The Knot

The Quiz Wizard II, usually known to quizbowlers only as The Knot, is an infamous and ancient 16-player buzzer system sold by Creative Electronic Design, Inc. [1]. It gets its nickname from the ridiculous amount of wires in the system, which is difficult to transport in anything less than a medium-sized plastic storage tub as a result. Because there are no lights corresponding to the individual players' paddles, each paddle has an (often illegible) alphanumeric label etched into the plastic, and a small basketball-scoreboard-like display in front of the moderator displays that paddle's label so it can be read out for player-recognition purposes. As such, matches played on The Knot often include loud interruptions from the moderator calling out utterances such as "D2" or (high school player favorite) "C4".

"The Knot" was a long-time fixture of tournaments and shootouts at the University of Maryland, which owned one for the better part of two decades until around 2013. The University of Chicago also owns a Knot.