Timed play

Reflecting the evolution of quizbowl away from College Bowl, the formerly nigh-standard practice of running games on a clock is now nearly extinct. In the early 1990s, only the most purist ACF events, such as the Georgia Tech MLK and ACF Nationals, were untimed. By the turn of the millenium, the only timed tournaments remaining were NAQT Sectionals and ICT, Stanford's Cardinal Classic, Michigan MLK, and Penn Bowl, plus of course all College Bowl-run events.

Cardinal Classic dropped the clock starting in 2001, Penn Bowl in 2003, and MLK in 2006. Now, only the NAQT SCT and ICT are timed among quizbowl tournaments. NAQT's timing rules allow for somewhat more sanity than College Bowl's, but are still open to gamesmanship, manipulation, and games ending after 16 tossups.