The Quizbowl Resource Center

Stained Diviner

There is an upside to having more sets--it makes it easier to find a set for a tournament. Also, if you get a bad report of a set from an early site, then you have options to switch to. The downside of people not getting rich from quizbowl is one of the oldest downsides in quizbowl. I wrote/edited s...

Stained Diviner

Wish You Were Here vs. Ohio Let It Be vs. Stairway to Heaven Born to Run vs. Long Train Runnin’ Superstition vs. What’s Going On I haven't agreed with every outcome in this contest, but I must say that there is not a bad song in this list. I mean, there's absolutely no way that Long Train Runnin’ i...

Stained Diviner

A lot of this is just a matter of transparency. Let people know who the writers and editors are, and give occasional progress updates. Perhaps somebody from the community who is not in the target audience can take an occasional look at the set to verify that it is getting written in an acceptable ma...

Stained Diviner

Proud Mary vs. Long Train Runnin’ This contest has increased my appreciation of these songs more than pretty much all the other songs in the contest, even though I had heard them both before many times. Without love, where would you be right now? Born to Run vs. Layla I love Layla, but I'm voting a...

Stained Diviner

Several of John's examples are cases where the teams answered the same number of tossups, and the bonus conversion turned out to be more important than the neg penalties. That list includes 2016 Yale A Maryland A, 2016 Berkeley A Michigan A, 2016 Yale A Columbia A, 2016 Illinois Oxford, 2017 Oxford ...

Stained Diviner

Psycho Killer vs. Ohio
Won’t Get Fooled Again vs. Wish You Were Here
Stairway to Heaven vs. The Chain
Let It Be vs. American Girl

Stained Diviner

The rules we currently have makes tossups extremely important and bonuses unimportant, to the point where it's questionable as to why we spend so much time writing and playing bonuses. Your proposal weighs things towards tossups even more, which would mean that bonuses would be a waste of time. It w...

Stained Diviner

Keep in mind that tossups don't just give you the points--they give you the right to the bonus. That's why if there are two evenly matched teams, and one of them gets the tossups 11-9, that team is very likely going to win. If both teams were getting opportunities at 10 bonuses, it wouldn't be unusu...

Stained Diviner

Beast of Burden vs. Me and Bobby McGee
What’s Going On vs. Zombie
Midnight Train to Georgia vs. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Superstition vs. Jolene

Stained Diviner

Long Train Runnin’ vs. Maggie May I've listened to Maggie May a lot more, but after listening to them a couple of times for this tournament I have determined that I have been listening to the worse song. Proud Mary vs. It’s Too Late Proud Mary rocks. Born to Run vs. Ramblin’ Man These are both grea...

Stained Diviner

The Chain vs. War Pigs This just isn't the Fleetwood Mac song for me. Stairway to Heaven vs. Free Bird These songs are both great. No Woman, No Cry vs. American Girl My feet is my only carriage/And so I've got to push on through. Let It Be vs. Just What I Needed I know I'm right on this one. Just Wh...

Stained Diviner

Harris was correct. Leave it to Beaver is a reasonable topic for these questions. 3/3 is a lot of these questions. There are not a lot of clues you can use about Jackie Robinson, Billie Jean King, or Muhammad Ali if there are only 1-2 baseball players, tennis players, or boxers that are worth asking...

Stained Diviner

The first two are difficult. The last two are easy. Bohemian Rhapsody vs. Psycho Killer Wayne's World vs. Stop Making Sense. These are both great songs and great bands. Queen can make songs that are simultaneously cheesy and awesome. When I grew up listening to them, we didn't realize they were gay ...

Stained Diviner

Me and Bobby McGee vs. Black Magic Woman I like them both a lot. I'm going with Black Magic Woman because Me and Bobby McGee is too laid back for my mood right now. Also, I messed up earlier when I said that "Put Your Lights On" is the best Santana song. It's actually "You Just Don't ...

Stained Diviner

It seems like the main points are: 1. Keep in mind that the audience is diverse and quizbowl should be welcoming. 2. Keep in mind that the age of the audience is not that diverse and should be catered to. 3. Have a varied subdistribution. 4. Have answers that are accessible. These points are all app...

Stained Diviner

The Gambler vs. Maggie May I used to know a woman named Maggie who claimed she had a one night stand with Rod Stewart, and that inspired this song. Her story never made sense, but it's a good song. Turn the Page vs. Long Train Runnin’ If I was voting for the act, I probably would go with Seger. I'm ...

Stained Diviner

My calculations give 1 subcategory and 3.25 category matches per packet if CE/misc is not considered a match, or 3.3 if it is. If somebody did go to pairing tossups and bonuses, then they could decide ahead of time how many matched categories they want. If they want 0 subcategory and 3 category matc...

Stained Diviner

My high school questions from this year are now posted to the archives. The middle school questions will not be posted so that they can be sold as practice questions and so that they can hopefully be used next year to play matches that got cancelled this year. For 2020-21, I will produce the same se...

Stained Diviner

If anybody has feedback on the questions, join the 2020 Masonic/Reinstein set discussion or contact me.

Stained Diviner

Dancing Queen vs. War Pigs Now that's an easy choice! Runnin’ with the Devil vs. The Chain This one is close, and I might be wrong, but Van Halen can play some guitar, and The Chain just repeats itself. September vs. Free Bird FREE BIRD American Pie vs. Stairway to Heaven Strongest pairing in the gr...

Stained Diviner

Bohemian Rhapsody vs. Riders on the Storm Psycho Killer vs. Gloria Bridge Over Troubled Water vs. Ohio Hotel California vs. Lola London Calling vs. La Grange Wish You Were Here vs. Sultans of Swing War vs. Only the Good Die Young Won’t Get Fooled Again vs. Take Me Home, Country Roads The first six ...

Stained Diviner

Some of this depends on how many extra tossups you put in each packet. If there is one, then Bruce is correct, and you actually should put that Gatsby tossup there. If there is more than one, then you can put the tossups in pyramidal order (which isn't an actual concept, but hopefully that makes sen...

Stained Diviner

If anybody has feedback on the questions, please contact me or join the 2019 Scobol Solo Discussion.

Stained Diviner

Here is the 2019 Scobol Solo Final. Skip to about 19 minutes if you just want to see quizbowl.

Stained Diviner

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough vs. Lawyers, Guns, and Money Lawyers, Guns, and Money is pretty good, but not good enough to beat this song. Killing Me Softly with His Song vs. Move On Up Roberta Flack can sing. This song probably is better than The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, but not by much. G...

Stained Diviner

Black Magic Woman vs. Pink Moon The best Santana song is "Put Your Lights On", though that's way after the 70s. I'm partial to "Oye Como Va", though this choice is a good one. Me and Bobby McGee vs. Wild World These are my two favorite songs in this round. To quote Gary Hart, &q...

Stained Diviner

Born to Run vs. Cars Cars is pretty good, but it ain't Born to Run. I Will Survive vs. Surrender It's my wife's favorite song. Life on Mars? vs. American Woman I admit it. I like sell-out Bowie more than the serious stuff. Fire and Rain vs. Ramblin’ Man I've spent a lot of time listening to both of...

Stained Diviner

Crap! In that case, good riddance.

Stained Diviner

Live and Let Die vs. The Gambler This one is actually pretty close. These songs are both OK. Maggie May vs. Radio Radio This one is not close. The good song is better than the bad song. Family Affair vs. Turn the Page Sly and the Family Stone had better songs in the 60s. Long Train Runnin' vs. O-o-...

Stained Diviner

That I can definitely respect.

Stained Diviner

I don't understand the hatred for Lennon. * He was unfaithful to Cynthia and not much of a father to Julian. If that's the reason I can respect it, but at the same time it's odd that we're talking about a bunch of 70s rockers and singling one out for being a bad husband and father. If he was abusive...

Stained Diviner

CURB will always be with us.

(This is not a shot at Eric, who is not expressing the CURB viewpoint.)

Stained Diviner

Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress) vs. I'm Your Captain (Closer To Home) This is close. I'm Your Captain has more going on, though it could stand to lose a minute off the end. No Woman No Cry vs. Fly Like an Eagle I love both of these songs. If I was just going off the studio versions, I might take ...

Stained Diviner

Dancing Queen vs. Smoke on the Water ABBA sucks. This is the best ABBA song, and it's very bad. War Pigs vs. California Uber Alles It's too bad that Crazy Train did not come out until 1980. War Pigs is darn good though. Runnin’ with the Devil vs. Search and Destroy Van Halen was awesome when they we...

Stained Diviner

High School Regular for Solo and Reinstein. The Championship Round of Solo is High School Nationals, though I don't know whether that will be used in the online tournament.

Stained Diviner

I was on the Forensics Team for a year or two in high school. The leader of the team was a huge Who fan who did Extemperaneous, which means they got asked a current events question, had a few minutes to prepare a talk, and then gave a talk that was a few minutes long. During the trip to State, he sp...

Stained Diviner

London Calling vs. More Than a Feeling I've never gotten into The Clash, but this song is better anyways. Run Through the Jungle vs. La Grange La Grange is great. I'm glad I get to vote for it this time. Wish You Were Here vs. 25 or 6 to 4 I knew the lyrics by heart at one point. The whole album is...

Stained Diviner

Can't You See is the best Marshall Tucker Band song, not that it matters at this point.

Stained Diviner

There is no Jethro Tull. Bungle in the Jungle and Locomotive Breath are better than some of these songs. So it goes.

Also no Kraftwerk, but that's a feature.

Stained Diviner

Bohemian Rhapsody vs. Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood This is easy so far. See Wayne's World, kids. Riders on the Storm vs. Heart of Glass A few years ago, one of my friends asked me whether Jim Morrison was a visionary or a brat. It's probably the latter, but this is a good song either way. RIP Ray ...

Stained Diviner

If You Don't Know Me By Now vs. The Tears of a Clown It's sappy, but so is the other song. I have to disagree with my age-cohort colleague here; The Beat version of "Tears of a Clown" is an upbeat groover! Fair enough. It's an unsappy version of a sappy song. The Beat kind of reminds me o...

Stained Diviner

Drift Away vs. Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels) I would have chosen a different Croce song. If You Don't Know Me By Now vs. The Tears of a Clown It's sappy, but so is the other song. Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love) vs. I Saw the Light I don't like country music, especially bad ...

Stained Diviner

Just to be clear, if you played in the Masonic Tournament in Illinois or Iowa, then you should not play this, and that includes Illinois teams who did not make it to State.

Stained Diviner

Radio Quiz Bowl is still a thing. I am pretty sure that there are other shows, but this is the first one I found. This one is not remote, and if listening to bad quizbowl makes you violent then you should not listen.

Stained Diviner

In that case, I would say that the pattern Ike identified in Eric's stats also shows up in Josh's stats. He got powers in every round of SCT, every round but 2 of ICT, and every round but 1 of Penn-ance. That's, uh, very impressive for a guy who got a combined total of 7 powers in three NAQT tournam...

Stained Diviner

I'm not sure about that with Alman. He put up very good numbers at MIT Penn-ance , where he might have cheated as well for all we know. He played fewer tournaments, so it is difficult to compare between tournaments. His numbers before 2012 are much lower than his 2012 numbers, so on the one hand it ...

Stained Diviner

Walk on the Wild Side vs. Funk #49 These songs are both great, but it's still an easy choice. Also, Lou Reed solo>Velvet Underground. Lawyers, Guns and Money vs. Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl) These songs are both great, and this is a difficult choice. American Woman vs. Teenage Kicks Easy choice 25 o...

Stained Diviner

I appreciate Ike's video and method, but the method is very limited. It only applies to somebody who cheats whenever he is having a bad game or possibly to somebody who tries to cheat all the time but has limited success for whatever reason. If somebody only cheats in close matches, somebody on a st...

Stained Diviner

Stay with Me vs. Rapper's Delight I'll pick the song I like over the historically important song. O-o-h Child vs. $1000 Wedding I like this song more because it's obviously the better song. I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band) vs. Ballroom Blitz These are both good, but Ballroom Blitz is a w...

Stained Diviner

Starting today, IHSSBCA is using its facebook page to promote this year's All-State Team. Thanks to Brad for putting this together.

Search found 3165 matches