The National History Bowl is a buzzer-based history quiz competition for teams of up to 6 students. Four students can play at any one time on a team (the other one or two, if you have them, can substitute in between the quarters). There is no minimum number of students on a team; you can have a team of three, two, or even one student – though that’s not exactly recommended. Please see below for a comprehensive account of how the Bowl works. If you have any further questions, please email our International Director, Nolwenn Léon Madden
> Download Sample History Bowl Questions for our Asian Tournaments
Eligibility
In order to compete in the History Bowl, you must be 18 years or younger at the time of your Regional Bowl. If you turn 19 before the National Championships, that’s okay. You must also be enrolled in a high school or younger school or a comparable secondary school that corresponds to an American high school in terms of the age range served.
In order to compete in the Junior Varsity Division of the History Bowl, you must be 16 years or younger at the time of the Regional Bowl. If you are in an American high school, or an institution that follows a comparable age division, you cannot be in the upper two years (i.e. above tenth grade) even if you are 16. If in doubt, ask the Tournament Coordinator or Tournament Director for your tournament, or better yet, email the Tournament Coordinator in advance.
There is no younger age limit – a brilliant and well-behaved 8 year-old is welcome to compete. Also, younger students can play on a Varsity team, but ALL players on a Junior Varsity team must fulfill Junior Varsity age requirements.
Likewise, there is no limit on types of schools – local, international, public, private, religious, American schools abroad, etc. are all welcome. Students from the 50 US states may compete if they have not competed yet this year, but then forfeit their eligibility for any other tournaments in the USA.
Schools are only allowed to compete at one Regional Bowl in Asia this year, but they do not have to compete in the country their school is in; there is no geographic limit in that sense.
Tournament Format
At all History Bowls, there are five preliminary rounds with four quarters each. In each round, two teams play each other. Depending on how many teams are in the competition, either the top 2 or 4 highest ranking teams from the preliminary rounds in the Varsity division, (based first on Win-Loss record, then by total points) and the 2 highest ranking teams from the Junior Varsity division then compete in the final rounds. The Junior Varsity and Varsity divisions are kept as separate as possible, but unless there are at least 6 Junior Varsity teams, then some crossover matches (which count like any other game in the rankings) are necessary. Each round takes about 30-40 minutes to complete; playoff rounds usually go somewhat quicker than the prelims.
The finals are single elimination in format; if we take four teams, then the first seed plays the fourth seed in the quarterfinals, the second seed plays the third. The Junior Varsity playoff is a always a single match to determine the champion.
Game Format
The History Bowl is a buzzer-based competition played over four quarters in each match. Students each have a buzzer and on tossup questions, attempt to be the first student to ring in and answer correctly. Students may ring in at any point in the question – they are encouraged to interrupt the moderator to do so. After they ring in, they give their answer. If they are correct, they get then points. If incorrect, neither they nor their team members can buzz again on the question. There are no negative points for any incorrect answers at any point in the Bowl.
The team with the most points at the end of the game wins, of course. See below for a description of how a game progresses:
Question Styles
In the History Bowl, there are a number of different question styles. These are described below:
Sample First Quarter Questions (There are ten such questions in a game.)
1. This dynasty crushed the rebellion of the Seven States and extended its control into the Tarim Basin. It was founded by Liu Bang, kept the administrative structure of the previous dynasty, the Qin [pr. chin], and was contemporaneous with the fall of the Roman Republic. Name this dynasty whose name is now used for the majority of ethnic Chinese.
ANSWER: Han Dynasty
2. One painting of this man in uniform used the Rhine River as its model and unrealistically depicts its scene on a clear, sunny day. That painting of this man shows him standing in a boat while some of his men push away ice. For 10 points, name this man depicted by Emanuel Leutze during his crossing of the Delaware River, who lived at Mount Vernon and was the first American president.
ANSWER: George Washington
Questions in the first quarter are worth ten points each. If one team misses a question, they do not lose points, but they lose the chance to answer that question again. On all tossups in all quarters, team members cannot confer, if they do, it is considered as an incorrect answer.
Sample Second Quarter Questions (There are eight tossups and eight possible bonuses in a game.)
The “female mystery” that is the “valley spirit” is discussed in one section and another states that females overcome males by their stillness. One famous line from this text compares governing to cooking a small fish. The title entity is unchanging and nameless. It promotes a philosophy sometimes called wuwei, or non action. For 10 points, name this work of Daoist philosophy by Laozi.
ANSWER: Dao De Jing
BONUS: Which two opposing forces that together represent an ideal of balance are important concepts in Daoism?
ANSWER: Yin and Yang
Both the tossup and bonus are worth ten points each. Only the team that gets the tossup gets a chance at the bonus; it does not go over to the second team if the team that answered the tossup correctly gets the bonus wrong. The tossup and bonus are related in content. If no team gets the tossup right, no team gets a chance at the bonus. Team members cannot confer on the tossup, but they can (and should) confer on the bonus.
Sample Third Quarter Questions (There are 8 questions in a category.There are 3 categories to choose from; each team gets to pick one.)
Category: The Ming Dynasty
1.The current capital of China since the Ming Dynasty…………………………………………………………………………….Beijing
2.The imperial palace in Beijing established during the Ming Dynasty…………………………………………………………Forbidden City
3.The long stretch of artificial waterway restored during the Ming Dynasty…………………………………………………Grand Canal [or Jing Hang Dan Yunhe]
4. The Mongol founded dynasty that preceded the Ming Dynasty……………………………………………………………..Yuan (chao) Dynasty
5. The Ming admiral sent on seven voyages during the early rule of the Dynasty…………………………………………..Zheng He [or Cheng Ho]
6.The rebellion toppling the Yuan and establishing the Ming dynasty, named for a colorful piece of headgear……..Red Turban Rebellion [or Hongjin Qiyi]
7.The first emperor of the Ming Dynasty……………………………………………………………………………………………….Hongwu Emperor [or Zhu Yuanzhang]
8. The Ming emperor who moved the capital to Beijing……………………………………………………………………………Yongle Emperor [or Zhu Di]
For the third quarter, you do not use the buzzer, but you can confer with your teammates on each question. Each question is worth ten points. If your team gets all eight right, you get a 20 point bonus for a total of 100. Any questions that you miss go over to the other team after the first team has heard all eight. You have a total of 60 seconds to answer all eight questions, so don’t waste time! There are three categories to choose from; the trailing team at the start of the quarter gets first pick. Questions tend to get harder toward the end of the eight questions.
Sample Fourth Quarter Question
In wartime, this country’s military is currently to be controlled by the United States, a relationship which will change in 2012. During the current conflict in Iraq, this nation was at one point the third largest member of the coalition behind the United States and Great Britain, and this Asian country also sent 320,000 troops southward to fight with American troops in Vietnam. For twenty points, name this nation led by Syngman Rhee during the 1950’s that lies across the Demilitarized Zone from its northern neighbor.
ANSWER: South Korea or Republic of Korea (prompt on Korea alone)
If you answer in the part of the question that is underlined, italicized, and bolded, then you get 30 points. If you answer in the part of the question that is simply bolded, you get 20 points. If you answer in the final part of the question, you get ten points.
Question Content
Questions will reference the history of the arts, sciences, religion, philosophy, language, historical geography, recent history, and even a bit of the history of sports and entertainment. Of course, many questions will also reference political, diplomatic, social, and military history too. Questions can reference events in the past from all over the world, and from all eras in the past – from ancient Egypt until the present day, so be sure to review some basic information of eras and locations whose histories you might not have covered in your history classes.
Resources for Training
Our complete resources guide and study guide for our Asian Division will be posted here by late October. In the meantime, email director@historybowl.com if you would like copies sent to you when it is ready.
Please also see NAQT’s (National Academic Quiz Tournaments) “You gotta know” pages and the ACE Quiz Bowl Camps study guides, as well as the History Channel’s Ultimate History Quiz.
Sample Questions
A sample Bowl packet for our Asian tournaments can be downloaded here. In the meantime, please see www.quizbowlpackets.com (though this has a heavy American emphasis and references all subjects) and our National Championship questions from last year in the USA. Please note that the questions you’ll find here are considerably more difficult and American history-focused than the questions we intend on using in Asia.