Practice Buzzword
What is Buzzword?
Buzzword is an exciting online game of knowledge and recall from ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ, the leading provider of quiz bowl questions. Buzzword will challenge the depth and breadth of your knowledge in an engaging, audio-based format and let you compare your results with those of players at your level from around the world.
Most Buzzword games are competitions on fresh questions. You can read more about Buzzword in general; this page focuses on Practice Buzzword.
What is Practice Buzzword?
Practice Buzzword comprises non-competitive games using tossups from previous years’ quiz bowl question sets. The gameplay works the same way as other Buzzword games: essentially, players hear audio recordings of tossup questions, can buzz at any point during the question, and type their answers.
What Practice Buzzword events are currently available?
-
Practice Level A (MS-37):
- Five games
- October 17, 2024 – November 19, 2024
- $4 per player per game, up to a maximum of $16
-
Practice Level B (IS-196A):
- Six games
- October 17, 2024 – November 26, 2024
- $4 per player per game, up to a maximum of $20
-
Practice Level C (IS-197):
- Six games
- October 17, 2024 – November 26, 2024
- $4 per player per game, up to a maximum of $20
Coaches can receive discounts of up to 70% when registering several players at once.
What questions are used for Practice Buzzword?
Each event consists of the tossups from a question set from ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ’s archives of past tournament sets. (Buzzword does not use bonuses.) Each practice game is 48 tossups long, consisting of the tossups from two consecutive packets from that set.
Practice Buzzword events are always labeled with the question set from which they are derived. For example, Practice Level B (IS #185A) consists of the tossups from the Invitational Series #185A question set.
Like competitive seasonal play, the names of Practice Buzzword events include a letter indicating their difficulty level.
Can players who have already heard the questions play Practice Buzzword?
Yes. Practice Buzzword is meant to be just like other practice settings, and reviewing material players have already heard can be useful. Coaches and players should decide which sets are appropriate and useful for player development.
Will players’ Practice Buzzword results be made public?
No. Unlike for competitive Buzzword, Practice Buzzword results are only available to players and, if authorized, their coaches or other program leadership.
How are answers judged in Practice Buzzword?
Just like in competitive Buzzword, all answers are judged by humans, and players may protest if they think the judges have made a mistake.
Since Practice Buzzword questions are taken from standard quiz bowl question sets, the questions may have prompt directives. Prompting is not possible in Buzzword, so promptable answers will be judged correct. (This is different from competitive Buzzword, in which questions are written to avoid the need for prompting.) Players should understand that when they are awarded points for a merely promptable answer, they should consider whether they would have gotten the “real” correct answer upon prompting, since the convention of ruling merely promptable answers correct is a concession to the way Buzzword works rather than a perfectly accurate evaluation of the answer.
Since Practice Buzzword is not a competition, protests will be ruled on quickly and usually without explanation. ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ understands that reliable results are important to player development, but given the nature of the event and the low price point, judges will not deliberate over protests as much as they do for competitive Buzzword.
What are the key differences between Practice Buzzword and competitive Buzzword?
- Practice Buzzword games consist of 48 questions from ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ’s archives, and the questions have not been edited specifically for Buzzword (e.g., they might include prompt directives). Competitive Buzzword games generally consist of newly written questions that have been edited specifically for Buzzword.
- Practice Buzzword is a non-competitive game meant to help players hear more questions and improve at quiz bowl or just have fun. There are no public results or awards. Competitive Buzzword has public results and awards.
- Competitive Buzzword games are limited to players who have never heard the questions before. Practice Buzzword allows players who have heard the questions before.
- Although Practice Buzzword largely follows Buzzword judging principles, its games may contain questions for which some answers are promptable, which are not present in competitive Buzzword games. Promptable answers will be judged correct.
- Although Practice Buzzword largely follows Buzzword protest procedures, protests will be ruled on quickly and usually without explanation.
- Practice Buzzword is cheaper than competitive Buzzword to reflect the aforementioned differences.
The future of Practice Buzzword
ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ wants your feedback on Practice Buzzword. We are considering adding features such as additional sets, allowing practice play that doesn’t follow an ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ-determined schedule, and more tools for coaches. Please write to [email protected] with feedback and suggestions.