Glossary
ACE: organization that runs a quizbowl camp
ACF: a quizbowl federation that writes three college sets a year: Fall, Regionals, and Nationals
advantaged final: occurs when one team is down by one loss. The ‘advantaged’ team only has to win one game to win, but the other team must win two.
bagel: term used to refer to the act of a team scoring no points on a bonus, due to a bagel's resemblance to the number 0.
bounceback: when a bonus that is incorrectly answered by one team is asked to the other team. Used at PACE NSC
burn the clock: waiting as long as possible to answer to use up all the time. A good strategy at HSNCT when a team is winning.
buzz: the act of operating a signalling device with the intent to answer
buzzer race: when many individuals buzz in at the same time on the same clue
captain: team leader; the individual who gives answers to bonuses
canon: the set of all answers that are asked at a certain level. Also used to describe an answerline that is frequently tossed up.
circle of death: when multiple teams have the same record in a bracket. Can be broken statistically by PPG or by playing
clear the field: when one team has two or more less losses than the next team and is declared the champion outright
difficulty cliff: when there is no discernable middle part in a question; the clues suddenly go from hard to easy
dead: when a tossup is not answered by either team
distro: short for distribution, the amount of each category in a packet
double elimination: format used at HSNCT playoffs where teams are eliminated after two losses
FTP: short for For Ten Points, the last line in a tossup
generalist: someone who studies all categories
giveaway: the last and easiest line in a tossup (see also FTP)
grail: when a team answers all 20 tossups in a game
hose: a misleading clue in a question; considered a hallmark of poor question writing
housewrites: a set written by a high school or college, not by a question provider like NAQT
HSAPQ: High School Academic Pyramidic Questions, a question provider
HSNCT: High School National Championship Tournament by NAQT, uses 9-minute halves and 24-tossup packets
lead-in: the first clue or sentence in a toss-up, which should unambiguously refer to the answer
mirror: when a tournament runs using another tournament’s questions
NAQT: National Academic Quiz Tournaments
NASAT: National All-Star Academic Tournament where each state sends a team
neg: a wrong interrupt, usually with a penalty of -5
NSC: National Scholastic Championship, a tournament with bouncebacks organzied by PACE
PACE: Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence
power: answering a toss-up sufficiently early to earn 15 (or sometimes 20) points instead of 10
ppb: points per bonus; measures team performance
ppg: points per game; measures individual player performance
prompt: when an answer is not sufficiently specific, the moderator may ask for more information
pyramidal: questions that go from hard to easy clues
RMP: religion, myth, philosophy
round-robin: where every team in a bracket plays every other team
shadow: when two people cover the same subjects
specialist: someone who studies one subject only
SS: social sciences
stock: a clue that is reused often
trash: pop culture or sports questions
vulch: practice in which the opposing team negs a question and an individual on the other team answers before the question is fully read; this practice is highly discouraged and is used to pad ppg
Yash Patel Hall of Fame: an honor bestowed upon a player who wins a tournament without a single buzz, named after Yash Patel ‘13
ACF: a quizbowl federation that writes three college sets a year: Fall, Regionals, and Nationals
advantaged final: occurs when one team is down by one loss. The ‘advantaged’ team only has to win one game to win, but the other team must win two.
bagel: term used to refer to the act of a team scoring no points on a bonus, due to a bagel's resemblance to the number 0.
bounceback: when a bonus that is incorrectly answered by one team is asked to the other team. Used at PACE NSC
burn the clock: waiting as long as possible to answer to use up all the time. A good strategy at HSNCT when a team is winning.
buzz: the act of operating a signalling device with the intent to answer
buzzer race: when many individuals buzz in at the same time on the same clue
captain: team leader; the individual who gives answers to bonuses
canon: the set of all answers that are asked at a certain level. Also used to describe an answerline that is frequently tossed up.
circle of death: when multiple teams have the same record in a bracket. Can be broken statistically by PPG or by playing
clear the field: when one team has two or more less losses than the next team and is declared the champion outright
difficulty cliff: when there is no discernable middle part in a question; the clues suddenly go from hard to easy
dead: when a tossup is not answered by either team
distro: short for distribution, the amount of each category in a packet
double elimination: format used at HSNCT playoffs where teams are eliminated after two losses
FTP: short for For Ten Points, the last line in a tossup
generalist: someone who studies all categories
giveaway: the last and easiest line in a tossup (see also FTP)
grail: when a team answers all 20 tossups in a game
hose: a misleading clue in a question; considered a hallmark of poor question writing
housewrites: a set written by a high school or college, not by a question provider like NAQT
HSAPQ: High School Academic Pyramidic Questions, a question provider
HSNCT: High School National Championship Tournament by NAQT, uses 9-minute halves and 24-tossup packets
lead-in: the first clue or sentence in a toss-up, which should unambiguously refer to the answer
mirror: when a tournament runs using another tournament’s questions
NAQT: National Academic Quiz Tournaments
NASAT: National All-Star Academic Tournament where each state sends a team
neg: a wrong interrupt, usually with a penalty of -5
NSC: National Scholastic Championship, a tournament with bouncebacks organzied by PACE
PACE: Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence
power: answering a toss-up sufficiently early to earn 15 (or sometimes 20) points instead of 10
ppb: points per bonus; measures team performance
ppg: points per game; measures individual player performance
prompt: when an answer is not sufficiently specific, the moderator may ask for more information
pyramidal: questions that go from hard to easy clues
RMP: religion, myth, philosophy
round-robin: where every team in a bracket plays every other team
shadow: when two people cover the same subjects
specialist: someone who studies one subject only
SS: social sciences
stock: a clue that is reused often
trash: pop culture or sports questions
vulch: practice in which the opposing team negs a question and an individual on the other team answers before the question is fully read; this practice is highly discouraged and is used to pad ppg
Yash Patel Hall of Fame: an honor bestowed upon a player who wins a tournament without a single buzz, named after Yash Patel ‘13