This is what it all comes down to. Almost five months of work have gone into Varieties and the best of the best will be determined this weekend at Sweepstakes.Varieties is a long-standing tradition at Iowa State and usually involves hundreds of ISU students. Varieties skits began with 10 groups in early November. After second cuts took place during the last weekend of January and the first two weekends in February, the competition was narrowed down to just three groups: “Producing Misconception,” “Potter’s Toy Store” and “Monster Mayhem.”Also performing at Sweepstakes will be the top three Varieties’ vignettes which includes Charlie Oberg, Down Pour and a capella singing group, Shy of a Dozen.Emceeing the ceremonies will be a group that calls itself the Engineering Dropouts.With Varieties constantly getting more and more popular over the years, Ticketmaster was added this year for more efficient ticket purchasing.”It’s just a lot easier,” Sarah Maul, Varieties marketing director, said. “It’s making things run a lot smoother.”That smoothness has helped boost ticket sales for Sweepstakes which is the biggest weekend for Varieties, according to Maul.”Having it through Ticketmaster this year and having people get tickets that way, the tickets I think are selling out a lot faster,” Maul said.Though the crowds are steadily getting bigger ever year, the participation has stayed about the same. Maul and company have tried to focus on getting a wider variety of participants.”We tried to get groups that weren’t sororities or fraternities this year,” Maul said. “We had one residential hall that did it, and they did really good. So that’s what we’re trying to focus on this and next year.”The 10 skit groups was normal for Varieties, but Maul said the number of vignettes was lower than past years.”That’s something that we always encourage people to get involved with,” she said.Sweepstakes will be judged by seven judges. The judges will not know which Greek houses are involved with each skit.First through third place trophies will be awarded to both the skits and vignettes. And “best of” plaques will be awarded to skit participants that are worthy — all skits are able to receive these, not just those left in Sweepstakes.Varieties grand champion wins the Christian Petersen trophy, but due to its increasingly high value, it does not travel and stays on display at the Varieties office.