• 4 Science
• 4 History
• 4 Literature
• 3 TRASH
• 2 Fine Arts
• 2 Religion/Mythology
• 1 Current Events
• 1 Geography
• 1 more TRASH OR Current Events
• 1 more Religion/Mythology OR Fine Arts
• 3 General Knowledge/Any Category (but no more than 1 from each category)

Word files are preferred, but any reasonable file format (HTML, plain text) is ok. Do NOT send me an AbiWord or StarOffice or some other less common file format. It'll just annoy me, and I'll ask you to send it in Word, HTML, or plain text. Late fees MAY be assessed if you do not submit a file in one of these three aforementioned formats.

Required parts of answers should be bold and underlined if you send me an HTML or Word file, or surrounded by _underscores_ if it's plain text.

Packets are to be submitted to USC Quizbowl.

IMPORTANT! All toss-ups should be answerable by a balanced team at the end of the question. DO NOT write questions with answers that only PhD students in that field of study would be able to answer. DO NOT look through an encyclopedia and find some topic that no one has ever heard of and write a question about it. At the same time, players with more knowledge on the topic should be rewarded by the question. DO NOT make each toss-up merely a buzzer race. Keep with the normal "pyramid" format. QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS PEOPLE HAVE HEARD OF ARE PREFERRED.

Likewise, on a bonus, any team with any knowledge of the subject should be able to get at least 5-10 points. And only those teams with a great deal of knowledge of the topic should be able to get all 30 points.

Also, remember that this is a timed tournament. Length of questions should not exceed what you would normally encounter at a timed tournament. For toss-ups, a good indicator is 3-4 lines of text using Times New Roman at 10pt, with 1.5" margins in Word. Anything longer than that is probably too long a question. There is no such indicator for bonuses, so use your own discretion.

Please try to keep in mind that this is not "name-that-person bowl." It is of course acceptable to ask questions about people. But try to restrict this to about 1/3 of your questions.

As this is intended to be an enjoyable tournament, creativity is encouraged. For this reason, we have an award given to the team with the best packet. However, keep in mind that since the tournament is timed, do not write a question (especially a bonus) that will confuse every party involved. Theme packets are ok, as well, as long as they conform to the question breakdown and other notes.

Toss-ups are worth 10 points. As of right now there's no power; it is difficult to do so with packet-submission tournaments. If we decide to add power, we'll add the marks ourselves.

ALL bonuses should have a point total of 30. This is not CBI. Also, 30-20-10 bonuses are ok, but don't have more than 2 per packet. Bonuses which require ordering or choosing from a small set of answers are discouraged.

Try to vary the specific sub-topics within your packet. IE, do not write 4 American history questions. Rather, write something like 1 American history, 1 European history, 1 world history, etc. There will be more specific ideas in the following section.

Science: Includes physical and life sciences, as well as mathematics, computer science, and engineering. Try to concentrate on actual scientific facts rather than biographical details of scientists. Also, if you choose to write a computation question, do not write more than 1 per packet.

History: Includes American, European, Medival/Ancient (before 1350 CE), and World history. There is leeway on how long ago is considered "history," though anything that happened within the last year is definitely a current event.

Literature: Includes poetry, plays, novels, short stories, etc. There is no fine line of what is considered "literature." It doesn't have to be a "classic," but at the same time, if it was written in the last couple of years, it most likely belongs in TRASH or Current Events.

TRASH: Includes popular music, sports, TV, movies, etc. It doesn't necessarily have to be "current" TRASH, in that it's ok to write a question about say, Milli Vanilli or Ty Cobb, but don't ask something about jousting in the 12th century. ALSO, to keep with the theme of the tournament, out of all the TRASH toss-ups and bonuses you write, one must be GHETTO TRASH. That is, questions related to the culture of the hood.

Fine Arts: Includes "refined" music and art. Like literature, there is some leeway on what is considered "fine." Make sure, though, that your question isn't better suited for TRASH or current events.

Religion/Mythology: Fairly self-explanatory. You do not have to concentrate on Judeao-Christian religions or Graeco-Roman Mythology.

Current Events: Let me define "current": an event that occurred within the last year. The more current, the better. If you really can't think of something that happened within the last year (because you live in a cave), then the last two years is reluctantly accepted. NO, the Vietnam War does not count as a current event. Sure, in the vast lexicon of human history, the Vietnam War is relatively current. However, for purposes of this tournament, it is considered history.

Geography: Self-explanatory.

General Knowledge: Preferably something that does not fit well into other categories.