2025-26 New Team Information for the IQBT Undergraduate Quiz Bowl Championship

This is a living document – additional information is being added on a regular basis. If you have questions that are not covered by this document, please email Fred Morlan here.

Thanks for your interest in our Undergraduate Quiz Bowl Championship for this school year! Our goal is to answer any questions you may have about taking part in this year’s Qualification Event and, hopefully, our Championship Tournament!

You can find the announcement for the Undergraduate Championship Qualification Event here. That pages includes player eligibility information, instructions on how to register, entry fees, and the question distribution for the Qualification Event.

What is quiz bowl?

Quiz bowl is a buzzer-based competition where teams of up to four players compete to answer questions on various academic subjects.

A short YouTube video showing how the two different phases of the game can be viewed here.

How do tossups work?

Tossups are the questions you use buzzers for. A question with several sentences describing the same answer is read to the teams. These questions are intended to have the hardest clue first, followed by easier clues.

Players can buzz in to interrupt the question at any point. If they are correct, they earn their team the right to answer a bonus. If they are incorrect, they lock their team out of answer the question from that point forward, and may lose five points depending on the rules of that tournament.

Teammates cannot collaborate on tossups.

Tossups are not part of the qualifier.

How do bonuses work?

Each bonus consists of three different questions on a central theme. Teams can work together to answer these questions.

Each bonus is intended to have one part that is “easy”, one that is “medium”, and one that is “hard.” We aim to have the majority of the field correctly answer an easy part, half of the field correctly answer a medium part, and a minority of the field correct answer a hard part.

This is the question type that is used at the Qualification Event.

What is the entry fee for the Qualification Event? How can we submit payment?

The entry fee is $60. Payment is accepted via check, Venmo, or PayPal; teams will be invoiced for their amount due.

Does the entry fee for the Qualification Event also cover the Championship Tournament?

No – there are separate entry fees.

Does the entry fee for the Championship Tournament cover transportation, hotel costs, etc.?

No. The entry fee only covers entry to the tournament. It is used to defray the cost of writing the questions, reserving rooms, paying moderators, travel for tournament staff, and more.

Can I register multiple teams?

Yes. Schools are allowed to register multiple teams. Those teams’ rosters must be made of discrete rosters.

What is the maximum number of players on a team?

A team for the qualifier may have no more than four players.

Can I register a team with fewer than four players?

Yes – teams can have as few as one player.

If we qualify for the Undergraduate Championship Tournament, are we required to attend?

No. There is no penalty, financial or otherwise, if you qualify a team for the Undergraduate Championship Tournament and opt to not send them.

Who should I look for to play on my team?

I suggest looking for intellectually curious students that have an interest in multiple subject areas. The theoretically perfect team would have four students whose interests are perfectly divided amongst the categories that make up our distribution, which can be found here.

Are there practice questions that are available?

Yes! We make our past questions available for use as practice material for free.

What teams have previously competed in the IQBT Undergraduate Championship Qualification Event?

Since our launch for the 2022-23 season, the following teams have competed in at least one of our Qualification Events.