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Welcome to the Purdue Quiz Bowl Team webpage! Please see our Home Page for more information about the club.
For any questions about the club, email the Purdue Quiz Bowl Team at purduequizbowl@gmail.com.
This webpage will explain the concept and basic rules of quiz bowl, as well as offer resources for starting and growing a team. It is designed to be accessible even if the reader has not heard of quiz bowl; however, if you have, you are still advised to read this, as you may not be familiar with the format we at Purdue University practice and promote.
This page is primarily written with high school teachers and principals interested in starting a team in mind, but you will still find useful information if you are a student interested in joining a team.
What is Quiz Bowl?
What is Quiz Bowl?
Quiz bowl is a head-to-head competition based on the depth and breadth of knowledge two teams possess. What sets it apart from other games with similar premises is the use of a buzzer system, which players can use to interrupt questions as they are read. This gives the game an exciting pace and fosters a competitive spirit, incentivizing players to learn and improve.
Here is a short video (also featured to the left) by NAQT (National Academic Quiz Tournaments, LLC), a company devoted to the expansion and development of the game, which explains the basic format and rules. NAQT has several useful resources like that one which will be used throughout this page.
Why Play Quiz Bowl?
Why Play Quiz Bowl?
Quiz bowl is of great value to players’ lives both as students and as people. The following is a list of five unique, major benefits that quiz bowl offers to its players.
Incentivized Learning
Incentivized Learning
In classrooms, games like Kahoot! or PowerPoint versions of Jeopardy! are popular among both teachers and students, because the competitive nature of games like those incentivizes students to solidify their grasp on the material. Quiz bowl games happen regularly throughout the year and concern a wide variety of academic topics, many of which are already covered in the school curriculum. Thus, a competition-oriented student who is not stimulated by the classroom environment may be incentivized by quiz bowl to study hard, attain a deep understanding of subjects, and retain the information.
Here is a video of an NAQT interview (also featured on the right) with 74-time Jeopardy! Champion and former collegiate quiz bowl player Ken Jennings in which he explores this idea in more depth, and talks about how playing quiz bowl contributed significantly to his lifetime success and mental fitness.
Deeper Knowledge
Deeper Knowledge
Quiz bowl questions regularly clue in on things that are too deep or specialized to be covered in the typical classroom. This incentivizes players who wish to be more successful to study subjects in greater depth and become more knowledgeable people.
In addition, students will be incentivized to study subjects which may not even be offered in their high school. Games at all levels feature questions about the fine arts, philosophy, higher-level mathematical concepts, and social sciences. Players are therefore encouraged to engage with higher academia and become more cultured individuals.
As a math major, I interested myself in my science classes and avoided taking higher level social studies and English classes if I could. Quiz bowl, however, was a major force in introducing me to social science, and my studies led me to an interest in linguistics. I am now pursuing a minor in something I never would have considered before playing quiz bowl.
Self-Motivation
Self-Motivation
A crucial part of quiz bowl is that there is no official study material. While Academic Super Bowl, another form of academic competition, releases study guides for the material used at its events, quiz bowl draws from a much wider anthology of information (which is referred to as the quiz bowl canon), making prepared study material almost impossible. There are resources for players, but in general, they must seek out the information themselves and find their own ways to study the material.
Team Building
Team Building
The quiz bowl canon is extremely broad and deep, and no single person can be expected to master all parts of it (in fact, demonstrable mastery over half of it places a player among the best). In order to create a strong, competitive team, players should coordinate their studying so that, among their team, at least one player is well-versed in every subject. The teamwork and cooperation necessary to make this happen are valuable skills for any future career.
Community
Community
Scholastic competition in any activity, be it football, robotics, or debate, fosters a unique and supportive community for the players of that activity. Quiz bowl is no different. People who are interested in learning at a higher level can find each other through joining the club, and create a tight-knit community.
The focus on teamwork and communication skills makes quiz bowl a highly social activity as well. Above all, players get to make friends and have fun through applying their interests.
The Rules
The Rules
NAQT has provided a clear and concise summary of the rules for our format of quiz bowl (known as pyramidal quiz bowl; read about the distinction and why we prefer it here). All tournaments hosted by Purdue University and many tournaments in the Midwest will use these rules, though there may be slight modifications to the rules. Usual modifications are:
The timing rules may be simplified such that every timing interval mentioned in the PDF is changed to 5 seconds.
Many tournaments discard computational math questions due to the complications that arise from them. An extra question is read in place of the computational math question. Questions about mathematical properties and developments are not thrown out.
Most tournaments do not use timed rounds, which are almost exclusively unique to NAQT national championships. Instead, rounds consist of a set number of questions (usually 20).
Starting a Team
Starting a Team
If your school does not have a quiz bowl team and you would like to change that, NAQT has a splendid article about how to start one. To iterate on and add nuance to some of the points:
NAQT offers practice material, but it’s not necessary to buy it from them. In fact, an expansive archive of free practice material is readily available in the form of the quiz bowl packets archive, where the questions used for most tournaments are posted once the tournaments are over. Be wary that these packets are of highly variable difficulty; luckily, the archive includes a built-in link to the SCOP Novice series, which is simultaneously one of the most accessible sets for high schoolers as well as one of the best for teaching new players about subjects which come up frequently.
Joining the Quizbowl Resource Center will help you get a sense for the quiz bowl community at-large and help you find tournaments to go to. The slate of events in Indiana has become robust in recent years, and there is less of a need to travel out of state. However, you may still consider going to tournaments in Illinois, Ohio, or Michigan if your team is interested in playing more collegiate-level sets (e.g. ACF Winter mirror) or if your team cannot attend an Indiana tournament on a certain NAQT set.
Special Notes
Special Notes
If your school has or used to have an Academic Super Bowl team and the team’s sponsor still works there, you are encouraged to offer this opportunity to them. One option is for you to expand the existing club to a club for general academic competition. The same organization, IASP, governs both Academic Super Bowl and quiz bowl, so it is not difficult for an advisor familiar with IASP to register a new quiz bowl team. Note, however, that this does not mean members of that club should be expected to play both. Super Bowl and quiz bowl are very different, and while some members may enjoy both games, others may not.
If your school is a junior-senior high school or even a K-12 school, high school events are open to players of any grade level. NAQT has no lower limit on acceptable player ages as long as the player actually attends your school; for example, the nationally-ranked 2018 Lehigh Valley team from Pennsylvania was notably comprised of two brothers, one in 12th grade and the other in 4th grade. Additionally, K-8 and middle school teams are permitted to play all Purdue tournaments except for IASP Area and State (IASP has a separate middle school state championship).
If your school's three highest grade levels include no more than 500 students, your school qualifies as a small school. Small schools' performances at tournaments are judged independently from those of larger schools, and the best-performing small schools at NAQT-sponsored events get the opportunity to play at the Small School National Championship Tournament. This way, even schools from less privileged areas can compete for prestige and put their knowledge to the test. If official enrollment data is not available to you, you may quickly find out where your school stands using the IHSAA enrollment statistics.
Once tournament results are posted on NAQT (example here), you can see which teams have qualified for which national tournaments. Note that it is possible to qualify for both the general high school and small school national tournament.
The current schedule for tournaments in and around Indiana for the 2025-2026 school year is below:
Resources
Resources
The following is a non-exhaustive list of resources for starting and maintaining an active quiz bowl team.
Buzzer Systems
Buzzer Systems
Quik Pro Systems (Note: these buzzers are known as “squealers” due to their very high pitch.)
Matt’s Buzzers (This is not a manufacturer, but a grant program which may help a budding team better afford a buzzer system.)
Questions
Questions
NAQT Study Material (Note that this is not free, but if you are from a new school, 61 packets for $179 is a solid deal.)
aseemsDB (A database of questions that can be used to find subjects which come up often and gauge players’ level of competitiveness.)
QBReader (An online way for players to practice without the need for a moderator.)
Contacts
Contacts
The Quizbowl Resource Center – Check here often for tournament announcements. The forums also allow for easy connection to the quiz bowl community at large.
purduequizbowl@gmail.com – This is the official Purdue Quiz Bowl email account. If you are interested in reaching out or want to be added to a mailing list for future events, feel free to email us here!
Starting a quiz bowl team may be daunting, and it can seem inaccessible, but I honestly, confidently believe that if your team is motivated to study and play hard, your team can become one of the best in the state in the blink of an eye. Programs like South Bend Saint Joseph, Culver Academies, Park Tudor, and Herron serve as proof that all you need to create a dynasty of success is a culture of studying and self-improvement. Remember, though, that above all, quiz bowl is just fun, and a great opportunity for students even if your team doesn't find success.
Thank you so much for reading! This page was designed and written by Sarah Benner on behalf of the Purdue Quiz Bowl Team, with assistance from Chris Chiego, Ankit Aggarwal, Greg Bossick, David Reinstein, and Kyle Hill. It is currently being updated by Sophia Madrazo in 2025.
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