The basic gist of Quizbowl is a competition that tests your knowledge on different subjects. Now, it might seem a LOT like trivia or Jeopardy, but looks can be deceiving! Unlike trivia, Quizbowl structures its questions in a way that rewards significant academic knowledge, similar to what you would learn in school, rather than random facts you would find in an almanac. While most Quizbowl formats would not make “good TV,” they all strive to be very fun and rewarding for players.
There are many more principles and aspects that make Quizbowl stand out from your everyday trivia night. These include the “pyramidality” of questions (placing harder clues earlier to reward “deeper” knowledge), the emphasis on uniqueness (each question should only have one unique answer), and the lack of question ‘swerves,’ which may be entertaining to spectators but can be frustrating for players.
Quizbowl Moderators
Central to nearly every Quizbowl game is the moderator, or “mod” for short. A mod needs to read questions out succinctly and exactly as given so that all players can understand the question without trouble. When a player gives an answer, the mod also needs to evaluate the player’s answer against the correct answer, and award (or subtract) points as needed. Sometimes, the mod also needs to keep track of the score (if there is not a dedicated scorekeeper) or keep track of a timer (in formats that are timed). Regardless, recent advances in Quizbowl software have made moderating a lot easier.
If you are interested in Quizbowl but do not want to play, or perhaps you are not in school anymore (and thus are not eligible for a majority of Quizbowl tournaments), you are still more than welcome to volunteer as a moderator or scorekeeper! Contact your local Quizbowl organization to get started, and, if you would like to serve as a moderator for us at the LIQBA, please contact us at alan@liqba.com.
Quizbowl Formats
Today, there are many Quizbowl formats, and each region may have its own preferences. This is a quick rundown of different game modes that you may encounter in your Quizbowl journey:
Tossups
The buzzer is the central figure of tossups in Quizbowl. As the moderator reads out the question, players compete to see who would know the answer first, and “buzz” in accordingly. Therefore, tossup questions (usually 2-6 sentences long) are ordered by difficulty, with harder clues coming first (this is known as “pyramidality”)If the player who buzzes first gives a correct answer, he/she is awarded points (and the envy of other players). However, if the player gives an incorrect answer, he/she and the team cannot buzz anymore, and may be given a point penalty depending on the format (this is known as a “neg”). The question continues to be read for other players to buzz. In some formats, if the player buzzes in sufficiently early AND gives a correct answer, extra points may be awarded. This is known as a “power.”
Bonuses
Bonus questions are a format that does not involve the buzzer. They are split into multiple (2-5) parts with each part being its own question that has a unique answer, centered around a particular theme. Depending on the format, bonuses may be awarded to a team/individual that answers a tossup correctly (hence the name), or they could be standalone. Typically, conferring is encouraged during a bonus question in formats involving team play. In some formats, if one team answers a bonus part incorrectly, the opposing team is given the opportunity to answer for points. This is known as a “bounceback.”
The 20/20 Style (or Tossup-Bonus)
The 20/20 is a popular Quizbowl format where two teams (of four players each) play for 20 tossups and 20 bonuses (hence the name) per round, where teams that answer a tossup correctly are awarded one bonus question, until the end of the packet. The winning team in each round would be whoever has the most points. A tournament would consist of multiple rounds of teams facing off each other. This type of game, as offered by the Academic Competition Federation, is the most popular Quizbowl format in the collegiate circuit. However, there are plenty of other styles available, and they are still very fun to play!
Four-Quarter Styles
Another popular style, seen in Middle and High School Quizbowl, is known as “four-quarter.” A single game would involve four phases, each having a different format and rules. At the end of each game, the team or individual with the highest score wins (with tiebreakers usually decided via sudden death tossups).
Category and Lightning Rounds
During a lightning round, teams are given a period of time (between 60 and 120 seconds) to answer as many short questions as possible correctly. These questions are typically centered around a particular category, like 19th Century American Poetry or important chemistry equations. If teams manage to answer all the questions correctly, they may be awarded additional points, depending on the format.
Similar to lightning rounds, category rounds are centered around a category. However, they are untimed.
Depending on the format, there may be negs and/or a bounceback component involved.
Alphabet Rounds
This format is similar to Lightning Rounds, but instead of being centered around a particular academic category, all the answers start with a particular letter of the alphabet. Within the same round, the question may ask for a city in England that starts with “L” (London) and a Louisa May Alcott novel whose title starts with “L” (Little Women). Because of the structure, each question may have more than one correct answer.
Multiple Choice Rounds
This type of format involves the moderator reading a question, then offering anywhere from two to six possible answers, with only one of them being correct. This is similar to the format offered in the popular gameshow series, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, albeit without any prize money involved (unfortunately).
Worksheets
In Worksheet formats, teams (or individuals) are given a worksheet with questions to fill out in 5-10 minutes. The worksheets sometimes incorporate elements from the above, such as Alphabet rounds (26 questions with each question having an answer representing a letter from the alphabet, or questions where all answers start with a particular letter) or lightning rounds. The worksheets can either be collaborative or solo. At the end of the period, the team with the most correct answers would win the worksheet round. Due to the way the format is designed, each individual question on the sheet is usually short.
30-20-10
In 30-20-10 (or its cousin, 3-2-1), teams compete to answer three-part questions. Unlike bonuses, however, each part is not a standalone question. Rather, each part has the same answer, and are read consecutively, descending in difficulty (and the corresponding point value). If a team answers correctly during the 30 points part, they are awarded 30 points, 20 points for the 20 points part, and 10 points for the 10 points part. Depending on the format, if a team answers incorrectly, they may not be allowed to answer again (thus earning zero points) or they may be allowed to answer again later on.
These types of play can either be asynchronous, have the questions alternate between teams, or have a buzzer component involved. We at The Long Island Quiz Bowl Alliance are proud to offer our own online 30-20-10 competitions, which you can learn more about here.
Quizbowl Categories
Besides the format, Quizbowl questions can be divided into different categories, each representing a particular subject. Generally speaking, with the exception of subject-focused tournaments, most tournaments have a distribution of questions covering each category. Here’s a quick rundown of categories you may encounter in Quizbowl:
Literature: Books! Poems! Authors! Stories! Non-fiction! You’ll encounter all of them in the literature portion of Quizbowl.
History: From the conquests of Alexander the Great to the landing of Perseverance on Mars, Quizbowl has you covered!
Literature and history questions can be subdivided into time period and geographical themes. The former include ancient, medieval, 19th-century, and modern, while the latter has American, European, British, and World.
Science: Includes Physics, Chemistry, and Biology but also other subjects like earth science, academic math, and computer science.
Literature, History, and Science are known as the “big three” in Quizbowl, as they are featured prominently in most games.
RMPSS: A combination of very different categories: Religion (which can range from bible verses to theological practices), Mythology (ranging from Ancient Greek beliefs to the Mayans), Philosophy, and Social Science (which include Psychology, Sociology, Political Science, and much more).
Fine Arts (FA), which can be subdivided into Visual (VFA), Audio (AFA), and Other (OFA): VFA covers paintings and sculptures, AFA covers classical music and (sometimes) Opera, Jazz and ballet, whereas OFA is more miscellaneous, and can include Film and Architecture.
Geography: Ranging from the Mississippi River to the Burj Khalifa (the tallest building in the world), geography questions test your knowledge of the earth.
Current Events (CE): Covers what is happening in the news.
Pop Culture: Alongside Scottie Pippen, who won 6 NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls? Who sang “Baby One More Time” and “Toxic”? Who is the main character in Tomb Raider?
Other Academic (OAc): More miscellaneous, out of left field questions. Sometimes cross category questions (a question containing both a clue from Geography and a Literature clue, for example) but also includes harder to define subjects such as history of science.
General Knowledge: Similar to OAc, anything that doesn’t go anywhere else can be thrown in here! We have specifications to have some foodbowl, trades, and hobbies, but we also have many deranged commonlinks too! What do you need to do to get a driver’s license? Where is EPCOT located? What is Area 51? These questions relate to your everyday life, or can be wacky instead!
Spelling: Similar to a spelling bee, but in a Quizbowl game instead.
Computational Math: Not to be confused with academic math (which is a science question), computational math involves players solving a math problem read by the moderator (“If a right triangle has legs with lengths 3 and 4, what is the length of its hypotenuse?”). They are also sometimes known as “pencil and paper ready” questions since they are often preceded by these words.
Quizbowl Stats
Besides the game, players can also keep track of their individual and team statistics, some of which include W-L, Points Per Game (PPG), and Points Per Bonus. Hsquizbowl.org maintains a large repository of stats for games, but other organizations, like the LIQBA, have statistics hosted on their own websites. You can find statistics for tournaments organized by the LIQBA here.
Why Quizbowl?
Rewarded for Academic Knowledge – More Fun than Trivia
Quizbowl is structured in a way that rewards deep knowledge of an academic subject, unlike trivia, which asks for random facts. You are rewarded by simply studying the subject in deep depth, and getting a tossup correct early in the question shows that you have genuine knowledge of the subject matter!
Even When You Lose, It Is Still Satisfying
Getting an early buzz on a particular question or being the only person in the room to know a fact is incredibly impressive. As a result, even if you lose a match overall, it is still incredibly impressive (from the perspective of others as well) to get a particular question. In Quizbowl, your game performance brings satisfaction regardless of the win/lose situation.
Effective Team Building Exercise
In a standard format, it is rare for the entire Quizbowl subject distribution to be covered by a single person. As a result, playing Quizbowl well requires you to work with your teammates to grab that W. The player who is focused on science and history, for example, needs to collaborate well with the player interested in literature and fine arts, even if they individually may not perform well in these categories.
Motivates You to Learn
Playing Quizbowl reveals to you how much you know already, but also at the same time teaches you how much you DON’T know, even in subjects you are strongly interested in. This can motivate you to learn more about these subjects, expanding your knowledge base, and ultimately, your mind.
Many Roles Depending on Your Interests
Even if you are not interested in playing Quizbowl itself, the activity still offers many opportunities. These can range from writing, or staffing a tournament as a scorekeeper or a moderator, to assisting with logistics. The possibilities are endless with Quizbowl.