Buzzword - Revision history

Olin Bose at 18:09, 19 November 2025

2025-11-19T18:09:43Z

Jonah Greenthal: fleshing out the history and current offerings a bit

2023-11-23T19:36:22Z

fleshing out the history and current offerings a bit

Matt Jackson at 02:49, 4 July 2023

2023-07-04T02:49:41Z

Matt Jackson: How did this page not exist yet. Like what are we even doing.

2023-07-04T02:49:07Z

How did this page not exist yet. Like what are we even doing.

New page

'''Buzzword''' is an [[asynchronous]], online, [[audio]] quizbowl competition for individual players, created and hosted by [[NAQT]]. [https://www.naqt.com/buzzword/intro.jsp]

Each game of Buzzword consists of [[tossup]] questions in the form of audio files moderated by an NAQT member or writer. The player may interrupt the question to buzz in and has 15 seconds to type their answer. Unlike standard [[power]]-marked tossups, Buzzword tossups are worth an incremental number of points depending on where the player buzzed, from 20 points at the earliest realistic buzzpoint to 10 at the end of the question. (As is usual for NAQT, the phrase "For 10 points" begins the final sentence or clause of the question, but a tossup may still be worth more than 10 points at the time it is said.) After the game is over, players can look at a leaderboard of total scores and see the point value and "[[celerity]]" (fraction of question left to read) of the best buzz on each tossup up to that point.

Buzzword debuted in the spring of 2020, after the [[COVID-19]] pandemic necessitated a shutdown of in-person tournaments [https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=370157#p370157]. Initially, it existed as eight-week seasons of 50 tossup questions per week, in a distribution similar to an [[Invitational Series]] packet, divided into divisions by difficulty (A: lowest, B: intermediate/akin to an [[IS-A]] set, C: akin to an [[IS]]-set; a D at about [[HSNCT]] difficulty was later added) and by education level (Middle School, High School, Collegiate, Open). A Popular Culture season was later added.

More recently, owing largely to the resumption of in-person quizbowl (and in-person social life more generally), Buzzword has shifted to exist primarily as yearlong seasons of Sports and Popular Culture (i.e. excluding sports) questions, delivered in weekly 10-question increments; there is not currently a regular season of academic Buzzword content. [https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=391680#p391680]

Special one-off Buzzword events on specialty topics have been held from time to time, occasionally in partnership with outside organizations (e.g. an event on [[Remembering Guys]] in partnership with Defector Media, and another on Aerospace/Aviation, sponsored by Boeing and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Greater Huntsville Section [https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=391736&hilit=aeronautics#p391736].

Buzzword does not allow for players to be [[prompt]]ed.

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 '''Buzzword''' is an [[asynchronous]], online, [[audio]] quizbowl competition for individual players, created and hosted by [[NAQT]]. [https://www.naqt.com/buzzword/intro.jsp]
-Buzzword debuted in the spring of 2020, after the [[COVID-19]] pandemic necessitated a shutdown of in-person tournaments [https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=370157#p370157]. Initially, it existed as eight-week seasons of 50 tossup questions per week, in a distribution similar to an [[Invitational Series]] packet, divided into divisions by difficulty (A: lowest, B: intermediate/akin to an [[IS-A]] set, C: akin to an [[IS]]-set; a D at about [[HSNCT]] difficulty was later added) and by education level (Middle School, High School, Collegiate, Open). A Popular Culture season was later added.
+Buzzword debuted in the spring of 2020, after the [[COVID-19]] pandemic necessitated a shutdown of in-person tournaments [https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=370157#p370157]. Initially, it existed as eight-week seasons of 50 tossup questions per week, in a distribution similar to an [[Invitational Series]] packet, divided into divisions by difficulty (A: lowest, B: intermediate/akin to an [[IS-A]] set, C: akin to an [[IS]]-set) and by education level (Middle School, High School, Collegiate, Open).
-More recently, owing largely to the resumption of in-person quizbowl (and in-person social life more generally), Buzzword has shifted to exist primarily as yearlong seasons of Sports and Popular Culture (i.e. excluding sports) questions, delivered in weekly 10-question increments; there is not currently a regular season of academic Buzzword content. [https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=391680#p391680]
+At various times after the first season, Level D (comparable to [[HSNCT]] difficulty) was added, competitions in Popular Culture and Sports (at various times separate and together) were added, and single- or few-game specials occurred in specific subjects or interest areas (film, the holidays, and so on).
 Special one-off Buzzword events on specialty topics have been held from time to time, occasionally in partnership with outside organizations (e.g. an event on [[Remembering Guys]] in partnership with Defector Media, and another on Aerospace/Aviation, sponsored by Boeing and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Greater Huntsville Section [https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=391736&hilit=aeronautics#p391736].
@@ Line 9: / Line 11: @@
 ===Format differences from regular quizbowl===
-Each game of Buzzword consists of [[tossup]] questions in the form of audio files moderated by an NAQT member or writer. The player may interrupt the question to buzz in and has 15 seconds to type their answer. Unlike standard [[power]]-marked tossups, Buzzword tossups are worth an incremental number of points depending on where the player buzzed, from 20 points at the earliest realistic buzzpoint to 10 at the end of the question. (As is usual for NAQT, the phrase "For 10 points" begins the final sentence or clause of the question, but a tossup may still be worth more than 10 points at the time it is said.) After the game is over, players can look at a leaderboard of total scores and see the point value and "[[celerity]]" (fraction of question left to read) of the best buzz on each tossup up to that point.
+Each game of Buzzword consists of [[tossup]] questions in the form of audio files moderated by expert human moderators. The player may interrupt the question to buzz in and has 15 seconds to type their answer. Unlike standard [[power]]-marked tossups, Buzzword tossups are worth an incremental number of points depending on where the player buzzed, from 20 points at the beginning to 10 at the end of the question. (As is usual for NAQT, the phrase "For 10 points" begins the final sentence or clause of the question, but a tossup may still be worth more than 10 points at the time it is said.) After the game is over, players can look at a leaderboard of total scores and see the point value and "[[celerity]]" (fraction of question left to read) of the best buzz on each tossup up to that point.
 Buzzword does not allow for players to be [[prompt]]ed.