List of current good quizbowl status of all North American states, provinces, and territories

The 2015 State of Quizbowl as determined by Chris Chiego and the folks in this thread.

Alabama

many pyramidal tournaments every year, state championship is pyramidal and reaches almost all regions of the state

Alaska

no known general quizbowl tournaments have ever been held. Some NHBB events in the past.

Alberta

first-ever tournament held on NAQT at University of Alberta in 2011 and annually since

American Samoa

no known events have ever been held

Arizona

a few smaller pyramidal tournaments, concentrated in the Phoenix area; some scattered Knowledge Bowl areas remain

Arkansas

controlled by Chip-affiliated coaches association and TV show that reaches nearly every school in the state; no pyramidal tournaments in several years

British Columbia

no known high school events have ever been held except Reach for the Top. There used to be college teams at Simon Fraser and UBC but they did not host high school events. Interested high school teams could get to tournaments at the University of Washington fairly easily. There were plans to run a HS tournament with good questions in 2016 in Vancouver.

California

many good quizbowl tournaments every year in an increasing number of areas; strong circuit developing in the Bay Area and Sacramento; San Diego circuit remains solid; Los Angeles and Orange County have tournaments but still not many teams; little to no activity in the Inland Empire and Central Valley

Colorado

Widespread Knowledge Bowl circuit and state championship for Knowledge Bowl. Some NHBB activity. Colorado's first NAQT event was held in April 2015, occasional pyramidal events.

Connecticut

longstanding tournaments at Yale, EO Smith hosts a tournament every year. There is an NAQT state championship periodically.

Delaware

one or two tournaments each year; easy access to further events at Penn and in Maryland.

Florida

somewhat high participation at tournaments in both northern (centered on Tallahassee and Pensacola) and southern circuits (Miami area) when they are held. Increasing number of NAQT events each year but little presence in Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa. Still mostly dominated by CAC.

Georgia

many good tournaments every year both within and outside of the state GATA association, though concentrated in the Atlanta region and far spottier coverage in South Georgia

Guam

NHBB happens here. Major active school still plays Chip when they go to the mainland but may be ready for a change.

Hawaii

It's Academic TV show, NHBB events

Idaho

NHBB and NAQT events organized by Colin McNamara through Boise State and Treasure Valley. Small but growing.

Illinois

Huge number of tournaments, a good event every weekend of the school year, sometimes more than 1 in different areas of the state. Southern IL and some other rural areas relatively removed from the rest of the state.

Indiana

increasing number of good events / teams moving to real quizbowl and away from one of the last Chip bastions.

Iowa

frequent events coordinated through the Iowa Quiz Bowl League alongside some other non-pyramidal local events

Kansas

KSHSAA is one of the most backwards governing bodies in any state; low-quality state championship, season restricted to late October to mid-February, and restrictions on out-of-state participation (including at national championships) are probably not going away anytime soon. However, they do not bar hosting a good quizbowl event in Kansas. So far, a few NAQT sets have been run. Possible that support for a better system will arise at some point.

Kentucky

Many good quizbowl events every year. Still dominated by Quick Recall and some smaller Chip-ish formats

Louisiana

A number of pyramidal quizbowl events hosted each year; also a parallel universe Chip circuit. Growing number of tournaments in the New Orleans area and new circuit centered around Louisiana Tech in the northern half of the state

Maine

MEQBA runs a few pyramidal tournaments a year starting in 2021.

Manitoba

no known tournaments of any kind besides Reach for the Top.

Maryland

many pyramidal events each year centered around Johns Hopkins and UMD as well as some other schools; also some speedcheck events in the Northeast and North-Central

Massachusetts

Teams can play a full schedule of events. Most teams are concentrated in Eastern MA. Colleges (MIT, Harvard, and Northeastern) and high schools (Lexington, AMSA) host tournaments. Proximity to Connecticut and even Vermont tournaments enable teams to compete there. Not really any "local format" outside of the speedcheck High School Quiz Show.

Michigan

many good events each year. Many schools in the northern part of the state now actively involved.

Minnesota

many good events each year, but almost exclusively in the western Twin Cities suburbs. Outstate areas still dominated by Knowledge Bowl.

Mississippi

multiple large tournaments on NAQT sets are run at Ole Miss every year as well as a bad-quizbowl TV tournament at Mississippi College. Itawamba runs a number of events, including a NAQT state championship

Missouri

many good events every year. However, MSHSAA imposes restrictions on the length of the season, number and locations of tournaments, who can attend national tournaments, etc. MSHSAA requires certain rules to be used at all tournaments, which until 2018 included recognition by name after buzzing. The MSHSAA state series has used NAQT questions since 2011 (except for 2021) but still includes some bad quizbowl features like single-elimination playoffs.

Montana

one or two occasional NAQT events. There is a coach-organized Knowledge Bowl circuit in some parts of the state. Western areas could presumably send teams to Idaho tournaments, but most of this very large state is not near any existing good quizbowl circuit.

Nebraska

widespread use of Academic Hallmarks and Chip questions throughout the state, with a number of larger events near Omaha but many regional events as well. Small number of teams travel to other states for pyramidal events.

Nevada

a solid, established local pyramidal circuit now co-exists alongside the non-pyramidal Varsity Quiz exclusive to Clark County (Vegas area) and a local event "Academic Olympics" in the Reno area. NHBB has run successful events in Las Vegas area.

New Brunswick

no known tournaments of any kind besides Reach for the Top. Kennebecasis Valley High School travels to some tournaments elsewhere

New Hampshire

most schools play NHQBL on bad questions. A few active schools compete at Vermont and/or Massachusetts tournaments. Only quizbowl entity right now is Dartmouth, who does not currently host a high school event.

New Jersey

several pyramidal tournaments each year; still many oddly popular "Jeopardy!"-style tournaments and Chip-ish leagues

New Mexico

has sporadically had NAQT and NHBB events. The Albuquerque regional events seem to have stop running in the past few years. Has/had an AUK circuit based in Las Cruces

New York

many good tournaments each year in both NYC and upstate regions, albeit often through local Masterminds leagues

Newfoundland and Labrador

no known tournaments of any kind besides Reach for the Top.

North Carolina

many pyramidal tournaments each year, but disproportionately concentrated on the area between Winston-Salem and the Triangle; needs to plant more good events in east and west of the state.

North Dakota

NHBB, some Knowledge Bowl. In fall 2012 there was an NAQT tournament. North Valley Career Tech hosted another tournament in spring 2016.

Northern Marianas Islands

NHBB only.

Northwest Territories

no known tournaments of any kind.

Nova Scotia

no known tournaments of any kind besides Reach for the Top.

Nunavut

no known tournaments of any kind.

Ohio

many good tournaments each year alongside a number of local leagues, some of which use non-pyramidal questions still.

Oklahoma

several NAQT tournaments each year, though the state tournament runs on decidedly non-pyramidal questions and there is still a large Chip presence.

Ontario

several NAQT tournaments each year. Still working on converting more Reach for the Top teams but making progress.

Oregon

ran first-ever good tournament in 2014. Local leagues in Medford use NAQT questions.

Pennsylvania

many good tournaments each year in the Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Lancaster areas. Still a few Chip pockets in the Lehigh Valley and local quizbowl-ish non-pyramidal formats like Delco Hi-Q

Prince Edward Island

no known tournaments of any kind besides Reach for the Top.

Puerto Rico

no known tournaments of any kind.

Quebec

Reach for the Top only. Sporadic attempts to run an NAQT or HSAPQ set at McGill for English-speaking schools in the greater Montreal area have not yet succeeded. Currently, no good quizbowl product is available in French.

Rhode Island

no tournaments have been hosted as yet. Teams can easily access several good tournaments in Connecticut or Massachusetts. Only quizbowl entity right now is Brown, who does not currently host a high school event.

Saskatchewan

no known tournaments of any kind besides Reach for the Top.

South Carolina

several pyramidal tournaments are held each year. Also a number of non-pyramidal events. Formerly a much more active state, could become so again.

South Dakota

annual NAQT tournament at USF seems to have sputtered out; sporadic Knowledge Bowl activity, especially in the Black Hills

Tennessee

several pyramidal sets and the NAQT state tournament are run each year. Vanderbilt formerly hosted the largest high school tournament in the country. There are Knowledge Bowl pockets and issues in getting the west and east of the state together, but there is a long tradition of having at least some events and producing nationally contending teams that could be leveraged into creating more depth. TN teams can also go to tournaments in various bordering states.

Texas

many NAQT events run by TQBA each year. TQBA refuses to run non-NAQT sets in most cases. Still some small Chip circuits in Dallas and El Paso, but NAQT sets are also being run in those areas and the entire state ought to be switched over in the near future. Very deep participation in flagship TQBA tournaments with many national contenders being produced. TQBA has had many problems attracting new public school teams.

Utah

sporadic NAQT events in the past, occasionally some other events.

Vermont

several NAQT events each year, longstanding pyramidal quizbowl tradition.

Virgin Islands

has a long-running Chip state championship and nothing else.

Virginia

many good events each year, usually uses every NAQT and decent housewrite set either in the state or at tournaments in Maryland that many Virginia teams go to. About 290 of the 310 public schools in the state participate in the Scholastic Bowl program, which uses HSAPQ questions.

Washington

several pyramidal events hosted at UW every year. Knowledge Bowl predominates in other parts of the state.

Washington, D.C.

a few tournaments in the District every year, high participation in Virginia and Maryland events. Still a lot of It's Academic-only schools. All current participation in invitationals is from private schools. Only 2 public schools (Wilson and Banneker) ever had active teams outside of IA. New HSAPQ state championship seeks to change this.

West Virginia

a few pyramidal tournaments almost every year.

Wisconsin

several pyramidal tournaments every year, hosted at UW-Madison and various high schools. Teams sometimes show up at NAC and HSNCT.

Wyoming

NHBB, Knowledge Bowl only.

Yukon

no known tournaments.

External links

• Crowd-Sourced Google Doc
• Chris Chiego's July 2015 State of Quiz Bowl