Sponsored by: Ollamh Anubh de Mona, Royal Bard of Atlantia
Description and Rules Printable
Join us at War of the Wings for a Bardic Bearpit competition at 1 pm on Thursday! This is a chance for bards to showcase the things at which they excel. Come pit yourself against other bards and challenge your opponent to forms or themes of your own choosing. The bearpit will be moderated but the assembled participants and audience will vote to judge each round. Please note that all participants must be present at the beginning of the competition, no late entries are allowed – so please be on time!
- All entrants must be present at the beginning of the competition, no new entries after it begins (so please be on time). This allows all entrants an equal chance to earn points.
- Performances should not exceed 6 minutes in length.
- No use of cell phones by performers. Paper books are permitted. We want to hear things that are already in your repertoire!
- Play proceeds clockwise around the circle.
- First entrant is determined using “spin the bottle” in the center of the circle. That person gets to pick the first challenge, or the moderator can provide a challenge.
- Challenges should be broad and can be format or thematic, but not both. For example “sonnet,” “filk,” or “limerick” is acceptable but “love sonnets” is not. Likewise, themes should not be too specific, so “War” is an acceptable theme, but “the Battle of Hastings” is too narrow. The moderator(s) will make any necessary decisions about whether a topic is too narrow.
- Each entrant challenges the next person clockwise in the circle, both entrants perform, and the assembled crowd of entrants and audience votes to determine the winner. The moderator tracks points, with one point given for each win.
- If an opponent cannot provide a worthy response to a challenge, they may concede without performing, and the challenger wins that round.
- In the event of a tie, the moderator flips a coin to determine the winner.
- The winner of each round gets to choose the next challenge with a new opponent, proceeding clockwise around the circle.
- If a single entrant wins three consecutive rounds in a row, their turn ends and a new pair of opponents squares off, with the closest in proximity to the exiting performer choosing the challenge and performing first.
- Play continues until one performer earns five points or ninety minutes has passed from the time the competition starts, whichever comes first.
- In the event of a final tie, the tied entrants compete against each other using a challenge provided by the moderator. More than two entrants may compete against each other in the same round for a tiebreaker.