Quiz Bowl Club, Stanford University

QUIZ BOWL CLUB

STANFORD UNIVERSITY

What is Quiz Bowl?
Quiz Bowl is a trivia game played on teams of four. Players buzz in to answer tossup questions, and the team works together to answer bonus questions. Questions can cover all academic areas, plus current events, pop culture, and sports. Some tournaments are very academic; others are entirely non-academic. Here are some sample questions from the intramural, sectional and national levels (some of the sectionals and nationals questions are really hard!).

If you like Jeopardy! or if you played Academic Challenge, Academic Decathlon, or Knowledge Master Open in high school, you might enjoy Quiz Bowl.

Who can play?
The Stanford Quiz Bowl Club is open to all Stanford students, faculty, and staff. Everyone is welcome, regardless of skill-level or level of commitment. Some people just come to play with us occasionally; others want to take Stanford to a top finish at nationals.

What does the club do?
First, we hold practices twice a week (see below for details). Practice helps us do better at tournaments, and it's also a lot of fun. "Practice" is kind of a bad name; it's fun in its own right, even if you're not practicing for a tournament. Our practices are very laid-back. Some people only answer one or two questions a night, and that's totally fine. People come because it's fun and they learn neat stuff.

Throughout the year, we compete in tournaments against other West Coast schools. (That means lots of fun road-trips to L.A., plus trips to Berkeley, etc.). Each spring we represent Stanford at nationals.

What if I'm not good enough?
Don't worry about not being a good player right away (or ever, really). That's why we practice, and that's why you have teammates! Everybody, regardless of skill-level, is welcome to play at practice and to attend most tournaments (most tournaments let us send as many teams as we want, so there's no need to "make the team"). Plus, there are special tournaments (including a national championship) for new players.

College questions can be more difficult than high school questions, but keep in mind that nobody knows every answer; to win a match, you and your teammates just have to know slightly more than the other team.

Summer 2009 Practice Info
Check back in a few weeks for information!

Email Lists: Stay Informed!
Email is our primary means of communication.
For the latest news on practices, special events, and tournaments we attend and host, join the club email list by clicking here.
People interested only in occasional intramural play should join our low-traffic IM list instead. Click here to sign up.
People from other colleges should join the quizbowl-westcoast list for announcements of West Coast quiz bowl events by clicking here.
We also have a Facebook group, but we mostly rely on old-fashioned email.

2009-2010 Officers
President: Josh Falk
Financial Officer: Phil Shiu
Webmasters: Jason Ma
Vice Presidents: Kristiaan De Greve and Arnav Moudgil (fund raising), Jason Ma (HS and IM events), Brian Lindquist (Cardinal Classic)
Publicity Officer: Josie Link
To contact all the officers, email:

Calendar of Events (some events are tentative):

Calendar of Events will be populated in September 2009.

[These pages were last updated 2009 June 1.]