SEQC Half-Open -- Episode Format and Points Structure

Each Episode of the series will be conducted independently, and Stars will be awarded to teams as per their positions in each Episode. (I'm calling them Stars to distinguish them from the 'points' which we will use for scores during each Episode.) The cumulative Stars across the three Episodes will be used to decide the teams that appear in the Series Finale.

Each Episode will begin with a written round of 25-30 points, which will act as an Episode Eliminator.
-- If there are fewer than eight teams participating in a given Episode, no teams will be eliminated at the end of the written round. All the teams will fight it out for the full Episode.
-- If there are more than eight teams, the Episode Finals will consist of the top eight teams from the written round.
-- In either case, the scores from the Eliminator round will be carried into the Episode Finals.

Stars will be awarded for each Episode as follows:
1st place: 10 Stars
2nd place: 9 Stars
3rd place: 8 Stars
4th place: 7 Stars
5th place: 6 Stars
6th place: 5 Stars
7th place: 4 Stars
8th place: 3 Stars
All other participating teams: 1 Star each

As I mentioned, I would like to incentivise pre-registration of teams. Teams that pre-register for the tournament as detailed in the previous post will go into the first Episode Eliminator with a 2-point registration bonus. This may indeed make the difference between qualifying for the Episode Finals or not. Teams that pre-register but do not show up for Episode 1 can claim their registration bonus points at the first Episode in which they do appear. The registration bonus points are available only for the first Episode in which a team appears. The two-member-minimum rule applies even to this bonus -- at least two members of the team that appears must be listed in the pre-registration mail for the team to receive the bonus.