There are dozens of resources for studying Quizbowl exist all over the Internet. We’ve picked the cream of the crop for your perusal.

Social Media

There are dozens of Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and so on related to Quizbowl; we leave you to find those on your own. There are also plenty of Discord servers related to Quizbowl; reach out to us and we’ll help you get into them, since many of them are not publicly accessible.

There is also an internet forum for Quizbowl; however, it has seen greatly reduced activity since the rise of Discord.

Question Databases and Readers

QBReader

An all-in-one study resource. Contains a searchable question database, a random question function, a tossup reader, a bonus reader, and a multiplayer mode to replace Protobowl; it is constantly updated and has been universally lauded.

Joe wishes it existed when he was in High School, as it would have made his life far easier.

Study Resources

Wikipedia

A fantastic place to search for new information.

The Stanford Culture Guide Index

An incredibly in-depth guide to just about everything that will ever come up in Quiz Bowl, both high school and college. As that may suggest, it is absolutely gigantic, so we don’t recommend using it until you’ve gained quite a bit of experience or you may become quickly overwhelmed.

Anki

If you’re the type who really loves to use flashcards to study, you can use Anki to make it significantly more effective and easier. If you’re not the type who uses flashcards, it’s pretty useless.

Your local Library

Your local library can provide you with all the textbooks your heart desires, which are always an excellent source for Quizbowl.

Project Gutenberg; Americanliterature.com

If you’re looking for classic literature to read, look no further. Both sites contain thousands of free ebooks and PDFs of classic works.

Resources to Avoid

Just as there are lots of excellent resources out there, there are some pretty terrible ones, too. Quizbowl resources we have no opinion on include:

• Aseems DB
  • A very good and powerful tool, but was made obsolete by QBReader, and is much more difficult to use.
• Zembla
  • Zembla is a very interesting AI-powered take on studying, made by a good friend of the LIQBA. We can’t give a full recommendation to it just yet, though, as it’s still in its infancy.
• The “High School Quizbowl” Discord server, or “HSQB”
  • It’s much better than it used to be, but it can still be unwelcoming at times. We would recommend this much more for people who have significant experience in the game; new players should generally stay away.
• AI-powered programs for Quizbowl study in general
  • All of these are very new and in their infancy, but, more importantly, AI-powered study tends to not work very well, as doing the work yourself results in much better retention. In addition, we don’t recommend using any AI for Quizbowl study, as AI is famously error-prone.
• Trivia sites
  • Trivia sites are absolutely wonderful. We love them all, and play them all the time, especially Sporcle; but, the knowledge found on them does not translate well to Quizbowl. Absolutely use them, as they are extremely fun! But don’t use them to study for Quizbowl.

Quizbowl resources that we very strongly discourage you from using, on the grounds of being unhelpful, a waste of money, or extremely toxic, include:

• Protobowl
  • Protobowl is entirely obsolete, has not been updated in nearly a decade, is completely unmoderated, is filled with trolls, and is not a good way to study; it remains popular, but QBReader is superior in every way.
• The “Quizbowl” Discord server, or “MainQB”
  • MainQB is incredibly unwelcoming and represents the worst of Quizbowl; it is also completely inappropriate for anyone younger than college-age.
• Fact Mountain apps
  • We have great respect for Bryce, but these are simply not worth the money.
• Old question database apps
  • There are a few out there: QuizDB, Quinterest, and one more whose name has been lost to time. The websites are gone, so if you navigate to them, you’re going to get malware.
• Other Quizbowl-related apps on the App Store, or other paid programs
  • If they’re free, they’re fine to use, but generally have little actual utility, especially compared to other resources. If they’re not, don’t purchase them. The amount you spend on Quizbowl study, for anything other than straight practice questions and books, should be minimal. There is no way to “buy your way” to getting better at Quizbowl, and we very much hope you don’t try.