Teitler Method

The Teitler Method is an approach to buzzing strategy in which a player buzzes without the answer in mind, but with the confident expectation that they will produce an answer before the time to answer provided by rules expires, either through recall of an answer they have yet to pull, or through the application of further deductive analysis of the answer space based on clues already heard, i.e. the Yaphe Method.

Buzzing under these circumstances achieves the twin aims of (1) effectively utilizing the full time provided by the rules to complete the mental processes needed to generate an answer, and (2) denying the opposing team the opportunity to hear the stream of clues the moderator would have continued to read had the buzzing player waited until they had an answer in mind before buzzing.

The Teitler Method is often outwardly indistinguishable from the Romero Method, another anticipatory buzzing strategy, but the critical difference is in the subjective intent of the buzzing player. The Romero Method trusts an inchoate intuition or hunch, and hopes that the intuition proves well-founded. The Teitler Method, by contrast, is a deliberate and calculated seizure of additional time to produce an answer that the player knows they are likely to produce. The Teitler Method can thus be understood as a particularly cautious variation of the Romero Method, and the Romero Method can likewise be understood as a particularly aggressive application of the Teitler Method.

One of the most common applications of the Teitler Method at the high school level is on computational math tossups on NAQT IS-A sets, which typically contain one computational math tossup per packet. The most successful computational math players typically buzz as soon as the question is fully specified in the lead-in, and then utilize most of the three-second answer time to compute the correct answer.

Successful application of the Teitler Method in non-computational contexts requires accurate metaknowledge, i.e. knowledge of the scope of one's own knowledge, and an accurate model of the relationship between one's own knowledge and the potential answer space of a given question. It is thus typically only observed in strong and experienced players.

Like the Romero Method, the Teitler Method often results in exciting in-game moments, as the pregnant pause during which the player utilizing the strategy attempts to produce the correct answer is tense and dramatic.

Notable historical practitioners of the Teitler Method include Seth Teitler and Zeke Berdichevsky.