The name of the organization shall be Russian Club "What?Where?When?" (hereafter referred to as "the Club") .
To promote college study/problem solving skills of Russian-speaking students through the use of intellectual games and tournaments, including national competitions (see Item 7: Rules of the Intellectual Games).
SECTION 1. Membership is conferred to any student who agrees with this Constitution and actively participates in the Club’s games and other events.
SECTION 2. All requirements must meet the Board of Trustees’ policies regarding nondiscrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex, or national origin.
SECTION 3. Eligibility requirements of New Members include: a) participating in the Club’s games and/or tournaments and national competitions through one of the Club’s Teams, b) following the rules of the game being played
SECTION 4. Expulsion of Members is not commonly practiced, and might be applied only in the extraordinary circumstances, such as engaging in horseplay during the games of the Club,or intentional activities leading to the disruption of the Club’s events. In these cases the Member is expelled if 75% or more of the Club’s members vote for this action.
SECTION 1. This organization shall have 4 officers; these officers are: President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary.
SECTION 2. To hold any of the positions listed above a person must be a Member of the Club and must be elected by no less than 75% of the Members of the Club.
SECTION 3. The term of office for any of the positions listed above is one year. It begins on September 1 of each year.
SECTION 4. A) Duties of the President: to represent the interests of the Club outside the Club; to serve as a game host during the Club’s games; to resolve any arguments regarding the games’ rules and assignment of the winning team; to arrange a room for conducting the Club’s events.
B) Duties of the Vice-President: to perform the duties of the President when the latter is absent; to take part in resolving arguments during the games along with the President.
C) Duties of the Treasurer: To keep the correct and up-to-date records pertaining to the financial status of the Club; to inform any Club officer or Member about the financial status of the Club at their request; to oversee the spending of the Club’s money, e.g. to conduct any games or other events.
D) Duties of the Secretary: to prepare the equipment necessary to conduct the games or any other Club activities; to inform the Club’s Members of the upcoming events; to arrange (with the President) a room for Club’s activities.
SECTION 5. If any Member of the Club, who has been in the Club for more than three months, feels that any of the officers listed above do not perform their activities thoroughly, he/she can call for a meeting of all the Members, to discuss the removal and/or replacement of the officer in question. For that action to take place, 75% or more of the Members should vote for it.
SECTION 6. The legitimate transfer of power is performed when a person has served at most two terms as an officer. A new Member is then elected as an officer.
Elections of officers shall be held in the first week of August of each year. Any Member of the Club is eligible to vote. It is the Secretary’s duty to notify Members of the upcoming elections and any news about elections thereafter.
SECTION 1. The games "What?Where?When?" and/or "Brain-ring" shall be held every week or every other week. The exact schedule depends on the resources available (i.e., finding a suitable room for the games, which should have no less than 4-5 tables and 5-8 movable chairs/table)
SECTION 2. Special meetings may be called by any Member of the Club. The Member in question notifies the Secretary and it is the Secretary’s duty to negotiate the time for the meeting suitable for all or most of the Members and to inform all the Members about the meeting.
SECTION 3. A minimum of six people shall be present for the Club’s game to be conducted - that is, a team is required to have at least three members, and at least two teams should be present. A minimum of three-fourths of all Members shall be present for any special meeting connected with the election of new officers.
1. A team consists of 3-6 players, one of them is a captain. Any number of teams can play in a game.
2. A packet of 12-14 questions is formed. The source of questions is irrelevant, but, of course, questions must be unknown to players. Usually hosts of a tournament obtain a packet from the other Clubs, or there is an assigned Team-on-duty which prepares the questions. The packet is given to a game host.
3. The game host asks the question and turns on a clock.
4. The team has one minute to discuss the question. The game host must signal when 50 seconds have passed and 1 minute has passed. After that, the team must stop all discussions and submit a written answer in 20 seconds. Assistants should be provided by hosts for fast collection of answers.
5. After all teams has answered, the game host discloses the correct answer.
6. No extra time is awarded in a tournament version. However, if a team has an answer before 1 minute has passed, it may submit the answer any time.
7. The game ends after all 12/14 questions have been played.
8. If the team has answered a question correctly it is awarded 1 point. If the team has answered wrong, or failed to answer in 20 seconds, it receives 0 points for this question.
9. An independent jury of three members determines whether answers are correct or not. Decisions of jury are final and cannot be challenged. However in a rare case when a team can prove that the asked question or its presumed answer are, in fact, incorrect (that usually requires submission of an excerpt from a verified source, e.g., Encyclopaedia Britannica), this question may be cancelled for all teams.
10. A value of each question is calculated as R=N-n+1, where: N is a total number of teams playing n is a number of teams who have answered the question correctly.
11. Final standings of teams are determined as follows. Teams are ordered according to the number of questions they have answered. If several teams have answered the same number of questions, a team that has a larger sum of values of answered questions has higher standing.
1. A team consists of 6 players, one of them is a captain. Two teams play in a game.
2. The number of points to be reached to win is agreed. Usually, it ranges from 3 to 6 points. Also, the rule must be agreed how to resolve a tie break (see 13).
3. A packet of questions is formed. The size depends on the number of points necessary to win and is 2*n minimum (where n is the number of points necessary to win). It is wise to have several extra questions for a tie break. The source of questions is irrelevant, but, of course, questions must be unknown to players. Usually hosts of a tournament obtain a packet from a Club in another city. The packet is given to a moderator.
4. Teams sit around separate tables. Each table is provided with a timer interruption button and a signal light.
5. The game host asks the question, says clearly "Time" and turns on a timer.
6. Teams have one minute to discuss the question. The game host must signal when 50 seconds have passed and 1 minute has passed.
7. When a team wishes to answer the question, the captain must press the timer interruption button. The timer stops and the light signal on a team's table flashes. After that, the team must stop all discussions and answer in 20 seconds. The captain determines which player will answer.
8. After the team has answered, the game host decides if the answer is correct. If it is correct, the game host discloses the correct answer; otherwise he announces that the answer is wrong and starts the timer again. The other team has what is left of 1 minute to finish the discussion. To answer, this team must press the button; if it fails to do so it cannot answer.
9. If the team has answered correctly it is awarded 1 point, the other one receives 0 points. If both teams have answered wrong.
10. The game host's decision whether an answer is correct or not is final and cannot be challenged.
11. If the team presses the button until the timer is on, such an event is considered a false start. After a false start, the team cannot answer the question. The other team has 1 minute to discuss and answer.
12. The game ends when one of the teams accumulates an agreed number of points.
13. If both teams reach the agreed number of points simultaneously, this situation is considered a tie break. The teams continue to play until the first correct answer, and the team giving it wins. Depending on the amount of questions in the packet and preliminary agreements, either of the two following rules may apply:
- The teams play indefinitely until the first correct answer, or
- if both teams fail to answer correctly three questions in a row, both are considered lost.
14. Generally, in Brain Ring tournaments teams play according to an Olympic system: pairs of teams are formed, they play, new pairs are formed from winners, they play etc. etc. until only two teams remain which play a final game. Of course, modifications are acceptable.
(Adapted from Dmitriy Zharkov’s "Chto?Gde?Kogda?" and "Brain Ring" version for English-speaking readers".)
SECTION 3. There are also modifications of these two games used as a basis of the Club’s events (e.g. "Chicago roulette", "Card Ring", "Auction", "Intellectual Race", etc.).
The advisor of this oranization shall be a full-time faculty of academic staff member at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
In this interim period of the Club’s registration at UIC no dues shall be collected to attract new members from Russian-speaking UIC students, faculty and staff. The modest financial means of majority of the Club’s members do not permit the collection of the dues in the amount necessary to cover the club’s expenses. The future collection of dues, if any, will be determined by the Club’s treasurer in consultation with the other officers of the Club after the Club attains formal means to store its funds (i.e., separate account).
SECTION 1. The Club’s on-campus S.O.F. account will be managed primarily by the treasurer.
SECTION 2. The registration form will indicate to University staff which officers are authorized to sign what types of documents concerning funds.
SECTION 3. All the monies collected on campus must be deposited into the Club's S.O.F. account.
This document will be reviewed by all Members annually and also when the situation necessitates any changes. 75% or more of the Members should approve any changes in this document. The Secretary is responsible for initiating the creation and/or distribution of the new or changed document. The same officer submits the copy of the new/changed document to the UIC Campus Programs staff.