Invitational

An invitational tournament is a friendly, no-stakes competition that allows for Science Olympiad teams to practice for events. They are a way of practicing for qualifying tournaments such as regionals, states or nationals. These are often organized by individual schools, and sometimes colleges or universities. Generally a few invitationals will run during November and occasionally October, with substantially more in December. By far the most invitationals are run in January, with the rest finishing in February and early March.

Most invitational tournaments mimic a real competitive tournament, and they hand out awards for individuals and teams. Some invitationals will hold all 23 events, while other invitationals may choose not to hold events. Invitationals also can hold alternate events as well.

Most invitational tournaments are registered online at their own websites, or by email correspondence. In some states (for example, Illinois) invitational registration is run by the state organization.

Setup
Invitationals usually mimic official tournaments in many respects, and are generally similar to the other tournaments in the area. Invitationals typically allow as many or more teams per school than nearby official tournaments - for example, while Pennsylvania allows one team per school at regional tournaments, most invitationals allow two or three teams. A few areas, such as Minnesota and Wisconsin, have historically allowed more than three teams per school.

Trophies and/or plaques are generally presented to the top schools, not the top teams. The number of trophies/plaques and medals/ribbons varies greatly. Common trophy/plaque setups 


 * Trophies 1st-3rd
 * Trophies 1st-3rd, plaques 4th-5th
 * Trophies 1st-5th
 * Trophies 1st-6th
 * Trophies 1st-8th (especially common in Ohio)
 * Other combinations, usually to more ranks, are rarer.

Common medal/ribbon setups 


 * Medals 1st-3rd (most common at small invitationals)
 * Medals 1st-3rd, ribbons 4th-6th
 * Medals 1st-4th
 * Medals 1st-5th
 * Medals 1st-6th
 * Medals 1st-8th
 * Medals 1st-3rd, ribbons 4th-8th (especially common in Ohio)
 * Medals 1st-10th
 * Some combination of medals and ribbons through 10th place
 * Other combinations are less common. Very few tournaments awards medals or ribbons for ranks below 10th.

Some tournaments, such as those in Illinois and Wisconsin, have different divisions (e.g. Varsity/Junior Varsity, AAA/AA/A) ranked independently, which allows for less experienced schools or second/third teams to be ranked separately in an easier field to win awards.

A large number of tournaments (both invitationals and official tournaments) use one of the common marketed Science Olympiad scoring systems, such as Avogadro, Chalker, or Ezra - each are typically more common in certain states or areas. However, the majority of tournaments around the nation continue to use in-house scoring systems of varying complexity.

List of Invitationals
This is a list of invitational tournaments during each competitive season. It currently goes back to the 2012-2013 season. The lists are not comprehensive; however, with the exception of 2013-2014, they are mostly complete. In the teams column, the forward slash separates the number of teams in each division; Division B is listed first, while Division C is listed second.

2017-2018 Season
Ordered first by State, then by Division, then by date (then alphabetical).


 * 1 A second team from Beckendorff Junior High School finished in second place with 145 points.
 * 2 A second team from Beckendorff Junior High School finished in second place with 84 points.
 * 3 A second team from Daniel Wright Junior High School finished in second place with 88 points.
 * 4 A second team from New Trier Winnetka High School finished in second place with 194 points.

Past Seasons
2016-2017 Season

Ordered first by State, then by Division, then by date (then alphabetical).


 * 1 A second team from Brookwood High School finished in second with 72 points.
 * 2 A second team from Chattahoochee High School finished in second with 150 points
 * 3 A second team from Seven Lakes High School finished in second with 151 points.
 * 4 A second team from Seven Lakes High School finished in second with 127 points.
 * 5 A second team from Seven Lakes High School finished in second with 55 points.
 * 6 A second team from Seven Lakes High School finished in second with 86 points.
 * 7 A second team from Beckendorff Junior High School finished in second with 99 points.
 * 8 Kealing Middle School tied with Riverwood Middle School with 108 points. An unorthodox method of breaking ties gave Kealing the victory; with the national tiebreak method, Riverwood would have won the tiebreak.
 * 9 A second team from Meads Mill Middle School finished in second with 147 points.
 * 10 A second team from Troy High School finished in second with 81 points.
 * 11 A second team from Solon High School finished in second with 145 points.
 * 12 A second team from Stevenson High School finished in second with 238 points.
 * 13 A second team from Daniel Wright Junior High School finished in second with 108 points.