For the 2025 tournaments, we’ve updated the advancement to State Finals based on the new advancement calculation introduced last year. Based on the number of teams registered on January 15th, it resulted in these places advancing from each problem/division in each Regional Tournament.
As always, ties and Rantra Fusca award winners still advance!
Why was this change made?
In August 2023, the NJ State Board of Directors voted in favor of changing how NJ Odyssey of the Mind advances teams from the Regional Tournaments to State Finals. What we found over the previous few years is that there is an imbalance of teams across regions and divisions, and the previous method of “Top 2 places from each problem/division in each region” didn’t allow us to account for divisions where there were only a few teams – or no teams – competing.
For example, over the last few years, Division III in the Skylands Region tends to only have a few teams competing, while Division I usually has many. The Gateway Region is almost the exact opposite – there are only a few teams competing in Division I while Division III is very competitive. Similarly, for all three regions, Division II is generally about equal, but still can have some variances.
To combat this imbalance, and to allow more teams to make it to State Finals, NJ Odyssey of the Mind is moving to a formula-based method that’s based on methods some other state associations use. To start, we’re targeting 90 teams at State Finals. This method has 1 team advance per problem/division where we have at least 1 team competing – for 9 problem/divisions if all 3 divisions in all 3 regions compete. Then, we distribute the remaining spots based on the proportion of total teams in each division.
Please note that ties still count – so if we have a tie for 1st place in Skylands Problem 1, Division 3 – then we’ll be advancing 3 teams to State Finals – both 1st place teams plus the 2nd place team. Similarly, if a team or individual wins a Rantra Fusca Creativity Award, in recognition of how difficult that feat is, as we’ve always done, the team will automatically be advanced to the next level of competition regardless of placement.
For more information on how exactly this calculation is performed, and to see a walkthrough of examples from the 2024 tournament season please watch this video:
presented by Nick Pankiewicz, Association Director, NJ Odyssey of the Mind