On Buzzer Techniques

[quizbowlchamp1]

Does anyone have good buzzer techniques? I buzzer prime combined with a technique pioneered by Jeopardy! legend James Holzhauer. He crosses his arms and grabs the wrist he is buzzing with. This cuts your buzzer speed in half. If anyone has a better buzzer technique, please let me know.

[NotAiden]

dan ni shoots me in the ankle every time I lose a buzzer race

[joshxu]

A trick to winning buzzer races is to buzz earlier, not faster. Most players first hear a clue they recognize, and then they buzz. Instead of doing this, you should buzz first, and then hear a clue you recognize. In essence, even though you don't know the answer when you buzz, you're overwhelmingly confident that you'll know it by the time the moderator stops reading. A concrete example: tossup is asking for a country, and you hear "this country has its capital at..."; buzz immediately if you know all or almost all of the world capitals; in the time it takes for the mod to recognize your buzz, they will have read the name of the capital. A product of winning more buzzer races is that you will get more questions wrong, which will happen quite often if you utilize this strategy too liberally.

[cemeterysummoning]

watch 7O3X

[Good Goblin Housekeeping]

There's really not more to it than priming a bit. When playing middle school level questions it might be a bit more important for speed but Josh's general advice about just learning more at the end of the day is probably the most imporatnt thing as it means you'll have an idea of what the question's looking for before the clues get too easy and be a bit more mentally prepared/sure of the other among other things

[quizzical1]

Some good buzzing techniques, as said before by a fellow collaborator, is buzzing mid-word. Also, something a lot of players I know struggle with is buzzer confidence. Powers and tens with a couple negs here and there are ok, but not buzzing at all is not. Remember the 80% rule, where if you are 80% sure, buzz. Also, if you are on the verge of knowing something, put your buzzer out to indicate to your teammates that this is your wheelhouse. Pressing the buzzer down instead of buzzing on and off will let you buzz before the other teams. On an unrelated note, how many people use buzzers that aren't always plungers, and which are generally better for buzzing?

[dni]

It is important to keep the cord linking your buzzer to the central hub as straight as possible. This minimizes the distance the electrons have to travel, while also reducing their need to decelerate and change directions along tricky curved segments.

[Good Goblin Housekeeping]

It is important to keep the cord linking your buzzer to the central hub as straight as possible. This minimizes the distance the electrons have to travel, while also reducing their need to decelerate and change directions along tricky curved segments.

I also recommend making sure the buzzer is plugged in. Very rarely used gamer trick