followed by a championship round of the best participants.
General Round
Participants will race to have the fastest times in disassembling and reassembling computer mice. Each participant will be assigned to a station. Each station will have a clock and a layout of components into which the mouse must be separated before reassemply. Upon complete disassembly, the participant must hail the judge, who - upon inspection - will denote completion of this step with a token placed on the station. At this point, the participant may reassemble the mouse, stopping the timer when complete.
(To be determined:) A test after assembly of the mouse will determine if full points are awarded (if working) or if the points are halved (if not working).
Championship Round
The top two participants will be entered into the Championship Round, wherein the head-on challenge will be similar to the general round, except full working desktop computers will be used in place of mice, with correspoding layouts. The winner of the Championship Round will earn an additional 300 points; the second place competitor will earn an additional 100 points.
Requirements
Participants are required to provide their own tools for the competition.
Point Distribution
For the General Round, points will be awarded on a scale of times, to be determined prior to competition.
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OBSTACLE COURSE RELAY EVENT (OCRE) Rules Cancelled
Format
This timed event is for teams only, four teams per leg. The first player will transport the pieces to a chess board across the room to the second player. This player will set up the pieces, receiving an envelope that they will run back over to the starting point, where the third player will open the envelope to read the quiz question contained within. This third player will answer the trivia question by using one of the following spelling items, of which one each are available on each leg of the race: Alpha-Bits, Scrabble tiles, Bananagrams tiles, and Boggle cubes. On correctly spelling out the answer, the player will take a scrambled Rubik's cube across the room to the first player to solve. The fastest solved cube at this point is the winner.
Point Distribution
Points will be awarded based on a placement scale, dependent on the number of participants. Time is used only to determine placement among all rounds.
Note: rules may change at any time before the competition; any significant changes will be explained prior to the event.