Starting a new team

Dormant threads from the high school sections are preserved here.
Locked
MrSchnippert
Lulu
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:54 pm
Location: Jacksonville, FL

Starting a new team

Post by MrSchnippert »

I am a teacher who is going to a new school in NE Florida next year, with a very new quiz bowl team. They only currently compete in the local competition, a College Bowl-style setup with 4 on 4 in 2-10 minute rounds and a 2 minute lightning round. They don't have buzzers, so I want to get a good set that will last us a while. I've seen that there are sets that plug into a computer, making it easier to keep statistics, but haven't found any of them in my research. Are they out there? Are they worth it? I'm at a private school, so I'm not concerned that the funding won't be there.

Are there any suggestions for starting a new program? I'm leaving a school where my varsity and JV teams won our district's championship, but that was mainly on the backs of bright kids who know a lot. I've got NAQT's literature, art, and music lists, but I don't know what kind of practice questions we have at the new school. I've never competed in anything but our district's competitions and CAC (Florida's tournament that leads to Panasonic), so I also could use suggestions on how to get started in the tournament world.

Thanks for your help!
User avatar
Sir Thopas
Auron
Posts: 1330
Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2006 10:10 pm
Location: Hunter, NYC

Post by Sir Thopas »

Regarding the questions, I'd look into purchasing some NAQT A-level series for practice.
User avatar
cvdwightw
Auron
Posts: 3291
Joined: Tue May 13, 2003 12:46 am
Location: Southern CA
Contact:

Post by cvdwightw »

As to buzzers, The Judge and Zeecraft buzzers are probably the most common ones in use. The Judge tends to be extremely rugged, with the most common problem being someone pulling the electrical cord out of the socket. It packets relatively easily, and supports 10 players. They don't have a website, so you'd have to contact other coaches about how to order them. The Zeecraft buzzer systems are also fairly long-lasting, though not as long as the Judge. As opposed to the Judge, which has 2 strings of 5 buzzers daisy-chained, Zeecraft systems have a central console with up to 16 slots to plug in hand-held buzzers, each with their individual light. Each buzzer plugs in through a (I think 14-foot) telephone cord; the most common problem is that over time the little plastic thingies on the end of the cord break, but you can get replacement parts at Radio Shack for like $5 and repair them yourself with a good crimper. The obvious advantages of the Zeecraft over the Judge are that you can play in a more spread-out area and (if you get one of the 12 or 16 player sets) with more players.

If you're concerned about buzzer cost, I'd recommend looking into the systems from buzzers.com, as these appear to be some of the cheapest on the market. I've only played on them once, but they appear to be sturdy, with individual hand-held buzzers each attached to the console similarly to Zeecraft (although with shorter cords) and lights on the console (similar to the Judge).
User avatar
ecks
Wakka
Posts: 248
Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2007 4:03 am
Location: Springfield, IL / Kirksville, MO

Post by ecks »

http://www.case.edu/orgs/trivia/internet/equip.html

^Good link for buzzer set info.

I personally like the buzzer.com buzzersets better than the Judge, but then again I've never been a fan of the Judge.

My absolute favorite buzzer system, which I've only ever seen in Illinois, is this system: http://www.buzzersystems.com/#SYSTEMS

I really like their "delux" system; it has served my former high school's program really well.
Christopher Stone
Truman State University '09
User avatar
Sir Thopas
Auron
Posts: 1330
Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2006 10:10 pm
Location: Hunter, NYC

Post by Sir Thopas »

cvdwightw wrote:If you're concerned about buzzer cost, I'd recommend looking into the systems from buzzers.com, as these appear to be some of the cheapest on the market. I've only played on them once, but they appear to be sturdy, with individual hand-held buzzers each attached to the console similarly to Zeecraft (although with shorter cords) and lights on the console (similar to the Judge).
After about a year, we're down to 5 or 6 working ones. Our next system will not be from them.
User avatar
theMoMA
Forums Staff: Administrator
Posts: 5993
Joined: Mon Oct 23, 2006 2:00 am

Post by theMoMA »

You want the Judge. It is probably the most reliable and easiest to set up of all the buzzers out there.
User avatar
Matthew D
Yuna
Posts: 920
Joined: Sun Oct 23, 2005 9:52 pm
Location: Scenic Grant Alabama

Post by Matthew D »

I have to agree, I have 2 of them and they will stand up to a bit of abuse
User avatar
DumbJaques
Forums Staff: Administrator
Posts: 3109
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2004 6:21 pm
Location: Columbus, OH

Post by DumbJaques »

You want the Judge. It is probably the most reliable and easiest to set up of all the buzzers out there.
Please ignore him, he is ham-wielding terrorist.


Seriously, I just hate playing on the judge. And if you want reliability, find the buzzers with the actual ringing bells. Northwestern has had the same one for like twenty years.
User avatar
Ditzy Blonde
Lulu
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2007 8:50 pm
Location: Scottsboro, AL

Post by Ditzy Blonde »

Although, I have not been in the circuit nearly as long as any of you, The Judge can defiantley hold up to a bunch of Jr. High and High School Kid abuse...these kids trip over it, slam it terribly and it still keeps on buzzing. Kind of like the energizer bunny...it seems to do quite well for our purposes. :roll:
User avatar
Ditzy Blonde
Lulu
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2007 8:50 pm
Location: Scottsboro, AL

Post by Ditzy Blonde »

Also, Mr. Schnippert, we would love to have you bring your team to our high school tournament in September...in North Alabama. Pensacola High came last year so it might worth the trip for you as well! Hope you get your buzzers and team "buzzing" along very quickly!
Mrs. D (Ditzy Blonde)
User avatar
Mike Bentley
Sin
Posts: 6461
Joined: Fri Mar 31, 2006 11:03 pm
Location: Bellevue, WA
Contact:

Post by Mike Bentley »

I would like to reiterate the fact that The Judge is terrible for playing quizbowl on. It works, yes. But you will hate it every time that you use it. The cords are so unbelievably short that they're constantly falling off the desks, and your students will have to be pretty much on top of each other to play.
Mike Bentley
Treasurer, Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence
Adviser, Quizbowl Team at University of Washington
University of Maryland, Class of 2008
User avatar
Matthew D
Yuna
Posts: 920
Joined: Sun Oct 23, 2005 9:52 pm
Location: Scenic Grant Alabama

Post by Matthew D »

I swear that buzzer systems are like car brands, with some it is just love at first drive and for others it is torture just looking at them...
The only system I really can't stand is the dang quick pro system, I spent more time fixing broken light connectors that I did anything else. Due to that fact, I will not buy another one.
MrSchnippert
Lulu
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:54 pm
Location: Jacksonville, FL

Thanks!

Post by MrSchnippert »

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I remember using the QuikPro when I was in HS, and I remember how easily we often broke them and had to fix it. I'm going to have the person who is already there see if we can afford to get the Zeecraft buzzers. I've worked with those a lot with my CAC team, and I recognize them as the ones the local district uses for competitions. I realized that I couldn't even tell you what my current school uses. It's a tan box that reads the top 3 numbers of the buzzers. No lights, and my system has 16 handheld buttons (and a colleague's has 12).

MrsD, thanks for the invite, but Pensacola is a LONG way from NE Florida, about 6 hours, and North Alabama is probably an 8-10 hour drive from here. Maybe after a few seasons we might start traveling that far, but not until we get an established team.

I know that Panasonic/CAC with their strange format has only one button per team (except the finals), but do most of the other national competitions stick to a buzzer per player? Is there any sort of primer on how all of the major tournaments differ in format?
User avatar
Ditzy Blonde
Lulu
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2007 8:50 pm
Location: Scottsboro, AL

Post by Ditzy Blonde »

You are always welcome in North Alabama. But, I don't blame you for not wanting to travel that far this year! BEST of luck to you and your team. I hope you have a great season and that your buzzers work for all your needs.
User avatar
The Goffman Prophecies
Quizbowl Detective Extraordinaire
Posts: 1611
Joined: Wed Mar 03, 2004 10:25 pm
Location: Wichita, KS

Post by The Goffman Prophecies »

ikillkenny wrote:I would like to reiterate the fact that The Judge is terrible for playing quizbowl on. It works, yes. But you will hate it every time that you use it. The cords are so unbelievably short that they're constantly falling off the desks, and your students will have to be pretty much on top of each other to play.
Seconded.

I played on several of the svbz.com sets while at TRASHionals this past weekend and enjoyed them, even more than the Zeecraft. They're lightweight and seem to be easy to transport. I can't speak for durability or ease of replacement, but they were a blast to use.
User avatar
Mike Bentley
Sin
Posts: 6461
Joined: Fri Mar 31, 2006 11:03 pm
Location: Bellevue, WA
Contact:

Post by Mike Bentley »

Bill Buckner wrote:
ikillkenny wrote:I would like to reiterate the fact that The Judge is terrible for playing quizbowl on. It works, yes. But you will hate it every time that you use it. The cords are so unbelievably short that they're constantly falling off the desks, and your students will have to be pretty much on top of each other to play.
Seconded.

I played on several of the svbz.com sets while at TRASHionals this past weekend and enjoyed them, even more than the Zeecraft. They're lightweight and seem to be easy to transport. I can't speak for durability or ease of replacement, but they were a blast to use.
We got three of these recently and they work pretty well, but I've heard they might have some durability problems. They do come with a 3 year warranty though.
Mike Bentley
Treasurer, Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence
Adviser, Quizbowl Team at University of Washington
University of Maryland, Class of 2008
Byko
Yuna
Posts: 996
Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2003 1:54 pm
Location: Edgewater, MD

Re: Thanks!

Post by Byko »

MrSchnippert wrote:Thanks for all of your suggestions. I remember using the QuikPro when I was in HS, and I remember how easily we often broke them and had to fix it. I'm going to have the person who is already there see if we can afford to get the Zeecraft buzzers. I've worked with those a lot with my CAC team, and I recognize them as the ones the local district uses for competitions. I realized that I couldn't even tell you what my current school uses. It's a tan box that reads the top 3 numbers of the buzzers. No lights, and my system has 16 handheld buttons (and a colleague's has 12).

MrsD, thanks for the invite, but Pensacola is a LONG way from NE Florida, about 6 hours, and North Alabama is probably an 8-10 hour drive from here. Maybe after a few seasons we might start traveling that far, but not until we get an established team.

I know that Panasonic/CAC with their strange format has only one button per team (except the finals), but do most of the other national competitions stick to a buzzer per player? Is there any sort of primer on how all of the major tournaments differ in format?
First off, welcome to the board, and welcome back to the quiz bowl world! Which school in Florida are you with? I ask just because several of us will certainly be interested to follow along next year and thereafter.

I think Matthew D is exactly right about buzzers being like car brands--what one person loves, someone else hates. As long as you have some sort of buzzer system, that's what's really important, I think.

As far as I know, Panasonic/CAC is the only format that plays with the unusual one buzzer per team (or two per team in the finals, I think) among local and national competitions. For comparing the various nationals, Matt Weiner (the creator of this board) used to have a comparison among the national championships linked off of the front page of the website. If you look this site up on http://www.archive.org, you'd be able to find it.

What competitions are local to your area? Florida seems to be one of those states that we don't have a real sense of what's happening quiz bowl-wise outside of Panasonic/CAC. I'm very interested to find out more.
Dave Bykowski
Furman '00
Michigan '02
PACE 1998-2009
Director, JROTC National Academic Bowl Championship
User avatar
rchschem
Yuna
Posts: 762
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2003 7:36 am
Location: Durham, NC

Post by rchschem »

DumbJaques wrote:
You want the Judge. It is probably the most reliable and easiest to set up of all the buzzers out there.
Please ignore him, he is ham-wielding terrorist.


Seriously, I just hate playing on the judge. And if you want reliability, find the buzzers with the actual ringing bells. Northwestern has had the same one for like twenty years.
Preach it, brother.

The Judge is great if you want everyone within 4 feet of the moderator and you have feet for hands.

We use the NED jobs, and though they are expensive, they rock. The buzzers tend to go out after a couple of years if you're not gentle with them, but they can be refurbished by the factory. Don't try to fix them yourself; it's easier to build a new one from scratch.

Eric
User avatar
vcuEvan
Auron
Posts: 1085
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2004 5:49 pm
Location: Richmond VA

Post by vcuEvan »

Our buzzers tend to go out within a couple of weeks. Maybe we're just rough.
MrSchnippert
Lulu
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:54 pm
Location: Jacksonville, FL

Re: Thanks!

Post by MrSchnippert »

Byko wrote: First off, welcome to the board, and welcome back to the quiz bowl world! Which school in Florida are you with? I ask just because several of us will certainly be interested to follow along next year and thereafter.
I will be teaching at Episcopal High School in Jacksonville next year.
Byko wrote: As far as I know, Panasonic/CAC is the only format that plays with the unusual one buzzer per team (or two per team in the finals, I think) among local and national competitions. For comparing the various nationals, Matt Weiner (the creator of this board) used to have a comparison among the national championships linked off of the front page of the website. If you look this site up on http://www.archive.org, you'd be able to find it.
It's at http://web.archive.org/web/200302070421 ... rmats.html

Byko wrote: What competitions are local to your area? Florida seems to be one of those states that we don't have a real sense of what's happening quiz bowl-wise outside of Panasonic/CAC. I'm very interested to find out more.
In Jacksonville, the district sponsors "Brain Brawl," a televised format (using questions they've been reusing-- no new questions since at least 1990) similar to College Bowl. Two 10 minute rounds of 4pt tossups with 10pt bonuses (no penalty for incorrect, except -2 if an interrupt), and a 2 minute lightning round with a max of 25 4pt questions (-4 if incorrect). My kids at Stanton this year won the district competition, then 3 of them were on Duval's team that competed at CAC and came in 5th in division 1.

As for other FL districts, I know that the I-4 corridor (central FL) primarily competes in CAC style amongst the schools in each district. In Northeast FL, the other districts here do HiQ. I don't know what HiQ is, but the districts around Jacksonville all compete in it.
User avatar
Captain Sinico
Auron
Posts: 2675
Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2003 1:46 pm
Location: Champaign, Illinois

Re: Thanks!

Post by Captain Sinico »

MrSchnippert wrote:...It's a tan box that reads the top 3 numbers of the buzzers. No lights, and my system has 16 handheld buttons (and a colleague's has 12).
Sounds like you've got a Novel Electronic Devices QuizWizard, colloquially known as "the Gordian knot" for reasons that will probably become obvious. We've got one of those, but it hasn't held up as well as our The Judge. Your mileage may vary.

MaS
User avatar
Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)
Chairman of Anti-Music Mafia Committee
Posts: 5647
Joined: Wed Jul 26, 2006 11:46 pm

Post by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) »

Something you might want to consider sooner or later (to get more funds, but also for the experience) would be to run a tournament. An idea for that might be to make your new students try to write parts of it, because then they can learn more and reinforce it. If you don't house write it, go NAQT or something pyramidal because there are so many shady question writers out there.
Charlie Dees, North Kansas City HS '08
"I won't say more because I know some of you parse everything I say." - Jeremy Gibbs

"At one TJ tournament the neg prize was the Hampshire College ultimate frisbee team (nude) calender featuring one Evan Silberman. In retrospect that could have been a disaster." - Harry White
sweaver
Lulu
Posts: 87
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2006 5:31 pm
Location: West Virginia

Post by sweaver »

I recommend Anderson buzzer systems. About $200 for a system, simple and reliable.
MrSchnippert
Lulu
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:54 pm
Location: Jacksonville, FL

Re: Thanks!

Post by MrSchnippert »

ImmaculateDeception wrote:known as "the Gordian knot" for reasons that will probably become obvious.
I don't know how old it is, but it's no more than 7 years old (we didn't have it when I was a student on the team in 2000), and gets yanked off of the table at least once a week. I can definitely agree about the knot, but I've thankfully been able to get them to put it back neatly every time. I'm not sure I need a system that big at my new school.
User avatar
First Chairman
Auron
Posts: 3651
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2003 8:21 pm
Location: Fairfax VA
Contact:

Post by First Chairman »

Sorry I'm late to this.

Welcome to the bulletin board. You will also notice the PACE Special Discussions section. We haven't had a lot of input since we did some focus discussions last summer, but you may find some of the information there of interest to help you with building your program.

We are also definitely interested in a primer for coaches and academic teams, though obviously our sample here does not suggest there is a "need" for such a document (but we may be wrong about that). Does anyone think such a document would be useful?
Emil Thomas Chuck, Ph.D.
Founder, PACE
Facebook junkie and unofficial advisor to aspiring health professionals in quiz bowl
---
Pimping Green Tea Ginger Ale (Canada Dry)
MrSchnippert
Lulu
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:54 pm
Location: Jacksonville, FL

New School Package

Post by MrSchnippert »

I've found NAQT's site, PACE's, and Questions Unlimited, but there doesn't seem to be a way to order PACE questions. Is there some central site (or even a big package like the other 2 have) where I can order questions from PACE?

Thanks!
User avatar
First Chairman
Auron
Posts: 3651
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2003 8:21 pm
Location: Fairfax VA
Contact:

Post by First Chairman »

You "order" questions by requesting the FREE set from me. You'll only get the sets from 1998 to 2005. I'm doing a final call for registrations so that teams currently listed as "registered" get the 2006 set in May.
Last edited by First Chairman on Mon Apr 30, 2007 12:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Emil Thomas Chuck, Ph.D.
Founder, PACE
Facebook junkie and unofficial advisor to aspiring health professionals in quiz bowl
---
Pimping Green Tea Ginger Ale (Canada Dry)
User avatar
Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)
Chairman of Anti-Music Mafia Committee
Posts: 5647
Joined: Wed Jul 26, 2006 11:46 pm

Post by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) »

No :chip: please. Don't waste your money on that.
Charlie Dees, North Kansas City HS '08
"I won't say more because I know some of you parse everything I say." - Jeremy Gibbs

"At one TJ tournament the neg prize was the Hampshire College ultimate frisbee team (nude) calender featuring one Evan Silberman. In retrospect that could have been a disaster." - Harry White
Byko
Yuna
Posts: 996
Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2003 1:54 pm
Location: Edgewater, MD

Post by Byko »

Full Devil Jacket wrote:You "order" questions by requesting the FREE set from me. You'll only get the sets from 1998 to 2005. I'm doing a final call for registrations so that teams currently listed as "registered" get the 2006 set in May.
There are also a couple of older PACE-formatted sets (along with some in other formats) available for purchase from Academic Initiative. You can find information at our website: http://www.aiquizbowl.com.
Dave Bykowski
Furman '00
Michigan '02
PACE 1998-2009
Director, JROTC National Academic Bowl Championship
Locked