History

Scholastic Bowl, also known as “quiz bowl”, was modeled closely after television or radio game shows. The earliest form of this, known as “college bowl”, was broadcasted on the radio during World War II. From 1959-1970, this “College Quiz Bowl” aired on national television. 

What is it?

Chances are good that many of you have heard of scholastic bowl, but don’t really know what it is. During a scholastic bowl game, a moderator reads questions to two teams of five players. To answer a question, the player must “buzz-in” with their electronic buzzer. 

Gameplay

To start the game, a moderator reads a question called a “toss-up”. A toss-up is where players can buzz in individually to answer at any point during the question’s given time. Players must not confer with their teammates during a toss-up question. If the team correctly answers the toss-up, then the teams are read bonus questions. Bonus questions are read one after another. Generally, there are 3-5 related questions, but not necessarily related to the toss-up. The team who answered the toss-up correctly, has the first try at the bonus questions. The team is able to discuss the answers and the team captain reads their answers to the moderator. If there were questions incorrectly guessed by the first team, then it’s the second team’s turn to try and score. 

OHS

Orion High School has a scholastic bowl team for anyone who is interested. We could always use more people if you aren’t in a winter sport. If you don’t want to try it because you think it’s lame, remember that it looks very good on college and job applications!