Quiz Bowl

From CarlWiki

The Quiz Bowl team, also known as the Academic Quiz Team (AQT), is an extracurricular activity in which students answer trivia questions on a range of topics. The team is coached by Carleton College archivist Eric Hillemann. Hillemann is a question writer and editor for National Academic Quiz Tournaments (NAQT), and he claims to have the largest question archive in the country. Students interested in joining the team should attend practices, which are held in Leighton 202 on Monday and Thursday nights from 7-9 pm.

Carleton's Quiz Bowl team is traditionally very successful. In 1999 and again in 2007 Carleton won the Undergraduate National Championship.

1 Format
- 1.1 Tossups
- 1.2 Bonuses
2 Tournaments at Carleton
3 External links

Format

Students usually compete in teams of four. The word "team" is also often used to refer to all of Carleton's players (of whom there are about 8-16 on campus at any given time), but this should not be interpreted as meaning that all of them play in the same game. Carleton's Quiz Bowl team competes in both NAQT and Academic Quiz Federation (ACF) tournaments, although there is an emphasis on NAQT. The two formats differ slightly in terms of rules and types of questions.

Quiz Bowl questions come in two types: tossups and bonuses.

Tossups

Tossups are long questions given to both teams that start with a difficult clue and then become progressively easier. Teammates cannot confer with each other verbally on tossups (though hand gestures, such as raising a buzzer to indicate "I have a good guess for the end of the question, don't buzz in with a stupid one" are allowed). Instead, any individual on either team can buzz in at any time. If someone on a team buzzes in without a correct answer, then no one else on that team can buzz in. An example question:

In the final track of their self-titled album, they burn down City Hall and crown themselves as kings, though they eventually poison each other's wine. The story of how the two of them met was told in the single (*) "Wonderboy," in which K.G. and J.B. decide to "form a band the likes of which had never been seen." They would later meet Satan and play the best song in the world, though they later forgot it. Originally created for a series of shorts on HBO, for 10 points--name this comedic band fronted by Jack Black, whose best-known song is "Tribute."

Answer: Tenacious D

One can buzz at any time during the question. The first sentence of this question is something that would only be known by people who've listened to the group's album; this is called "deep knowledge," and is rewarded both by the person with the most depth of knowledge being able to buzz in early, therefore getting the question for his team, and, in some tournaments, with "Power" points: typically, 15 instead of the usual 10. Anyone who buzzes correctly before the (*) receives Power. The mark is placed where it is because the single "Wonderboy" is a clue that might be recognized by people who have much less depth in their knowledge of the group. ("Wonderboy" and "Tribute" were both successful music videos.)

The phrase "for 10 points" is in every question; it lets people know that the current sentence is the last one. This is important because there is a penalty (5 points) for buzzing with an incorrect answer before the end of the question, but there is no penalty at the end of the question. If no one on the team knows the answer but someone has a good guess, then it's advantageous to buzz in with that guess the moment the question ends, preventing the other team from making their guess first.

Bonuses

When a team answers a tossup correctly, they receive a series of bonus questions worth up to 30 points. Usually this consists of three 10-point questions. Teammates can confer with each other on bonuses for a few seconds, and the person chosen as the "Team Captain" delivers the answer.

Tournaments at Carleton

The team hosts an intramural tournament during Fall Term. All students are encouraged to participate. The aim is to increase interest in the Quiz Team.

Carleton has hosted the Carleton Undergraduate Tournament (CUT) every year since 1999. Carleton students and alumni help moderate and scorekeep the tournament. Students compete in teams of four, two, or individually based on their quiz bowl experience.

Carleton has also hosted a high school tournament since 2004 called Snow CAT.