A Nerd’s Sport

WARNING: This article regards the most nerdy activity around. If you have sensitive eyes, or if you have an article on BuzzFeed calling your name, this is your chance to walk away. If, however, you would like to learn about the art of playing Quiz Bowl, please read on.

Quiz Bowl. Most Cistercian students have heard of this activity, or at least heard the uproar coming out of the Sophomore classroom every activities period. But what is it? Ask most members of the Quiz Bowl program, and they will respond something along the lines of “team Jeopardy.” And they’d be pretty much right.

Quiz Bowl consists of two teams competing 4v4 against each other for bragging rights. The reader begins by dictating a “tossup”, which is a 4-5 line question about a topic ranging from Ancient Literature to Pop Music. Each member of both teams has a buzzer, and when someone thinks that they know the answer to the question, they “buzz” in and give their answer. If they are wrong, the rest of their team loses the ability to buzz for the rest of the question, in effect giving the other team a freebie. If they are right, though, their team gets to hear three bonus questions, which only their team can answer. The bonuses are usually related to each other, but the tossup and the following bonuses do not have to be on the same topic. Each tossup and each individual bonus question are worth 10 points, and the team with the most points wins. The rules do get a little more complicated than this, but now you know the basics.

So the next time someone asks you what Quiz Bowl is, now you know how to answer them. And if you feel called to the game, why not give it a try? We’re always looking for more nerds, I mean players, to join us.