I am doing a project on designing and making an electronic quiz judging device (a device to tell which team pushed the button first) for my GCSE electronics. since there are not many quiz competitions in the UK i would be extremely grateful if you could all give me some background information on quizes. for example:
rules of quiz
points system
memebers per team
current electronic quiz judging devices (inc circuitry)
types of questions
prizes
A good starting point is naqt.com . One link in the sidebar has a set of rules -- they aren't universal to all quizbowl competitions, but they're sufficiently universal for your purposes. The site also has podcasts from a couple of recent competitions, and it has a few sample rounds of questions. That should give you a good sense of how the game works. Prizes vary, but they're not all that relevant. As for circuitry, maybe someone else has a link.
--Raj Dhuwalia
P.S. In re-reading your message, I see a mention of checking for which team hit the buzzer first, rather than which player. Most qb matches feature two teams of four players each, in which each individual has a buzzer. On a tossup question, which is open to everyone, the buzzer indicates which of the eight individuals has buzzed first, and it locks out everyone else. However, there are a couple of formats in which the whole team has a single buzzer; in those cases, the buzzer only indicates which team has buzzed, of course. If you find the former approach too cumbersome or time-consuming (or expensive) for a school project, you could try the latter approach. Just a thought.
