Buzzword: A New Online Competition from NAQT

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Buzzword: A New Online Competition from NAQT

Post by Important Bird Area »

(cross-posted to the middle school and high school forums as well)
naqt.com wrote:What is Buzzword?

Buzzword is an exciting new online game of knowledge and recall from NAQT. Challenge the depth and breadth of your knowledge in Buzzword's engaging, audio-based format and compare your results with players at your level from around the world!

Buzzword is played on all-new questions by NAQT. These questions are never reused within Buzzword or any other competition.

How does a Buzzword game work?

When you’re ready, you’ll hear an audio recording of a question. There will be multiple clues that all point to the same answer, arranged from most difficult to easiest—in other words, an ordinary quiz bowl tossup question.

As soon as you know the answer, buzz in by pressing the button. The audio file will stop and you’ll be able to enter your answer. If your answer is correct, you’ll receive 10 points plus up to 10 additional points depending on how early in the question you buzzed. If you get to the end of the question, you might as well take a guess; there is no penalty for wrong answers.

At the end of the game, you’ll see your score. Each game is available for a week, so keep checking the standings to see how your score holds up against the competition. You’ll be able to dig into rich statistics showing scoring statistics for each question, who buzzed fastest, who’s performing the best in each category, and more.

New buzzword games will be available regularly—weekly, for now—and will results will be tracked over eight-week seasons.

Who can play Buzzword?

Players play Buzzword in one of four divisions based on their school enrollment status:

Middle School, for players who are eligible under the NAQT Middle School Eligibility Rules.

High School, for players who are eligible under the NAQT High School Eligibility Rules and are not eligible under the NAQT Middle School Eligibility Rules (i.e., middle schoolers cannot “play up”).

College, for players who are eligible under the NAQT Collegiate Eligibility Rules (including community college students and graduate students) and are not eligible under the NAQT Middle School Eligibility Rules nor the NAQT High School Eligibility Rules.

Open, for players who are not eligible for any of the other three divisions.

Although the first three divisions require enrollment in a school or homeschool for eligibility, Buzzword is not a school-based competition and players do not represent their schools.

Buzzword is available at three difficulty levels: Level A (easiest), Level B, and Level C (hardest).

You can play Buzzword at any combination of division and difficulty, including multiple difficulty levels (but not multiple divisions, regardless of education/enrollment status).

Buzzword requires an NAQT website account, and is therefore limited to players who are at least 13 years old.

How are Buzzword events structured?

Buzzword is played in eight-week seasons. You can start playing at any point in a season.

Each season, there will be one 50-question game per week (at each difficulty level).

In Level A (easiest), each game starts Thursday and runs through Sunday; players can play any time in that range. Players should review results (and, if necessary, lodge protests) on Tuesday, and results will be finalized (and winners announced) Wednesday.

In Level B (middle), each game starts Friday and runs through Monday; players can play any time in that range. Players should review results (and, if necessary, lodge protests) on Wednesday, and results will be finalized (and winners announced) Thursday.

In Level C (hardest), each game starts Saturday and runs through Tuesday; players can play any time in that range. Players should review results (and, if necessary, lodge protests) on Thursday, and results will be finalized (and winners announced) Friday.

All of the gameplay days are based on midnight Central time (with daylight saving time when applicable). For example, if you’re registered to play a Level A game and you’re in the Pacific time zone, you can play starting at 10 p.m. Wednesday (because that’s midnight Wednesday Central time) and you must finish playing by Sunday night at 10 p.m. (because that’s the midnight that ends Sunday in Central time).

After each game (week), players will be ranked overall, by region, by grade (except in the Open Division), and (after the first Buzzword season) among new players (players who had not competed in that division before).

After each season, players’ five best scores will be used to rank them in the same ways. Players will also be ranked in individual subject areas (based on all questions, not just their five best games).

How much does Buzzword cost?

Each game (week) costs $5, or $35 for an eight-game season.

Not sure if you’re ready for that kind of commitment? Try a sample game.

What do I need?

Most computers and mobile devices can play Buzzword! You’ll need speakers or headphones to hear the questions, and you’ll need to be able to type answers.

Am I allowed to look things up?

Buzzword is about testing your knowledge and recall, not your search-engine skills. You may not use any resources outside of your brain (such as reference material or other people).

What else should I know about Buzzword?

We wrote up some frequently asked questions and answers (well, questions we guessed would be frequently asked).
Full details are here. Registration is now open!
Jeff Hoppes
President, Northern California Quiz Bowl Alliance
former HSQB Chief Admin (2012-13)
VP for Communication and history subject editor, NAQT
Editor emeritus, ACF

"I wish to make some kind of joke about Jeff's love of birds, but I always fear he'll turn them on me Hitchcock-style." -Fred
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Re: Buzzword: A New Online Competition from NAQT

Post by vinteuil »

The FAQ says questions may be made available for practice—does that mean that people would have to purchase them? Will competitors have access to questions they've played on?
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Re: Buzzword: A New Online Competition from NAQT

Post by Important Bird Area »

The Buzzword player results screen always shows the complete text of Buzzword questions that you have previously played. (The note about practice questions is there to indicate that after specific Buzzword events conclude, some tossups used in this project will also show up in future collections of our practice material.)
Jeff Hoppes
President, Northern California Quiz Bowl Alliance
former HSQB Chief Admin (2012-13)
VP for Communication and history subject editor, NAQT
Editor emeritus, ACF

"I wish to make some kind of joke about Jeff's love of birds, but I always fear he'll turn them on me Hitchcock-style." -Fred
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Re: Buzzword: A New Online Competition from NAQT

Post by Cosmas's Tabernacular Earth »

What difficulty level is each tier (A,B,C) comparable to? I've heard a bunch of answers thrown around but would like to hear something official to better advertise this to my circuit.
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Re: Buzzword: A New Online Competition from NAQT

Post by naan/steak-holding toll »

Cosmas's Tabernacular Earth wrote: Mon Apr 20, 2020 8:53 pm What difficulty level is each tier (A,B,C) comparable to? I've heard a bunch of answers thrown around but would like to hear something official to better advertise this to my circuit.
Not speaking for NAQT officially here, but my understanding is that they're meant to be similar to MS, IS-A, and IS-sets respectively.
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Re: Buzzword: A New Online Competition from NAQT

Post by The Story of a Head That Fell Off »

Important Bird Area wrote: Mon Apr 20, 2020 1:59 pm The Buzzword player results screen always shows the complete text of Buzzword questions that you have previously played. (The note about practice questions is there to indicate that after specific Buzzword events conclude, some tossups used in this project will also show up in future collections of our practice material.)
Will the sample question text be available as well?
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Re: Buzzword: A New Online Competition from NAQT

Post by setht »

The Story of a Head That Fell Off wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2020 4:21 am
Important Bird Area wrote: Mon Apr 20, 2020 1:59 pm The Buzzword player results screen always shows the complete text of Buzzword questions that you have previously played. (The note about practice questions is there to indicate that after specific Buzzword events conclude, some tossups used in this project will also show up in future collections of our practice material.)
Will the sample question text be available as well?
It should be as of tomorrow morning.

More specifically: as of tomorrow morning, after playing a sample game you will be able to view the full text for each question in the game, whether or not you were logged in while playing the game.

In addition, once the competitions start (Thursday/Friday/Saturday for levels A/B/C) there will be a player results screen, which will have links to the text of every Buzzword question you've played. This will include links to sample game questions if you were logged in when you played the sample game(s).
Seth Teitler
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Re: Buzzword: A New Online Competition from NAQT

Post by warum »

When a season of Buzzword is over, overall standings reflect the best 5 games of each player. Will category standings be calculated similarly, or are they only based on total points scored in each category, favoring players who played more games?
Natan Holtzman
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Re: Buzzword: A New Online Competition from NAQT

Post by Important Bird Area »

Subject-area rankings are based on all questions (not just the five best games).
Jeff Hoppes
President, Northern California Quiz Bowl Alliance
former HSQB Chief Admin (2012-13)
VP for Communication and history subject editor, NAQT
Editor emeritus, ACF

"I wish to make some kind of joke about Jeff's love of birds, but I always fear he'll turn them on me Hitchcock-style." -Fred
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Re: Buzzword: A New Online Competition from NAQT

Post by i never see pigeons in wheeling »

The front page of Buzzword has the film sample listed as "Play Level C (hardest) Sample Game."
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Re: Buzzword: A New Online Competition from NAQT

Post by Important Bird Area »

i never see pigeons in wheeling wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 5:14 pm The front page of Buzzword has the film sample listed as "Play Level C (hardest) Sample Game."
This has been fixed; thanks for bringing the error to our attention.
Jeff Hoppes
President, Northern California Quiz Bowl Alliance
former HSQB Chief Admin (2012-13)
VP for Communication and history subject editor, NAQT
Editor emeritus, ACF

"I wish to make some kind of joke about Jeff's love of birds, but I always fear he'll turn them on me Hitchcock-style." -Fred
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Re: Buzzword: A New Online Competition from NAQT

Post by Skepticism and Animal Feed »

This was really fun, and by far the most professional quizbowl-related web thing I have ever encountered. Huge praise due to NAQT.
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Re: Buzzword: A New Online Competition from NAQT

Post by Important Bird Area »

cross-posted from the main Buzzword thread --JTH

We have two exciting announcements about Buzzword season 2, which starts Thursday, July 2.

Buzzword season 2 will add a fourth, more challenging difficulty level. Tossups at Level D are similar to those read at our High School National Championship Tournament.

We've also added a popular culture season: this will be an eight-week event in season 2, with questions about television, film, music, video games, musical theater, and comics.

Finally, a reminder that our special events focusing on Food and Drink and World History start play today and are available through Tuesday, June 30.

Register here!
Jeff Hoppes
President, Northern California Quiz Bowl Alliance
former HSQB Chief Admin (2012-13)
VP for Communication and history subject editor, NAQT
Editor emeritus, ACF

"I wish to make some kind of joke about Jeff's love of birds, but I always fear he'll turn them on me Hitchcock-style." -Fred
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