The round began. Mitch listened excitedly as the first literature question came bounding around the corner — but to Mitch’s horror, Chard, with a stroke of his finger, outbuzzed him to take it. He “cleanly beat me,” Mitch remembered. Mitch was ashamed, but determined to make things right.
But then came the second literature question. Pumped full of adrenaline, Mitch could now hardly focus. As he heard the first line, Mitch wondered if he knew it. He did, he decided; and besides, “I didn’t want to lose a Dog in the Manger tossup to [C]hard cause I thought he might know clues for that.” Mitch buzzed in.
“The Dog in the Manger?” he asked. He was wrong.
Mitch fell back. The moderator kept reading, and in disbelief, he realized that he knew the very next clue, and that his opponent, the seemingly almighty Chard, did not. Mitch was distraught; and as the tossups continued, he soon lost the game.
Mitch’s experience, while heartbreaking, is far from unique. Myriad quizbowl games each year pit otherwise solid and rational players against elite “boogeymen” whom they just can’t seem to play rationally against. Sometimes these “boogeymen” have comprehensively beaten the players in the past; and sometimes their reputations just precede them. But in almost every case, the rational players end up negging far more than they should, and the “boogeymen” end up winning.
Why is this the case? The answer, almost invariably, lies in something called heartrate theory. While playing “boogeymen,” rational players often experience increased bursts of adrenaline, leading them to have elevated heartrates. This leads to the manifestation of several symptoms detrimental to their level of quizbowl play, including but not limited to:
- They begin to believe they must buzz early in order to have a chance to beat the “boogeymen.” This leads them to take unnecessary risks, or go for it when they’re on a hunch — and at well-written tournaments, this is almost always a bad idea.
- Their fingers begin to tremble more; and this can cause them to buzz inadvertently, or to press the buzzer too far when they otherwise would’ve pulled back.
- They begin to think about things other than the question at hand: for example, how badly they’ve been beaten in the past, how crucial it is that they win, and how difficult it must be to beat the “boogeyman.” This leads the player to lose concentration, and miss clues that otherwise would’ve helped them.
- In cases when their teammates neg, they might become overly distressed because they believe their teammate has deprived them of one of the only chances to get a question against the “boogeyman.” This leads both to decreased team chemistry and further mental pain.
What’s behind heartrate theory?
We start with what I call the “rational player.” In a normal quiz bowl match, a “rational player” should always “play the question, not the opponent”; they should buzz in only when they have sufficient confidence that their answer is the correct answer.
This confidence threshold varies from question to question (and from player to player), but it should generally be greater than 80%. Determining when your confidence will reach this threshold is in itself an art; players who are better able to project their confidence are more likely to win buzzer races, and more likely thus to “tilt” (or throw off) their opponents.
Some theorists may argue that players should buzz earlier against players they know to be better; but this is fundamentally wrong-headed. The reason lies in a fundamental cost-benefit assessment that derives from two main principles:
- The “boogeyman” in question always has a chance to neg the question, allowing you to pick it up at the end.
- The “boogeyman” in question is almost never nearly as scary as the “rational player” thinks.
It’s this lethal concoction that leads rational players to stumble and fall when playing “boogeymen.” It’s not because they aren’t good enough, but because they don’t know how to handle these delicate situations adeptly. And it’s this concoction “rational players” must learn how to fix in order to increase their chances of success.
What can I do?
If you’re one of the Chards of the world, harnessing heartrate theory to your advantage is as easy as one, two, and three:
- Maintain a high degree of personal prestige. This means maintaining some distance from the wider community so “rational players” feel more nervous when coming into contact with you. Share the minimum necessary information about your knowledge base to players, so that they cannot excessively pore over your buzzpoints for weaknesses that will make them feel better. Post in complete sentences, and with capital letters, whenever you need to communicate.
- During games, maintain the appearance of mental fortitude. Do not talk more than necessary; and when you do talk (say, to confer), talk with confidence. Say “great buzz” to your teammates when they get questions or pull hard answerlines, and have your teammates fist-bump you only subtly when you get questions. And use reverse psychology. If a player shakily gets a good buzz in your category, tell them “good buzz” so they feel that their get was only lucky, instead of a sign of things to come.
- After the game, shake hands firmly and leave immediately. The closer you get to a “rational player,” the more the mystique wears off. Save your mystique so that you’ll come into the next game as the “boogeyman,” and thereby gain a decisive advantage over “rational players” ignorant of the malignancy of the heartrate effect.
- Take a deep breath. It might sound cliché, but we are evolutionarily programmed to be scared of certain things (and people), and if every muscle in your body is telling you to run, it’s difficult to play rationally. Relax your muscles, and relax your mind. Perhaps listen to a video of the Wim Hof method and breathe along, or listen to a comfort song. Put yourself in a headspace where you feel as if you’re in control.
- Look directly at the “boogeyman,” and smile. There will be one of two responses. Either the “boogeyman” will smile back, in which case her seeming invincibility thaws; or the “boogeyman” will not, in which case her iciness will suffuse your subconscious with hate instead of fear. This won’t ever have a significant impact, but every bit counts.
- When questions start getting read, stay locked in on the question. Banish all thoughts of the player from your mind. “Play the tossup, not the opponent,” in other words; ensure that you’re rationally thinking about all of the clues, and that you only buzz in when you’ve actually hit that confidence threshold.
- Don’t try to make yourself the “boogeyman.” In my years of playing quizbowl, I’ve been the “boogeyman” a few times, and I’ve seen rational players tremble and mumble something along the lines of “oh yeah, I would’ve gotten that the next line” to their teammates after negging, when that’s clearly not the case. It only makes you look pathetic to the "boogeyman," and further adds to your mental pain as you subject yourself to the load of a lie.
- If you do get a tossup early on in the specialty of the “boogeyman,” tell yourself “that’s right” instead of “phew.” Mindset matters. If you truly believe that that tossup was the first of many, you’ll play up to that level. If you believe that tossup was a stroke of luck, or that you’re glad you weren’t swept, however, things are much less likely to go well for you.
- Seek support from your teammates when you get tossups against “boogeymen.” This support can subconsciously give you more confidence, and allow you to lower your own heartrate as you progress further along in the match.
- When the match finishes, choose your words and thoughts wisely. If you’ve been beaten to more questions than you’d hoped by the “boogeyman,” don’t say “you’re so good” or think “man that wasn’t winnable.” Think instead that in another round, you would’ve played better; or that it was a good match, but the “boogeyman” experienced a lucky round. If you’ve beaten “the boogeyman,” engage in self-affirmation. Think, “see, I beat her!” instead of “I can’t believe I beat her.”
- Outside of tournaments, bridge the gap between you and your “boogeymen.” As the brilliant Zhou dynasty strategist Sun Tzu said, “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.” If you reach out and they reciprocate, that’s great! — you can now remove some of the frost that makes you so scared. If you play online, for instance, even better — you can calm your mind as to the skill of your “boogeyman” as you internalize that she isn’t as good as you thought. If you reach out and they don’t reciprocate, meanwhile, you can subtly shift your perception of the “boogeyman” from fear to hate. This only allows you to play with more intent while simultaneously keeping your heartrate lower than it would be under a “flight” response.
If Mitch had followed the precepts — had he taken a deep breath before playing Chard, had he looked at his “boogeyman” and smiled, and had he stayed locked in on the question itself instead of his opponent, for instance — he might have gotten that question, and won the match. But he didn’t. Instead, he lost his control, and he lost the match.
It’s too late for Mitch now. But it’s not too late for you. Each of us has our own “boogeymen,” and each of us, without proper preparation, will be at a distinct disadvantage whenever we play them due to heartrate theory. But by following these precepts, we can make it so that we have a shot — and a shot may be all we need to achieve a most unlikely victory.
(All parties have consented to their inclusion in this post)
