Masterminds (quiz bowl)

MasterMinds
Starring	David Guistina
Country of origin	United States
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Release
Original network	Time Warner TW3
Original release	2003
Chronology
Related shows	Quiz bowl, college bowl

MasterMinds is an academic quiz bowl program active in Upstate New York. There are currently four regions with associated leagues: Albany, Rochester, Syracuse, and Buffalo. Some games in the Albany and Rochester regions are broadcast on public-access television.

Rules

General

Masterminds uses NAQT A-Set questions. Two teams of four players face off answering questions on a wide variety of topics including literature, history, science, visual and auditory arts, philosophy, social science, geography, current events, and popular culture. Each team appoints a captain, denoted by a star on their nameplate. The captain will be preferred in bonus questions, and if there is conflict will be used to clarify. All players are provided with pens and a half sheet of paper for scratch work for math questions.

Length

Games consist of two eight-minute timed halves. If a tossup question or set of bonuses is in progress at the end of a half, that round of questioning will be allowed to finished, if attempts at stalling are witness by the adjudicator the game may be nullified and the stalling team disqualified.

Toss-Up Questions

Toss-Up questions are worth 10 points. They are asked, and any one person from either team can buzz in and give the answer. If they get the question correct, they earn 10 points for their team which then has the opportunity to answer a set of bonus questions. If a player interrupts the question and supplies an incorrect answer, that player's team may not answer the question again. The opposing team may wait until the question finishes to answer. There is a certain point in each tossup question, typically just before an import clue, called the "power mark". If a player rings in on a toss-up before the "power mark" and answers correctly, they earn 15 points instead of 10. If, however, a player answers incorrectly before the question is over, their team is deducted 5 points. Players may not confer with their teammates during toss-up questions by verbal or nonverbal means. After ringing in to answer a question, players must wait for the adjudicator to verbally recognize them by saying their name and school. If a player does not wait to be recognized, it is treated as an incorrect answer, and the normal procedure for incorrect answers applies.

Bonus Questions

Following a correct answer to a toss-up question, a team is entitled to a set of three bonus questions centered around a single topic. Each question is worth 10 points, for a total of 30 points. Conferring is allowed and encouraged. Any person from the team may answer a bonus question, however if there are multiple contradicting answers, the adjudicator will ask the captain for a single answer.

Format

Regular Season

During the Regular Season, the teams in each region are divided up into leagues. Most leagues have six teams, though some have five or seven. In the 2018-19 season, Albany had six leagues, Buffalo had five leagues, Rochester had ten, and Syracuse had two. The leagues are run with a double or triple round robin format, depending on the number of teams. All teams play twelve regular season games across six rotations, meaning that teams usually play two games each rotation, though they may play more if they were unable to go to an earlier one. There is generally one rotation each month, and they are held at schools in the league. Individual statistics, such as the number of questions answered correctly, the number answered incorrectly, the number of power marks or penalties earned, the number of games and halves played, and the player's average points per half, are kept.

Many participating schools also have Junior Varsity teams, which are ostensibly for students in 10th grade and below. There are generally fewer Junior Varsity teams in each league than Varsity teams, so their tournaments are often quadruple or hextuple round robin. Junior Varsity games are run on the same questions as those for the Varsity division. There are no playoffs for Junior Varsity.

Playoffs

The top half of Varsity teams (rounded up) by win-loss record from each league advance to the regional playoffs. The playoffs are run with a double elimination format. The playoffs for Albany, Buffalo, and Rochester are spread across multiple days, beginning in mid-to-late April and ending in late May. In the Albany and Buffalo playoffs, the teams that qualified for playoffs are separated into two groups, each of which plays the first four rounds of playoffs, and the teams that remain after those games (two undefeated and four once-defeated) play again at a later date to decide the regional champion. The Rochester league is similar, except that initially the teams are divided into four, and the final match takes place at a date after its competitors are determined, due to fact that there are many more teams in Rochester than in Albany or Buffalo. Correspondingly, Syracuse, the smallest region, concludes its playoffs on a single day. Individual stats are not kept in the playoffs, though an MVP and "All Tournament Team" are stated, presumably on the basis of total points obtained.

The winner of each of the Regional Championships advance to the State Championship in June. The State Championships usually take place at LeMoyne College. The State Championships are run in a round robin format: each team plays each other once, and a champion is decided based on win-loss record. Like in the regional playoffs, individual stats are not kept, but an MVP and "All Tournament Team" are named. The questions used in the regional and state playoffs are of the same difficulty as those used in the regular season.

Previous Winners

Teams with the most State Qualifications (Not including those no longer in League)

	In the League currently	Of all time	Since 2010
1	Bethlehem	Bethlehem	Bethlehem
2	Troy	Troy	Troy
3	Fayetteville-Manlius, Irondequoit, and City Honors	Fayetteville-Manlius, Irondequoit, and City Honors	Fayetteville-Manlius and City Honors

Teams with the most Regional Qualifications (Not including those no longer in League)

	Albany League	Buffalo League	Rochester League	Syracuse League
1	Bethlehem	Williamsville East	McQuaid	Fayetteville-Manlius
2	Guilderland and Troy	Canisius, City Honors, and St. Joseph's	Brighton	Bishop Ludden, East Syracuse-Minoa, and Jordan-Elbridge
3	Tie for Second	Three way tie for Second	School of the Arts and Greece Arcadia	Three way tie for Second

League and Regional Qualifications (Regional Winners stated, State Winners bolded)

Year	Albany League	Buffalo League	Rochester League	Syracuse League
2018-2019	Troy	City Honors	Brighton	Bishop Ludden
2017-2018	Troy	Nichols School	Victor	Fayetteville-Manlius
2016-2017	Bethlehem	Williamsville East	Hilton	Manlius-Pebble Hill (No Longer in League)
2015-2016	Bethlehem	Orchard Park	Pittsford Sutherland	Fayetteville-Manlius
2014-2015	Bethlehem	Williamsville East	Brighton	Christian Brothers Academy (No Longer in League)
2013-2014	Bethlehem	Williamsville East	Brighton	East Syracuse-Minoa
2012-2013	Bethlehem	Lancaster	Geneva (No Longer in League)	Fayetteville-Manlius
2011-2012	Bethlehem	St. Joseph's	McQuaid	Fayetteville-Manlius
2010-2011	Bethlehem	City Honors	McQuaid	Manlius-Pebble Hill (No Longer in League)
2009-2010	Bethlehem	Williamsville North	McQuaid	Jordan-Elbridge
2008–2009	Guilderland	Grand Island	McQuaid	Fayetteville-Manlius
2007–2008	Guilderland	Williamsville East	Fairport	Fayetteville-Manlius
2006–2007	Bethlehem	Canisius	Irondequoit	Manlius-Pebble Hill (No Longer in League)
2005–2006	Bethlehem	Williamsville East	School of the Arts	Manlius-Pebble Hill (No Longer in League)
2004–2005	Bethlehem	Clarence (No Longer in League)	Brighton	Manlius-Pebble Hill (No Longer in League)
2003–2004	Bethlehem	Clarence (No Longer in League)	Wheatland-Chili	Corcoran (No Longer in League)
2002–2003	Doane Stuart (No Longer in League)	St. Joseph's	McQuaid
2001–2002	Niskayuna	Clarence (No Longer in League)	Geneseo (No Longer in League)
2000–2001	Christian Brothers	Clarence (No Longer in League)	Greece Arcadia
1999–2000	Berne-Knox-Westerlo	Canisius	School of the Arts
1998–1999		West Seneca West	Greece Arcadia

Leagues and Teams for the 2019-2020 Season

The Albany Leagues

	League 1	League 2	League 3	League 4	League 5	League 6
Team 1	Amsterdam	Christian Brothers	Columbia	Albany HS	Berlin	Averill Park
Team 2	Broadalbin-Perth	LaSalle	Coxsackie-Athens	Bethlehem	Berne-Knox-Westerlo	Bishop Maginn
Team 3	Duanesburg	Saratoga Springs	Lansingburgh	Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake	Holy Names	Colonie
Team 4	Galway	Schuylerville	Rensselaer	Catholic Central	Hoosick Falls	Mohonasen
Team 5	Gloversville	Waterford	Schalmont	Emma Willard	Tamarac	Niskayuna
Team 6	Mayfield		Watervliet	Guilderland	Troy

The Buffalo Leagues

	League 1	League 2	League 3	League 4	League 5
Team 1	Cardinal O'Hara	Bishop Timon/St. Jude	Amherst	Cleveland Hill	East Aurora
Team 2	Lew-Port	Canisius	Kenmore East	Depew	Iroquois
Team 3	Medina	Cheektowaga	Kenmore West	Grand Island	Lake Shore
Team 4	Starpoint	City Honors	Nichols School	Lancaster	Orchard Park
Team 5	St. Joseph's	Sweet Home	Sacred Heart	Olmsted	West Seneca East
Team 6		Williamsville East			West Seneca West

The Rochester Leagues

	League 1	League 2	League 3	League 4	League 5	League 6	League 7	League 8	League 9	League 10
Team 1	Churchville-Chili	Gates Chili	Albion	East Rochester	Dundee	Canandaigua	Clyde-Savannah	Brighton	Belfast	Aquinas
Team 2	Eastridge	Greece Olympia	Brockport	Greece Athena	Midlakes	North Rose-Wolcott	Lyons	Irondequoit	Bloomfield	Fairport
Team 3	Greece Arcadia	Hilton	Elba	Greece Odyssey	Newark	Pal-Mac	Marcus Whitman	Pittsford Mendon	Fillmore	Penfield
Team 4	University Prep	Rush-Henrietta	Holley	McQuaid	Penn Yan	Wayne	Mynderse	Pittsford Sutherland	Honeoye	Webster Schroeder
Team 5	World of Inquiry	School of the Arts	Kendall	Mercy	Red Jacket	Williamson	Sodus	Rochester Prep Charter	Keshequa	Webster Thomas
Team 6		Spencerport	Oakfield- Alabama	Wheatland-Chili			Waterloo	Victor	Livonia
Team 7			Pembroke						Mt. Morris

The Syracuse Leagues

	League 1	League 2
Team 1	Cato-Meridian	Bishop Ludden
Team 2	Jordan-Elbridge	Christian Brothers
Team 3	Moravia	East Syracuse-Minoa
Team 4	Port Byron	Fayetteville-Manlius
Team 5	Skaneateles
Team 6	Southern Cayuga
Team 7	Union Springs

gollark: ↑ is cooler.

gollark: I don't think the search option will work from the archive. You probably need the URL of the thread.

gollark: How strange.

gollark: Why the [REDACT]ing, I mean. I don't see any rules about projectors or whatever.

gollark: (not the exact thing)

References

External links

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