The 2024 Middle School National Championship Tournament (MSNCT) will be held at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare Chicago in Rosemont, Illinois (near Chicago), on May 10–12, 2024.

Registration is now open for qualified teams. Rosters may be changed after registration, so it is neither necessary nor desirable to wait to register until a team’s composition has been finalized. Register as soon as possible and update the registration later if necessary.

Register Now

Date

May 10–12, 2024 (Friday–Sunday). This is Mother’s Day weekend.

Participants will check in on Friday, May 10 and have the opportunity to meet each other and play scrimmage games.

The tournament’s preliminary games will take place on Saturday, and the playoff games will take place on Sunday. Teams may arrive earlier or stay later to explore the Chicago area at the discounted hotel rates negotiated by NAQT. Teams that cannot arrive on Friday night will have a chance to check in on Saturday morning.

Location

The tournament will be held at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare Chicago in Rosemont, Illinois (which is adjacent to Chicago and to O’Hare International Airport). A floor plan (PDF) is available.

There are two Hyatt hotels in Rosemont; the one hosting the tournament is the Hyatt Regency O’Hare Chicago.

The hotel is twelve stories tall, and games may be held on high floors. Many of the elevators provide a view into the tall atrium.

Schedule

The general schedule for the tournament will consist of check-in Friday, preliminary games Saturday from approximately 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and playoffs Sunday, ending at approximately 4:30 p.m.

A more detailed schedule will be posted closer to the tournament.

Frequently Asked Questions

NAQT has prepared answers to frequently asked questions about its national championships.

Information Desk

Starting Friday evening, NAQT will operate an Information Desk. The Information Desk should be the first destination for any questions about or issues with the tournament (other than protests, which must be lodged within the game room).

Participants may also text 213‑279‑6278 (“NAQT”) with questions if it is inconvenient for them to get to the Information Desk (standard messaging rates apply). Tournament staff will answer incoming messages as quickly as they can.

In general, lost-and-found items will be taken to the Information Desk during the tournament. We will notify owners to the extent we can identify them. At the end of the tournament, any unclaimed items will be brought to the hotel’s general lost-and-found.

Rules and Eligibility

Gameplay will follow the Official NAQT Rules. Player eligibility is governed by the Middle School Eligibility Rules.

Qualification

Schools qualify to send teams to the MSNCT through their performance at tournaments using NAQT questions throughout the year.

Registration is now open for qualified teams. Rosters may be changed after registration, so it is neither necessary nor desirable to wait to register until a team’s composition has been finalized. Register as soon as possible and update the registration later if necessary.

Register Now

The field has historically filled. Receiving an invitation to the tournament does not guarantee a spot in the field; it merely allows your team to register for a spot if one is available. Once you have qualified, you should register as soon as you can to ensure your team a spot in the tournament. Last year, the field filled around February 21 (though some teams were promoted from the waitlist after that).

Field

The field is currently limited to 144 teams; these teams have registered. NAQT may expand the field depending on the level of interest and the availability of resources.

Format

Fees and Payment

Registration is now open for qualified teams. Rosters may be changed after registration, so it is neither necessary nor desirable to wait to register until a team’s composition has been finalized. Register as soon as possible and update the registration later if necessary.

Register Now

The registration fee is $710 per team.

The registration fee only covers participation in the tournament. It does not cover transportation, lodging, food or other expenses.

Participation Agreements

Players, coaches, and chaperones must sign a participation agreement covering expectations, media coverage, etc. All agreements must be submitted to participate@naqt.com by Friday, April 26, 2024.

For players’ agreements, both the player and their parent/guardian must sign.

Download Agreement Form

The signature(s) on the participation agreement must be handwritten, not typed. The agreement may be submitted by sending a scan or photo to participate@naqt.com. Only the last page is required unless the participant is indicating a preference not to be recorded (in which case the page with the checkbox to indicate that preference must be included).

Chaperones

Every team must have a chaperone, subject to the following rules:

• The chaperone must be a legal adult.
• The chaperone must be reachable by text message (at a number provided to NAQT) throughout the tournament, to the maximum extent possible given availability of cellular networks.
• The chaperone must be with the team at most times during the tournament, traveling, and downtime. If the chaperone is not with the team, NAQT is not obligated to contact the chaperone in situations short of an emergency. In particular, NAQT will not contact absent chaperones regarding protests.
• The chaperone must always be near enough to the team to (physically) reach them in less than ten minutes.
• Each team must have a separate chaperone as just described; the same person may not be the chaperone for multiple teams.
• The chaperone must complete a participation agreement.
• The chaperone must be the same person for the entire tournament.

All players’ parents/guardians must affirm (via the participation agreement) that they accept their child’s team’s chaperone and the chaperone’s role of responsibility.

Teams who wish to request a variance from the chaperone policy should write to NAQT at msnct@naqt.com well in advance of the tournament to discuss their situation.

Checking In

The primary check-in period will be in the evening on Friday, May 10. During this period NAQT will distribute information folders, answer questions, process payments, verify rosters, and take care of other administrative matters. There will be a late check-in period on Saturday, but NAQT prefers that as many teams as possible check in on Friday night.

To check in, each team should send only one coach or chaperone to the check-in area. That person will be given the team’s information folder. Others should not enter the check-in area.

In past years there has been a long line just after check-in opens, so we encourage teams to keep an eye on the line and send one person to check in when the line is short. There is no need to check in immediately. In particular, it is not necessary to check in before playing scrimmage games.

Teams that don’t arrive at the hotel until after check-in closes on Friday may check in early Saturday morning. Teams that checked in on Friday do not need to check in again on Saturday.

Scrimmages

On Friday night, game rooms will be set up for teams to scrimmage against each other on questions from previous championships and/or the regular season. This scrimmaging is free and will be moderated by tournament staff.

A team does not need to have checked in to play scrimmage games.

Scrimmages will be organized by means of “scrimmage tickets”: When a team shows up to the scrimmage desk, it will be given a ticket listing a room and a time; that team should go to that room and be prepared to play at that time. The majority of tickets will be for games that start within 5 to 15 minutes, but it is possible that there could be a 30-to-45-minute wait during the busiest periods. If a team wants to play another game, it should return to the scrimmage desk to get another ticket after its game finishes.

Scrimmages are open to all players, including alternates and standby teams.

Depending on how many teams want to play scrimmage games, it may be necessary to limit how many games each team can play, but all teams who want to will be able to play at least one game.

Awards

The top teams will receive trophies (exact number to be determined based on final field size), and the players on those teams will receive medals (up to six per team).

The top individual scorers will receive All-Star awards, and the top non-eighth-graders who are not All-Stars will receive Rising Star awards. The number of individual awards will depend on the final field size. These will be determined by points per tossup heard in the preliminary rounds among players who played for at least 100 tossups during the preliminary rounds.

If a team needs to leave prior to the awards ceremony, it can go to the Information Desk to get its trophy and any individual awards earned by its members.

Consolation Games

Teams who do not qualify for the playoffs are encouraged to return Sunday morning to play consolation games.

Teams will be texted at the end of the preliminary rounds with a link to a form by which to sign up for consolation tournaments.

Consolation games will consist of two-, three-, and four-round mini-tournaments. Teams can specify their preference when signing up; they will not be assigned a longer mini-tournament than they request, though depending on supply and demand, they may be assigned a shorter one. Signing up for consolation mini-tournaments is the only way to participate in consolation games; there are no ad hoc games.

Consolation games have no effect on a team’s final rank in the tournament. They are played solely for fun. They will use the same questions as are being used in the playoffs.

Transportation

Hotel

The official hotel for the tournament is the Hyatt Regency O’Hare Chicago. (There are two Hyatt hotels in Rosemont; the one hosting the tournament is the Hyatt Regency O’Hare Chicago.)

Rooms with one king bed are available for $121 per night, and rooms with two double beds are available for $129 per night. To receive the group rate, rooms must be booked using the group reservation link by Thursday, April 25, 2024 (and before the block fills). It is also possible to book by calling 800-544-9288 and mentioning the group code “MMST,” but hold times are often long.

Between the MSNCT and the other events scheduled to take place at the hotel, it is expected that the hotel will run out of rooms. NAQT strongly recommends that teams book their rooms as early as possible, particularly if they want rooms with two double beds.

Guests with concerns about rooms on high floors should discuss that with the hotel as early as possible. The hotel may be able to assign sleeping rooms on lower floors. However, games may still be held on high floors.

Under Illinois law, otherwise tax-exempt organizations are still required to pay hotel occupancy taxes. (Title 86, chapter 1, section 480.101, subsection b.4 of the Illinois Administrative Code; see also question and answer on the Illinois Department of Revenue’s website)

Food

The hotel will (tentatively, but almost certainly) operate food stands for lunch on both days near the Perks coffee shop on the Entry Level. Burgers, sandwiches, salads, pizza, and similar food will be available.

There is a food court with a variety of typical food-court-style restaurants at the Fashion Outlets of Chicago mall at 5220 Fashion Outlets Way. To get to the Fashion Outlets from the hotel, walk west on Bryn Mawr, turn left onto River Road, then turn right onto Balmoral Avenue until you get to Fashion Outlets Way. The food court is a 15-minute walk from the hotel.

There are also several restaurants offering more formal dining at the Parkway Bank Park Entertainment District. These are more suited for evening meals and are a twelve-minute walk away.

Participants can also order carry-out or delivery from local restaurants.

Advocate Program

Because NAQT believes that quiz bowl is an activity for everybody, and in which all participants should feel welcome and respected, we have established the Advocate Program to make sure select tournament staff are available to hear reports about problematic behavior and comments by anyone at the tournament.

Staff wearing blue ribbons that say “Advocate” have been specifically selected to receive reports about inappropriate behavior (as opposed to run-of-the-mill questions about the quiz bowl aspects of the tournament). At least one such staff member will generally be available at the Information Desk during tournament hours; if no such person is available (e.g., due to being on a break), the other Information Desk staff can be asked to have a senior tournament official come to the Information Desk to hear the report. Additional Advocate Program staff will be available in many places around the tournament site.

Feedback about problematic behavior can, of course, always be sent to NAQT by email (advocate@naqt.com) or other channels such as the Misconduct Reporting Form, but the Advocate Program is intended to allow for in-person reporting of sensitive complaints on-site so they can be handled immediately.

Reports are confidential to the extent permitted by law and NAQT’s agreements to share critical information with other quiz bowl organizations.

Practice Material

Participants may be interested in practicing on questions from previous years to prepare for the event. All of NAQT’s past regular-season sets are available, as are the sets from previous championships.

Participants may also want to study frequency lists, Power Up study guides, and/or Thumbs Up! question anthologies. These are also available on our practice materials page.

Finally, participants may want to look at the information contained in NAQT’s free You Gotta Know articles before the tournament. These detail the most frequently asked-about question topics in a wide variety of areas.

Spectators

Spectators are welcome to attend any part of the tournament (though some areas may have limited capacity).

No registration or tickets are required for spectators.

Sightseeing

Chicago has a variety of world-class attractions that should appeal to anybody, especially to quiz bowlers!

The easiest way to reach most of Chicago’s downtown attractions is to ride the Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA’s) ‘L’ trains, for which there is a stop within easy walking distance of the hotel: Exit the hotel and walk west on Bryn Mawr; turn right on River Road and pass under I-190 and the CTA tracks. The entrance to Rosemont station on the CTA Blue Line will be on your right. Board trains bound for “Loop” or “Forest Park” (not for O’Hare!) for the 35-minute ride into downtown Chicago.

Once you’re downtown, the Art Institute of Chicago (Blue Line to Monroe, walk 1 block south to Adams and 3 blocks east) features dozens of tossup-worthy works, including Nighthawks and American Gothic, and adjoins both Millennium Park and Grant Park, home to Cloud Gate (“The Bean”) and Buckingham Fountain, respectively. Just a bit further south is the Museum Campus (Blue Line to Jackson, walk 1 block east to State Street and Jackson and catch bus 146 toward Museum Campus), which is home to three major institutions: the Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum of Natural History, and the historic Adler Planetarium, which was the first planetarium in the Americas.

The Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower; Blue Line to Jackson, walk 4 blocks west) offers stunning views of the Chicago skyline; so does 875 North Michigan Avenue (formerly the John Hancock Center; Blue Line to Chicago station, bus 66 toward Navy Pier), located on Michigan Avenue in the heart of famed Magnificent Mile. Further afield are the Lincoln Park Zoo (Blue Line to Western, bus 73 to Clark/North), the Chicago History Museum (5 minutes walk from the zoo), and the Museum of Science and Industry (Blue Line to Jackson, walk 1 block east to State Street and Jackson and catch bus 6 toward 79th/South Shore), which is housed in a structure originally built for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.

Social Media

The official hashtag for the tournament is msnct; please use this tag for all posts about the tournament.

Remember that question content for the championship cannot be posted online (or shared through other channels)! This means that players, coaches, spectators, and moderators should not discuss clues, answers, or even overall themes (e.g., “Lots of opera”) with people on other teams (even those from the same school).

We will post highlights from the tournament on NAQT’s social media, especially Twitter (@NAQTLive) and Instagram (@NAQTqb).

Companion Mobile App

NAQT has created a companion mobile app for attendees. The app includes the tournament schedule (with the ability to set reminders for various events, on iOS), links to results, maps of the venue, help reaching the Information Desk, connections to social media, and other important documents related to the tournament.

Further Questions

To ask specific questions about the MSNCT, write to msnct@naqt.com.

We look forward to answering any and all questions, no matter how expansive or trivial, in the hopes of eliminating any possible confusion or mistakes in participants’ plans. If something’s not clear, let us know!