Three Days of Peace, Love and Quidditch!

Quidstock Gameplay Update!

Hey everyone!

Quidstock, the three day festival of peace, love and quidditch happening in Saratoga Springs, NY on October 12th-14th is coming closer! And we have an exciting announcement! All of the exclamation points!

I am pleased to finally have some Gameplay announcements for Quidstock! Many of you, over these past few months, have been asking about what we were going to do about Mercenary Teams. After some debate, I am happy to introduce to you the official structure of Quidstock:

The tournament will be split up into two divisions:

Division 1: All Official Member Teams

Division 2: All Non-Official Member Teams including all Mercenary Teams

In Division 1 play, all official member teams will play each other in ranked matches, so that teams will be able to complete all but one of their mandatory ranked games for the season*.

In Division 2 play, all Non-Official Member Teams and all Mercenary Teams will play in unofficial games.

There are two different ways for players to put themselves on mercenary teams. The first is for players to get together and submit themselves as a full team by going to this page and filling out this form.

The second way is for players to submit themselves as individuals, and the Quidstock Gameplay department will create fair teams based on the submissions. That form can be found here.

Each team will still be able to nominate players to play in the All-Star match! (I think this is the portion of the event that I am looking forward to the most, other than being able to hang out with all of my favorite quidkids).

Deadlines are coming up so make sure you sign up as soon as possible! (But seriously, they are…we need your help to make sure this event happens!)

If any of you have any questions, concerns, comments, suggestions, or just feel like talking to me (…sometimes I get lonely too), tweet, email me (Quidstock@InternationalQuidditch.org), or check out my awesome facebook event.

I love you all, and you will certainly be hearing more from me and the rest of my awesome staff soon!

*Note: Teams must have 5 ranked matches at two different times or events, so no team will be able to fulfill the entire season requirement at Quidstock.

Quidstock FAQ Part 2

Over the last two weeks, we’ve been receiving a lot of great questions, and I am here today to quell a few bits of misinformation that have been going around the internet, and to clarify a few pieces of the tournament. Oh, and if your question has not been addressed yet, don’t worry, this is just the first of many question posts. If you have any other questions, feel free to email us at Quidstock@InternationalQuidditch.org, tweet at us @Quidstock, ask us a question here on tumblr, or send us a carrier pigeon (we really just want someone to send us a carrier pigeon). But let’s get to it.

The most common question or concern we have received about Quidstock is the $199 price tag on the event. So why $199? It’s simple: It just barely covers the cost of what each player will be receiving by competing in the tournament.
That includes:

• Two nights in our fantastic heated and floored tents, as well as private shower and bathroom trailers
• SIX meals
• Two banquet-style dinners in a Great Hall-style tent
• Two continental breakfasts on the way to the pitch
• Two brown bag lunches during breaks in the fun
• Two days of incredible quidditch during which we guarantee every team will play at least six games, if not more
• Two amazing nights of fun, friends, fireworks, and so much more!

If we were able to price the event any lower, we definitely would, so we’ve priced it as low as we possibly can to cover the cost per player that we have to pay.

The next question we receive very often is about the minimum (and maximum) team requirement. While this is a weekend about fun and community, this weekend is based around the sport we have all come to know and love, quidditch. In order to ensure that we get the best quidditch possible, we need teams, and more specifically, we need full teams. We felt ten players as the fewest that a team couple play and still actively compete in what will still be a rigorous weekend of quidditch. As for the maximum, it’s been a standard IQA rule that no competing team can have more than 21 players. Schools will be able to send more teams, but each of those teams must abide by those requirements as well.

And to those who were wondering about mercenary teams, we have yet to come to a decision, but we are currently having discussions about what to do, and will let you know as soon as we make one.

For those of you out there reading this who are not on a quidditch team (either you want to support your school’s team, or you just want to watch some amazing quidditch and have fun with your favorite quidkids), don’t fret! Not only will we be offering spectators passes, but we are also working with the hotels in the area to get decreased prices for all of you wonderful, wonderful spectators. These hotels will also be offering free shuttles to and from the polo fields. What could be better?

As for volunteers, WE NEED THEM! We need all sorts of volunteers at Quidstock—entertainers, commentators, snitches, referees, tent managers, commissary
attendants, and more! Email quidstock@internationalquidditch.org. This is incredibly important and we need YOUR help to make sure that this event is as awesome as it can be! Volunteers will also be receiving perks of some kind, and we’ll let you know all about that as soon as we can.

Some people have been concerned about traveling to and from Quidstock, or Saratoga Springs. For those of you who don’t live in the Northeast, or even those of you who do and don’t know where Saratoga Springs, NY is, exactly, it’s actually a pretty convenient place to hold a tournament. It’s three hours north of New York City, three hours west of Boston and three hours south of Montreal. Saraotga Springs is both an Amtrack stop as well as a Megabus stop. It’s located half an hour from Albany International Airport. Saratoga Springs is also home to one of the premier racetracks in the country (if you’ve ever heard of Saratoga Springs, it probably has something to do with horses…we love them up there). So while it might not be as easy to get to as, say Manhattan, it is still a central location for a large percentage of the quidditch teams in the country.

I think that about does it for today. Again, if you ever have any questions, send us an email, or a tweet, or just come over to our offices and we’ll answer your questions over waffles (we really like waffles). Until next time, folks.

Welcome One and All to Quidstock!

Hey everyone! It is my absolute pleasure to welcome you all to the official tumblr for Quidstock, the first IQA hosted event of the 2012-2013 quidditch season!

But first, let’s start with an introduction (for those of you who already know what Quidstock is, just skip down two paragraphs):

Quidstock will be co-hosted by the Saratoga Polo Association and will be located on their fields in Saratoga Springs NY from Friday, October 12th to Sunday, October 14th. The date of Quidstock has been strategically chosen to kick off the IQA’s official competition season, beginning with this event in the fall and end with the World Cup in the spring.

Staying in tents that will be provided, teams will engage in round-robin style IQA-ranked matches. Play will begin on Saturday and continue into Sunday. Between matches, magicians, entertainers, and other incredible acts will delight fans and players alike.

Quidstock will just be absolutely incredible and none of you will want to miss such an amazing weekend.

So why a tumblr? Well we will be posting updates and pictures, answering questions…and our head of social media needs to have an excuse to be on tumblr all day in the IQA office.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask, and get ready for a few very exciting announcements over the next couple of months.