1. What is CAQL, and how do I join?
2. Who are the current or past CAQL champions?
3. How do I start a team at my university?
4. None of the events on the CAQL schedule are anywhere near me. What can I do?
5. Can I participate in CAQL events even if I'm not in university?
6. Who writes the questions for CAQL?
7. What sorts of questions are asked?
8. Is any special equipment required?
9. Why are there so few CAQL events?

1. What is CAQL, and how do I join?
The Canadian Academic Quiz League (CAQL, often pronounced "cackle") is an informal group of students at Canadian universities who play quiz games with each other. It was founded in February, 1999, at the University of Western Ontario. CAQL has no formal structure or requirements for membership. To find contacts at your university or in your area, see the Teams page.

2. Who are the current or past CAQL champions?
As presently constituted, CAQL does not recognize an official league champion. See the Results page for results of previous CAQL tournaments.

3. How do I start a team at my university?
If you're a university student and the CAQL Events page lists a tournament you'd like to play in, just contact the hosts, and they'll usually be happy to accept your team of one or more players. You don't need to be part of any kind of registered club at your university.
Of course, official recognition as a club helps in getting funding and publicity on your campus. For advice on getting a club started, try getting in touch with the contacts at other universities listed on the Teams page, or post on the QB-CANADA Yahoo! group.
Running a quiz tournament within your university is a good way to start. The University of Waterloo has a free offer of 10 rounds of questions for Canadian universities.

4. None of the events on the CAQL schedule are anywhere near me. What can I do?
You can take advantage of the University of Waterloo's free offer of 10 rounds of questions to run a tournament for students at your university.
There may also be quiz tournaments across the border that are easier for you to get to than other parts of Canada. As you might expect, though, the questions asked in most American quiz tournaments tend to assume a lot more knowledge of U.S. history, current events, etc., and tend to feature very little Canadian content. Washington University in St. Louis maintains a schedule of American quiz tournaments.
If you'll be doing a co-op work term in another part of Canada, there may be a quiz tournament in that area. Tournaments are always on weekends, and the hosts will be excited to have a team from across the country.

5. Can I participate in CAQL events even if I'm not in university?
Sometimes. Each CAQL tournament is organized independently, with the hosts deciding what kinds of teams to allow, and how many. They'll usually tell you in their announcement. Generally:

• Teams from colleges are as welcome as teams from universities.
• High school teams are also usually welcome — don't be afraid to ask the hosts. They'll be impressed that you're willing to go up against the big kids.
• Some events ("open" tournaments) are open to anyone to play in, regardless of whether they are in school or not.
• If you can't play, you can always help out. Tournament hosts are almost always grateful to have volunteers, especially if they are good at reading questions.

6. Who writes the questions for CAQL?
Each CAQL event is different. The hosts of a particular tournament decide what to do:

• They may write all the questions themselves.
• They may ask each participating team to send in an original set of questions in a specified format.
• They may buy questions from an American source and then edit them to make them more suitable for a Canadian audience.

7. What sorts of questions are asked?
See the Sample Questions page.

8. Is any special equipment required?
You'll need an electronic buzzer system: See the Equipment page for details.
It helps to have pre-formatted scoresheets: See the Scoresheet page for a sample to download and print.

9. Why are there so few CAQL events?
Unfortunately this is the usual Canadian problem of "too much geography and not enough history."

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