Quizbowl

Quizbowl is a family of games of questions and answers on all topics of human knowledge, commonly played in high school and college. The game is typically played with a lockout buzzer system between some number of teams, most commonly two teams of four or five players each. A moderator reads questions to the teams, whose players endeavor to buzz in first with the correct answer, scoring points for their team.
Quizbowls are also known by various other names, such as Quiz Bowl, Scholastic Bowl, Brain Game, Academic Team, Academic Challenge, Scholar Quiz Bowl, Academic League, Academic Bowl, It's Academic, Battle of the Brains, Knowledge Bowl, and College Bowl.
History
Academic quizbowl competitions enjoyed broad exposure in the United States media via College Bowl, which started on radio in 1953 and aired on national television from 1959 to 1970. In 1996, National Academic Quiz Tournaments (NAQT) was founded, and is currently one of the groups that sponsor major college competitions. Most major competitions are currently run by either Academic Competition Federation or NAQT, with varying formats and governing rules.
In recent years, it has been noted that many former quizbowl contestant have gone on to become successful game show contestants, such as Ken Jennings.
Gameplay
There are several different formats of quizbowl, but they generally share the following rules for playing. (See below)
Two teams of (typically) 4 playersIf the answer given is incorrect, then no other member of their team may attempt to answer and only players from the other team may ring in. Only one player per team may try to answer a given question.
Scoring
In most American formats, correct tossup answers earn the team 10 points.
If a tossup is successfully answered, the answerer's team is given control of a bonus question.
High School National Tournaments
Just as there are several college-level national championships, there are a number of high school tournaments that claim to be national championships in the United States. These include:
* High School National Championship Tournament (HSNCT) is sponsored by National Academic Quiz Tournaments since 1999. While the site of the tournament originally rotated, it has been held in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont since 2005.
* National Academic Championship (NAC) has been held since 1983, and is sponsored by Questions Unlimited. The tournament is played at three sites throughout the nation every year.
* National Scholastics Championship (NSC) has been held since 1988, and is organized by the Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence (PACE). The competition has been held at various sites in the South, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest.
* The National Tournament of Academic Excellence (formerly known as the Panasonic Academic Challenge) has been held since 1988, and is sponsored by the school boards of the local counties and the State of Florida. It is traditionally held at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
Defunct:
* American Scholastics Competition Network (ASCN) hosted a national tournament from 1987 through 2005 in the Chicago area. The 2006 tournament was canceled.
Junior High School National Tournament
* Questions Unlimited also sponsors the Junior National Academic Championship, just started in 2007.
Tournament scheduling
Tournament scheduling at invitational tournaments is often in the form of a Round-robin, where each team plays each other team once. The top teams may engage in a playoff. Some tournaments (historically College Bowl) have used single-elimination or double-elimination, but this reduces the number of matches each team can play, and has been criticized on the college-circuit. Large tournaments have employed Swiss pairs. Sometimes bracket-play is employed, where each team plays others in a round-robin within a bracket, and the top team(s) move on to another round-robin or a playoff.
Eligibility
Eligibility rules depend on the game. For the college game, in official College Bowl, NAQT or other events, there are severe eligibility rules, while other tournaments differ on whether senior or only junior undergraduate, graduate, and even non-students can play. In general the less skilled players can always compete, there is a debate about how much more experienced players should be involved (analogous to the hypothetical question of whether NBA players should be able to play college games, or even high school games).
First and second year undergraduates can always play. Junior and Senior undergraduates are typically excluded from junior bird type tournaments. Graduate students are excluded from undergraduate-only tournaments. Non-students are excluded from college tournaments.
The general intent is to ensure a degree of fairness, by preventing teams from having too many players who have too much experience who can swamp the entire field. College Bowl in particular allows only one graduate student per team.
Non students generally are restricted to certain tournaments, which are open to everyone. These tournaments include "Masters" tournaments, "Trash" tournaments, and the occasional intramural tournament.
Question sources
Questions come from one of three sources.
# Questions may be written by a company or non-profit organization. These may be written by a small group of professional writers, or by a large group of contract writers whose questions are later edited by a smaller group. In some cases, these companies or organizations may host their own tournaments.
# The school hosting a tournament may choose to write all the questions used. Members of the host school's team generally write the packets, and then help run the tournament, rather than play.
# Each team entered into the tournament may write and submit one round of questions. A single editor then reviews the questions for difficulty and to check for duplication.
Media coverage
No form of quizbowl at the college level is broadcast regularly in the United States on a national basis. The "College Quiz Bowl" was broadcast on NBC radio from 1953 to 1955; General Electric College Bowl was televised on CBS and later NBC from 1959 to 1970, College Bowl returned to CBS radio 1979-82, and HCASC was broadcast on BET until 1995. The Texaco Star National Academic Championship premiered July 1, 1989, on the Discovery Channel. and ran through 1993. In 1994, it was syndicated as the Star Challenge and hosted by Mark Wahlberg. University Challenge is licensed from CBCI by Granada TV Ltd. and broadcast in the United Kingdom.
There are several local broadcasts of college and high school level quizbowl.
There is no relationship between quizbowl and ' or any of the other TV trivia game shows, other than that many of the contestants may be the same. NAQT maintains a list of current and former quizbowl players at any level who have appeared on TV game shows.
Televised Quizbowl
Quizbowl shows have been on television for many years in some areas, including both the college and high school levels.
Quizbowl shows currently on television
* Academic Challenge - Cleveland, Ohio area high school tournament
* Academic League - San Diego County high school tournament
* As Schools Match Wits - WWLP-TV in Springfield, Massachusetts
* Battle of the Brains - Richmond, Virginia (WTVR-TV) and Hampton Roads, Virginia (WAVY-TV) area high school tournament
* Brain Game - Indianapolis, Indiana, WTHR-13, 9-12th grade tournament, sponsored by Westfield Insurance.
* Brain Game - Raleigh, North Carolina, WRAL-TV 9th and 10th grades
* Brain Game - ONN in Ohio (Statewide) High school tournament, sponsored by Westfield Insurance.
* The Challenge - Channel 12. Tristate tournament between schools in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Long Island. Once state champions are named, they face each other off in two games to decide the tristate champion.
* Cox Academic Tournament
* Double Down - WCNY-TV in Syracuse, New York
* Face Off Minnesota - Minnesota on Twin Cities Public Television
* Fast Money MBA Challenge - a summer tournament on CNBC for graduate students of business schools hosted by Dylan Ratigan
* Granite State Challenge - New Hampshire public television
* High-Five Challenge - Oregon public television
* High Q - WHIO-TV in Dayton, Ohio
* High Q - WSB-TV in Atlanta, Georgia
* High Q - KCOS in El Paso, Texas
* High School Bowl - WNMU-TV in Marquette, Michigan ,
* High School Bowl - WAVE in Louisville, Kentucky
* High School Challenge - Televised University of Michigan program. wfum
* Hometown High-Q - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania shown on KDKA-TV
* InQuizitive Lancaster, Pennsylvania shown on WLYH-TV, hosted by Brad Rutter
* In the Know - Central and southern Ohio high school tournament shown on WOSU-TV.
* It's Academic - Washington, DC area high school tournament
* - Australian version of It's Academic.
* Know Your Heritage - in Chicago. Has questions primarily based on ethnic (black) history. Originally shown on WBBM-TV and WPWR, now on WCIU. A syndicated version "Know Your Heritage Black College Quiz" airs nationally in syndication at the beginning of the year.
* KTIV Quiz Bowl - Sioux City, Iowa
* News Channel Three's Knowledge Bowl - WREG-TV in Memphis, Tennessee, for high school students, moderated by Jim Jaggers.
* Long Island Challenge - High School Quizbowl tournament for student in Long Island area; winner plays winner of New Jersey Challenge
* Masterminds - Time Warner Channel 3 (TW3) in Albany, New York. Quizbowl competition among area high schools, hosted by David Guistina.
* Matchwits - KTSC-TV a public station in Pueblo, Colorado
* New Jersey Challenge - High School Quizbowl tournament for student in New Jersey area; winner plays winner of Long Island Challenge
* Pop Quiz WVPT in Harrisonburg, Virginia
* QuizBusters - Michigan area high school TV quiz produced by WKAR-TV
* San Francisco Bay Area, Peninsula TV Channel 26 and KRON
* Quizmaster Challenge Montgomery County, Maryland on MCPS Cable Channel 34
* Reach For The Top, Canadian high school competition
* produced by East Tennessee Public Television
* Scholastic Hi Q WSIU-TV in Carbondale, Illinois (PBS)
* Scholastic Scrimmage- Central Pennsylvania version produced by WPSU-TV, Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania version produced by WLVT-TV
* South Louisiana Quiz Bowl - Houma & Morgan City, Louisiana - produced by KWBJ-TV, also airs on KFOL-TV
* University Challenge
* YSU Academic Challenge - Youngstown, Ohio area high school and middle school tournaments
* What? Where? When? - Russian quiz show
* Whiz Quiz - Watertown, New York on WPBS-TV
Quizbowl shows no longer on television
* Academic Competition, filmed at Mississippi College
* - WGTE-TV in Toledo, Ohio
* City Smarts - WNYE-TV in New York. Cancelled due to lack of funding and the final round was never aired.
* College Bowl
* HCASC
* High Q - WAVE in Louisville, Kentucky
* High Q - WOWK in Charleston, West Virginia
* High Q - KWCH in Wichita, Kansas. Formerly affiliated with Butler Community College.
* High Q - WIBW-TV in Topeka, Kansas. Formerly affiliated with Washburn University.
* High Quiz Bowl in Wausau, Wisconsin, WSAW
* High School Bowl KHNL in Honolulu, Hawaii
* High School Bowl WTNH in New Haven, Connecticut
* It's Academic (Chicago)
* It's Academic (New York City)
* Klassroom Kwiz - WDBJ in Roanoke, Virginia
* Minnesota High School Quiz Bowl on several local public access channels in Minnesota (a state final is still sometimes televised)
* Piedmont Quiz Bowl - SCETV in South Carolina
* Rutgers Academic Challenge (was New Jersey Bowl) NJN New Jersey Network
* Scholars' Bowl (Virginia)
* in Plattsburgh, New York
* Scholastic Scoreboard WHNS in Greenville, South Carolina
* SmartAsk in Canada
* Teen Challenge WMAZ in Macon, Georgia
* Varsity Quiz Bowl - WYES-TV, Channel 12 in New Orleans (til mid 90's)
* Whiz Quiz (later Academic Varsity Bowl) - WFAA-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth (featured local public and private high schools; early shows were broadcast from Dallas Baptist University and the first two rounds (later first round only) were aired on radio, with successful teams being aired on TV)
* Winthrop Challenge (1979-1990) - SCETV in South Carolina

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