A Chrome Extension to Maximize Protobowl Productivity

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mrbossosity
Kimahri
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2020 7:51 pm

A Chrome Extension to Maximize Protobowl Productivity

Post by mrbossosity »

Introducing Protobowl Pro, a Chrome extension to maximize your Protobowl productivity!
Grab it from my Github: https://github.com/mrbossosity/protobowl-pro

I don't have a Chrome Developer Account, so...
1. Grab the .zip from the Releases section and unpack it into a new folder.
2. In Chrome, navigate to chrome://extensions and toggle on Developer Mode (upper-right corner).
3. Click "Load unpacked" (upper left) and choose the directory you just unzipped the contents into. Protobowl Pro should now be available in your extensions bar! Pin it for maximum convenience.

The live, fast-paced nature of Protobowl simulates tournament play, which is useful in its own right, but it's difficult to absorb new knowledge from simply playing Protobowl without taking the time to card or write down unfamiliar clues. This is where Protobowl Pro comes in!

Protobowl Pro runs in the background of any Protobowl session. Each time you buzz in with a correct answer, the program will log the tossup, the answerline, where you buzzed, and the sentence/clue preceding your buzz. The regular expressions used to split sentences are usually correct, but they can get thrown off by mid-sentence periods (e.g. "Mr. Darcy" or "Robert E. Lee").

The interface has only two buttons. One allows you to export the entire session log as a .txt file to read over and study later. The other allows you to export the clues preceding your buzzes and their corresponding answers in a .txt file which can be easily imported into Anki. Ideally, you could import automatically-generated cards from all of your Protobowl sessions into a cumulative "Protobowl" deck!

N.B. Exporting from Protobowl Pro works best in solo rooms, since multiple buzzes on questions make it difficult to parse your buzz point and preceding clue (unless you always ring in first!). This program is by no means perfect, but I hope it can help you climb the pyramid and get more out of routine Protobowl sessions.
Sage Kanemaru
Iolani '20, Princeton '24
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