An Introduction

For those of you not in the know, this post will be a brief introduction to the NAQT HSNCT, the tournament the HHS team will be playing this weekend. This national tournament features the top national teams, and will be the capstone experience for many players this year.

The Game Format

Quiz bowl is an academic competition. Each game is (usually) between teams of four players. Though there are many regional variants, the national standard has become the toss-up bonus format. Teams compete for a pyramidal toss up on buzzer systems; correct answers are rewarded with 10 or 15 points, and the team to answer correctly gets a bonus in three parts, worth 10 points each. There are subtle variations, the NAQT format using timed rounds, each half in 9 minutes, (though the game will not continue if all 24 tossups area read) and early buzzes are rewarded with power point, 15 instead of 10. NAQT format notably contains far more popular culture (affectionately termed "trash"), current events, and geography than other formats this comes at the expense of fine arts, and the super-category: religion, mythology, and philosophy (RMP). The HSNCT also features computational math bonuses, and only non computational math tossups. As competitions for the top teams, national tournaments feature far harder questions than their regular season equivalents. The full distribution for the HSNCT can be found here.


The Tournament Format


This year the National High School Championship Tournament will feature 240 teams from across the US and Canada. Though there will be scrimmage rounds Friday night, the real tournament play takes place on Saturday and Sunday. The Saturday prelim in composed of 16 Swiss paired rounds in which each team will play ten games. Teams with a winning record (6-4 and above), will advance to Sunday's playoff. The format is double elimination, with teams at 6-4 starting in the losers bracket.

Further information can be found on the NAQT website. Additionally the Quiz bowl wiki features some information, though it's notably full of in-jokes. We will be providing updates through out the day on Saturday. Last year some of the matches were webcast using iHigh. If we find ourselves on one of the streams we'll certainly let you know about it.