Matt Jackson

Matt Jackson
Noted subjects	Philosophy, Mythology, Classics, general, saying science words, Mixed_Pure_Academic
Current college	University of Chicago (2022-2024)
Past colleges	Yale (2010-2014)
High school	Georgetown Day (2007-2010)
Stats	HDWhite • NAQT

Matt Jackson is a graduate student at Chicago, and former quizbowl player for Yale and Georgetown Day School. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest quizbowl players, writers, and editors of all time.

First playing career

During his senior year at Georgetown Day High School in DC, he was the top scorer at all ten regular-season tournaments he played, as well as the 2010 NSC, and took the 2nd place All-Star spot at the 2010 HSNCT.

In college, first under the tutelage of John Lawrence and then as captain, Matt helped lead teams to win the 2011 DII ICT, 2011 ACF Nationals, 2012 ACF Nationals, and 2013 ICT, to 2nd-place finishes at 2013 ACF Nationals, the 2014 ICT, and 2014 ACF Nationals, and to a 3rd place finish at the 2012 ICT -- with numerous key matches against UVA's Matt Bollinger along the way. After graduating, Matt was the lead scorer on the winning team at the 2015 Chicago Open, and the 2nd-place individual scorer at that tournament overall.

Second playing career

After a seven year, near-total hiatus from playing tournaments, Jackson enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Chicago and un-retired in the summer of 2022 to play UMD's mirror of NASAT (which his team won) and CO (at which he finished 3rd).

During his first year at Chicago, Jackson was top individual scorer at 6 regular-season tournaments (including 2023 COOT at Oxford), at 2023 ICT (becoming the most recent person to put up a triple-digit PP20H at that championship), and at 2023 ACF Nationals. He led Chicago to 2nd-place finishes at both ICT and ACF Nationals in 2023, in each case keeping the last game against the eventual champion to within a single-tossup margin [1] [2].

In his second year, he played fewer tournaments, but did win the Midwest site of 2024 ACF Regionals -- and secure the year's highest competitive A-value across all sites -- while playing solo [3]. He then led Chicago to field-clearing undefeated victories at 2024 ICT Division I and 2024 ACF Nationals, and was again the top individual scorer at both tournaments.

Editing & service

Matt has also been a prolific and acclaimed editor, including:

• head editing GDS's 2010 Ben Cooper Memorial Tournament
• head-editing Yale's BHSAT from 2011-2014, in which capacity he greatly improved the tournament's quality standards and established regional sites nationwide
• subject-editing for 2014 ACF Regionals & head-editing the well-received 2015 ACF Regionals
• co-head editing the 2011 MAGNI and 2016 Chicago Open sets
• co-leading the salvage of the 2015 National History Bowl events post-NHBBlitz (with Eric Mukherjee)
• heavy freelancing for NAQT (2011-present), HSAPQ (2012-2015), the PACE NSC (2011-2015), 2013 Chicago Open, PIANO, and 2022 ACF Nationals

Jackson is a member emeritus of ACF. From 2012 through 2016, he was a member of PACE, and served as that organization's President for the 2014-15 competition year.

In 2016, Jackson led the "Common Rules Project," which standardized and largely synchronized the gameplay rules used by ACF, PACE, and HSAPQ.

Jeopardy!

Shortly after his first retirement from quizbowl, Jackson competed on the televised game show Jeopardy!, appearing in regular-season 14 games and winning 13 of them (25 September 2015 - 14 October 2015). At that point, his winning streak and cash winnings ($413,612) were each the fourth-highest of all time; those rankings have since fallen somewhat.

Jackson later appeared on the 2015 Tournament of Champions, where he earned an additional $100,000 as first runner-up to Alex Jacob, and in the 2019 All-Star Games (as part of "Team Ken"). In spring 2024, he appeared in the first Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament.

Carper Award
Preceded by	Year	Succeeded by
Matt Bollinger and Jim Dendy	2022 (alongside Chris Borglum)	Edmund Dickinson and Joe Su

NSC Leading Scorer
Preceded by	Year	Succeeded by
Daichi Ueda	2010	Kevin Malis

DI ICT Leading Scorer
Preceded by	Year	Succeeded by
Jason Golfinos	2023, 2024	TBD

ACF Nationals Leading Scorer
Preceded by	Year	Succeeded by
Matt Bollinger	2023, 2024	TBD