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, 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.

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 – this is 9 problem/divisions if all 3 divisions in all 3 regions compete. And we distribute the remaining spots based on the proportion of total teams in each division.

For the 2024 tournaments, the calculation we’ve run based on registered teams as of January 15^th resulted in these places advancing from each problem/division in each Regional Tournament.

Please note that ties still count – so if we have a tie for 1^st  place in Skylands Problem 1, Division 3 – then we’ll be advancing 3 teams to State Finals – both 1^st place teams plus the 2^nd 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 additional details on how exactly this calculation is performed, and a walkthrough of examples, please watch this video: