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We understand that good questions take much longer to craft than unoriginal ones and that beginning players often do not have the experience to realize what separates a good question from a mediocre ones, so it would be unreasonable to demand perfection from every pack. We simply ask that you try to create a pack of questions that you would enjoy playing. (This should not be confused with creating a pack of questions concerning only subjects that interest you.)
To help you with construction of the pack, we have included a list of guidelines. Some of these are written to help moderators who will read your packet but are not on your team or at your site.
The Topic Areas and Reference Sources section contains many links and particular advice for each subject category. The idea is to make it easy for you to write your packet while this window is open, going through each category in turn. The biggest problem that we've found in writing a packet is simply coming up with ideas on what to write about. We hope that this section will be as helpful to you as it is to us.
You may need to bring up to three copies of your packet, because that's how many simultaneous games may be played on it.
Do not send your packet to the contact person, because he'll probably be playing on it!
You can think of this as having some teams "adopt" one and only one other team. The purpose of the above rules is to allow more freedom in scheduling, so that no more than two teams are required to have byes in a round. If you're on team C and you got help from both Bob on team A and Doug on team B, then all three teams would have to sit out your packet. That's a situation we'd prefer to avoid.
You may omit the multimedia questions in the e-mailed packet, although visual questions are usually easy to send by e-mail.
Basically, a multimedia question is one that requires props. You must have one set for every game room, and there may be up to four game rooms.
We are requiring at least one multimedia question in every packet, because these questions are fun to play on. But they're also fun to compose! These questions are banned in most American quiz bowl tournaments, but we think that this fact just adds to the thrill. You can appeal to all five senses:
As a source of audio clips, you need not limit yourself to your own CD/MP3 collection: the World Wide Web offers a wealth of MP3 and RealAudio files that you can record off your computer.
In our experience, it's best to limit each sound segment to at most 20 seconds, unless you have a bonus with several parts asking about a single sound segment, in which case up to 30 seconds is OK. If you have multiple sound segments on a tape, please include some sort of audible signal between each segment, so that the moderator knows when to press STOP (and has time to press it before the next segment begins).
TOSSUP The Noble Prize in Medicine, I can never remember who won, at least most of them. For ten points, name any one of the three recently announced winners of this year's prize.After correcting the spelling and the name of the prize, the question could be rewritten:
TOSSUP For a quick 10 points, name any one of the three winners of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology.Of course, either way, this is a one-fact tossup, which should be avoided (see below).
The acid/base indicator phenolphthalein ["fee-nole-THALE-in"] is used in ... The economist John Maynard Keynes ["KAYNZ"] wrote his General Theory ...
Name these things in the tirade located at www dot F the south dot com ... C. At the end of the rant, the red states are told that they can't have their (expletive deleted) convention here next time.
Answer: SPAM Answer: George A. HORMEL and Company Answer: ACETONE or 2-PROPANONE or DIMETHYL KETONE or (CH)3(COCH)3If you'll be using ASCII format, so that underlining isn't possible, then put _underscores_ around the minimum information.
Answer: (Martin) Brian MULRONEY Answer: Rajeev Ratna GANDHI Answer: Richard STRAUSS
Answer: Shirley Jane TEMPLE or BLACK Answer: Hillary Diane RODHAM, or Hillary Diane CLINTON
Answer: George ORWELL, or Eric Arthur BLAIR Answer: Francois-Marie AROUET, or VOLTAIRE
Answer: CASSE-NOISETTE, or the NUTCRACKER ballet or suite Answer: VOINA I MIR, or WAR AND PEACE Answer: HEPTA EPI THEBAS, or SEVEN AGAINST THEBES Answer: DIE ZAUBERFLOETE, or the MAGIC FLUTETo find the original title, consult a literary encyclopedia such as Benet's, or try a library catalogue, many of which are on-line.
Translations of the title into languages other than English should not be accepted. So, for example, "La guerre et la paix", the French translation of "Voina i mir", would not be accepted unless the question were actually asking about a French translation.
Non-"standard" translations of original titles should also be accepted, especially if they are better than the standard ones. For example, the title of Dostoyevsky's Bratya Karamazovy is usually translated as The Brothers Karamazov, even though this is not correct idiomatic English. Proust's A la recherche du temps perdu is usually translated as Remembrance of Things Past, even though this is a mistranslation of the title. Include a literal translation when possible, together with translations that have appeared in print. Examples:
Answer: A LA RECHERCHE DU TEMPS PERDU, or REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST,
or IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME [literal]
Answer: BRATYA KARAMAZOVY, or the BROTHERS KARAMAZOV
Additional comment isn't needed in the last example, because the
moderator should be aware that "The Karamazov Brothers" means exactly
the same thing. Similarly, in the following example:
Answer: die ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL, or the ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIOan answer of "Kidnapping from the harem" would also be accepted, even if it does sound somewhat less refined.
Questions must be based on real, verifiable, factual information.
For 10 points each, name the two men who backed the Gallipoli campaign during the First World War.Backed in what way? There were hundreds, if not thousands of men who were directly involved in the Gallipoli campaign, and there were other men in politics, finance, the press, etc., who supported it.
What is the highest power in Hinduism?What kind of power? In what way "highest"? Even if we are told that the answer is "Brahman", we haven't learned anything about Hinduism at all.
BONUS Answer the following about the AngloSaxon epic Beowulf 10 points a piece: Where does Beowulf travel to?There are several possible answers: Denmark, Zealand, Heorot Hall, or back home to Sweden. The question should ask "which kingdom", "which island", or "which hall", and somehow specify that it refers to the beginning of the story.
BONUS 5 points for identifying each of these acronyms: 1. AFLYou get the idea. :)
TOSSUP The oldest German speaking university is, surprisingly, not in any German city, but rather in the capital of Bohemia. For ten points, name this city on the Moldau.This question is based on an interesting fact. However, far more information is begging to be added. What's the name of this university? When was it founded? Any university student should know how to find this information. In fact the question is actually misleading as a tossup, because a good player may buzz in early with the name of the university (Charles University). The question is also not strictly correct as written, because Charles U. no longer operates in German, so although it was the first German-speaking university, it is NOT the oldest German-speaking university. Here's an improved version, written after a little on-line research:
TOSSUP Seventeen years before Vienna, and 38 years before Heidelberg, this city in 1348 became the site of Europe's first German-speaking university, which was founded by, and named after, Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV. However, Charles University closed its German-speaking division in 1945. For ten points, name this capital of a country from which 3 million German-speaking citizens were expelled after World War Two.
Here's a question about John B. Watson, which was (perhaps unsurprisingly) the last tossup written in a packet:
TOSSUP he maintained the view that behavior should be the sole subject matter of psychology in the early 1900's. For ten points, name this American psychologist.This question contains no concrete facts at all. We also strongly suspect that Watson was NOT the only American psychologist who maintained the behaviorist view in the early 1900s.
If you ask for a particular historian's list of causes of something, that is closer to the realm of the acceptable, but these questions can be hard to score. For example, Edward Gibbon gave a famous list of five causes of the growth of Christianity, but for some of these (e.g., "the zeal of the Jews, its gradual increase"), it can be hard for the moderator to judge whether the players have given an answer that is "close enough". In any case, it's better to have history questions that ask about things that happened, instead of an historian's comments about what happened.
Finally, avoid questions about what "is thought", or "is considered", even if it's "by many". Example written in 1995:
TOSSUP In France, a spate of new terrorist attacks are thought to be the backlash of fundamentalists in for ten points this country where the current government is supported by France? Answer: ALGERIAI'm sure there were several countries, with governments supported by France, which were thought by at least one person to be the source of fundamentalists making terrorist attacks. Also note the complete lack of specific names, dates, and places in this question.
TOSSUP What do Ravel's D major Piano Concerto, Prokofiev's fourth piano concerto, and Brahms' transcription of the Bach Chaconne have in common? THEY'RE ALL WRITTEN FOR LEFT HAND (accpet equivalents, prompt on "one hand")One player's response: "They haven't been played in my kitchen." This answer is perfectly correct, and since it's correct, it deserves 10 points. There are lots of other possible correct answers, such as, they were all written by dead white European males, or Beethoven never heard any of them.
BONUS
Mexico City. Munich. Montreal. Moscow. For 5pts. apiece,
name the next five cities in proper order in this chronological
list.
Los Angeles, SEOUL, BARCELONA, ATLANTA, SYDNEY
(Summer Olympics Hosts, 1968-2000)
The four cities given in the list all hosted the Bulgarian team in the
summer Olympics; the next city to do so was not Los Angeles but Seoul.
BONUS
Give the correct term to describe each of these statements, ten points
apiece:
a) John is a student. All students study. John studies.
(SYLLOGSIM)
b) I fell down and hurt my knee yesterday. Therefore I will never eat
fish again.
(NON SEQUITUR)
c) Whenever Bill leaves his room, he locks his door. Bill's door is
not locked. Therefore Bill is in his room.
(CONTRAPOSITIVE)
All of these "statements" are written in prose. The first one consists of
three simple declarative sentences. And so on.
It is reasonable to ask for the collective name of a group, but be precise. For example, in a question about the Fates, instead of asking:
What are Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos?which would have "characters from Hesiod" as a correct answer, you should ask:
Give the collective name for Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos.
BONUS
Given the phylum, describe whether a member of the phylum would be an
acoelomate, pseudocoelomate, or coelomate for five points apiece.
(example. Porifera=Acoelomate).
Chordata (Coelomate)
Rotifera (Pseudocoelomate)
Coelenterata or Cnidaria (Acoelomate)
Platyhelmintes (Acoelomates)
Arthropoda (Coelomate)
What are acoelomates, pseudocoelomates, and coelomates?
Do we really want to know? Also notice that while this question
may be allowed by some tournaments, it is an illegal bonus question
for VETO because:
Tossups are intended to be interrupted at some point. The clues in a tossup should progress from hard to easier, and must not trick players into giving a wrong answer.
TOSSUP The name of this language means "of the coast" in Arabic. Today it is the mother tongue of about six million people, most of them living near the Indian Ocean, but it is also spoken by about forty million others as a common language in east Africa. For ten points, identify this Bantu language with the largest number of speakers, that is an official language of Kenya and Tanzania. Answer: SWAHILI (or KISWAHILI)This is a straightforward, factually dense question. It has many substantial clues:
The following example is modified from Gerard Magliocca:
TOSSUP This author's wife, Elaine, was upset when she saw his classic 1939 novel in a Japanese bookstore translated as "Angry Raisins". For 10 points, name this American author who described Rose, Sharon, Ma, and Tom as the Joad family travels during the Great Depression from Oklahoma to California in The Grapes of Wrath. Answer: John STEINBECKThis question has an interesting lead-in that will appeal to both players and spectators alike, making the question entertaining and memorable. It also has many substantial clues:
TOSSUP For a quick ten points, what is the capital of Afghanistan?We would prefer that almost all of your tossups contain at least four separate concrete clues.
Tossups should not be too long, either, because long tossups slow down the game. Do not exceed six (6) lines if writing in ASCII with 79 columns per line.
Two good teams should interrupt at least 80% of tossups.
TOSSUP Known as the Iron Chancellor, he received a famous telegram on September 17, 1862, from War Minister von Roon recalling him to Berlin to take control of the government. For 10 points, name this statesman, who ruled Prussia from 1862 to 1890.In a real match, this question would likely be over in 5 words. It could be rewritten as:
TOSSUP He received a famous telegram on September 17, 1862, from War Minister von Roon recalling him to Berlin to take control of the government. For 10 points, name this politician who ruled Prussia from 1862 to 1890, earning the nickname, "the Iron Chancellor".Another example of a poorly written question:
TOSSUP The capital of North Dakota and the 19th-century Duke of Lauenberg who epitomized the Junker ["YOONG-ker"] class share, for 10 points, what name?This could be rewritten as:
TOSSUP The 19th-century Duke of Lauenberg who epitomized the Junker class and the capital of North Dakota share, for 10 points, what name?
TOSSUP A German chancellor, a U.S. state capital, an archipelago northeast of New Guinea, the sea enclosed by that archipelago, and the largest city in Equatorial Guinea. For 10 points, which is not named Bismarck? TOSSUP He served as German chancellor from 1871 to 1890 and was known for his policy of "blood and iron". For 10 points, spell his last name.
TOSSUP Vowing that he would never go to Canossa, the chancellor of Germany announced a cultural struggle against Roman Catholicism in the 1870s. For 10 points, what 3-syllable German noun named this anti-Catholic campaign? Answer: KULTURKAMPF ["cool-TOUR-kamf"]This question tricks a player into answering Bismarck early. It could be rewritten as:
TOSSUP German Chancellor Bismarck, vowing never to go to Canossa, announced a cultural struggle against Roman Catholicism in the 1870s known, for ten points, by what three-syllable German noun?
TOSSUP Facing legal difficulties because of alleged financial chicanery, he resigned as Vice President of the United States...
Spiro Agnew is not the only answer. Calhoun had similar difficulties in his time, though they may be less well remembered today. Some players will interrupt the question at this point. Players who are waiting to differentiate between Agnew and Calhoun will be at a disadvantage to other players who are thinking of only Agnew. Or, a player who is aware of Calhoun may bet the odds and incorrectly answer Agnew. Either way, this question might trap a better player, penalizing knowledge.
One might choose to add additional information at the start of the question to minimize this ambiguity and precisely target the desired answer as soon as possible, as in:
TOSSUP This former American state governor, facing legal difficulties because of alleged financial chicanery...
There is nothing wrong with questions in which the answer is not the immediately obvious one. Further, there is nothing wrong with more general introductions (This U.S. President...). However, you should strive to minimize question ambiguity as much as possible, especially when the introduction narrows the possible answers to just a few probable answers (This Norwegian playwright...).
Avoid beginning tossups with vague clues. Here is a bad way to begin a tossup about Henrik Ibsen:
TOSSUP This playwright brought the problems and ideas of his day onto the stage, and created realistic dramas of psychological conflict...A player with an encyclopedic knowledge of theatre would be able to think of several possible answers, and would be at a disadvantage compared with someone who had only superficial knowledge of a few big names like Ibsen. This problem could be fixed easily by adding something concrete:
TOSSUP In his plays, such as John Gabriel Borkman and An Enemy of the People, this dramatist ...
Multiple answers should be of the same type: for example, two people, or two species of animals, or two countries. Avoid toss-ups that require two non-parallel pieces of information to be given, such as a created work and its creator, or a country and its current ruler.
In the part of the tossup after "for ten points", the very last words should be what you consider the easiest clue. If there is a word or phrase that's a "giveaway", then nothing should go after it. Think of the giveaway of a tossup as being like the punchline of a joke: a joke ends as soon as the punchline is given.
Every Bonus question is worth 30 points. Scoring is such that the number of points a team may earn on any particular Bonus will be some multiple of 5 points (hence 0 to 30 points).
Bonus questions are supposed to test deeper knowledge than tossups. Since they will be read in their entirety, it is not necessary to put more obscure facts before more obvious facts — unless these facts are given in separate parts of a multi-part question. If a bonus has multiple parts, there should be some sort of theme connecting the parts. The theme could even be a hidden one that won't become obvious until the whole question is read.
No part of a bonus should have a text that exceeds six (6) lines.
BONUS
Just as the U.S. has states like Alaska and Hawaii that are not contiguous
with the rest of the country, France has a number of overseas departments
scattered around the world. Identify these departments for 10 points each.
1. The most populous of the overseas departments, this island in the
Indian Ocean has been part of France since 1642.
ANSWER: La REUNION
2. Divided into the twin islands of Grande-Terre and Basse-Terre, this
Caribbean department is home to the dangerous volcano Soufriere.
ANSWER: GUADELOUPE
3. Located 10 miles off the Newfoundland coast and occupied by the French
since 1604, this department is the last remnant of the French North
American colonial empire.
ANSWER: SAINT-PIERRE and MIQUELON
Be sure to be clear about how many points each part is worth, as in "for ten points each" above, or "for the stated number of points" with a point value stated in each part. Please avoid cryptic abbreviations like "FTPE" or "FTSNOP", because you might as well spell out the words rather than risk confusing new readers.
Other ways to allocate points in a bonus:
BONUS
For 5 points per answer, name the members of these Greek mythological trios.
A. The Fates.
ANSWERS: CLOTHO ["CLOE-thoe"]
LACHESIS ["LACK-iss-iss"]
ATROPOS ["AT-rah-poss"]
B. The Furies.
ANSWERS: TISIPHONE ["ti-SIFF-oh-nee"]
MEGAERA ["me-JEER-ah"]
ALECTO ["a-LECK-toe"]
BONUS
For 5 points each, name the six wives of Henry the Eighth of England.
Answers: CATHERINE of ARAGON
Anne BOLEYN
Jane SEYMOUR
ANNE of CLEVES
Catherine HOWARD
Catherine PARR
Putting each answer on a separate line helps the moderator in checking
off correct answers given by a team.
In some cases, an incorrect answer ends the bonus. In this case, which should not be overused, include the phrase "but be careful, a miss will stop you" in the question.
BONUS 30-20-10, name the newspaper. For 30 points: From 1851 to 1862 its European correspondent was Karl Marx. For 20 points: It was founded in 1841 by Horace Greeley, who edited it until his death. For 10 points: In 1924 it merged with the New York Herald. Answer: NEW YORK TRIBUNETHE FIRST CLUE IN A PROGRESSIVE QUESTION MUST SPECIFY THE FINAL ANSWER UNIQUELY. A 30-20-10 bonus that begins with the following is not acceptable.
BONUS 30-20-10, name the man. For 30 points: He was born in Cincinnati in 1938.There were hundreds of males born in Cincinnati in 1938, and the name of any one of them would have to be accepted as a correct answer.
Besides 30-20-10, a bonus may have two separate progressive parts worth 15-5 each, or 20-10 followed by a 10-point question, or other values depending on difficulty level. Just make sure all point values are multiples of 5, the maximum possible score on any bonus question is 30, and no more than four conferrals will be required.
VETO rounds will be untimed, with 20 tossups played in each. But you will have to write more than 20 tossups and 20 bonuses, because:
| Science, Math, Technology | 3 — 4 |
| History | 3 — 4 |
| Literature | 3 — 4 |
| Geography | 2 — 3 |
| Current Events | 2 — 3 |
| Fine Arts | 1 — 2 |
| Religion, Philosophy, Mythology | 1 — 2 |
| Social Science | 1 — 2 |
| Popular Culture, Games, Sports | 1 — 2 |
| General Knowledge | 0 — 3 |
Avoid writing more than one question in the same narrow subject area, such as Manitoba geography or Margaret Atwood literature.
Don't include more than 50% Canadian content overall. The person who wrote the all-Canadian packet in 2002 now regrets having done so. Also spread your Canadian questions around the various subject areas, rather than concentrating them in Geography or Literature for example.
Search engines and directories provide access to more pages, but caution: you may find not only a lot of useless links, but also completely bogus stuff written by any fool with an account on the Internet. You have to judge the reliability of sources you find:
The Packet Archive at Stanford University contains many American quiz bowl packets from the past decade. This is a great source of examples of the format (some good, some bad). It can be a good place to find inspiration for questions on similar topics. For example, you might see a question about a particular novel, and copy its structure in an original question about a different novel. Or, if you read a question on a subject you know a lot about, it might make you realize that you could write a more interesting question on the same subject, with different clues and different answers. A couple of caveats:
Some possible answers to questions in this category:
Answer: beaver or Castor canadensis Answer: tea or Camellia sinensis
Answer: acetone or 2-propanone or dimethyl ketone or (CH)3(COCH)3 Answer: hydrochloric acid or muriatic acid or HCl ["H-C-L"]
Avoid questions that ask what letter is used to represent a physical quantity, or vice versa.
Some multimedia ideas:
WWW sources:
You've got thousands of years and a whole planet to choose from. (Questions about extraterrestrial history usually fall under the category of Science, or perhaps Religion/Mythology.)
Don't forget about the world beyond North America and Europe, and don't obsess about wars. Wars are obviously important in history, but if more than half of your history questions are about wars, then it can seem excessive.
Some possible answers to questions in this category:
Some multimedia ideas:
WWW sources:
Writing questions about literature is hard for some of us who are not confident of our own level of literacy. Are we asking about works that are too obscure? If we ask about well-known works, are our questions too easy?
Some possible answers to questions in this category:
Some multimedia ideas:
WWW sources:
Some possible answers to questions in this category:
Some multimedia ideas:
WWW sources:
Some multimedia ideas:
WWW sources:
Some multimedia ideas:
WWW sources:
Some multimedia ideas:
WWW sources:
When asking questions about terminology in these fields, make sure that it's a standard term and not used only by your textbook or professor.
WWW sources:
Some multimedia ideas:
WWW sources:
WWW sources:
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