The American Quizbowl League will be hosting eleven in-person tournaments during the 2021-2022 school year. All the information you need is below.

For the past few years on Long Island, we've hosted three tournaments, and the team with the most wins over all the tournaments has been awarded the Island Cup, a prize for the best Quizbowl team on Long Island.

We've decided to expand this model throughout the New York Tri-State area: in four regions of the Northeast, there is a local championship series of three or four tournaments. On Long Island, the best team is awarded the Island Cup; in New Jersey, the Garden Cup; in Western Massachusetts, the Berkshire Cup; and in Connecticut, the Charter Cup. The top teams from each series qualify for the Northeast Regional Championships in June, to determine the best team in the Northeast United States.

For more details on how to win the cups and the points formula we use to determine the winner, follow this link.

The Island Cup will be hosted at Smithtown High School West in Smithtown, New York. We are finalizing hosting arrangements for the Garden, Charter, and Berkshire cups, as well as the Tri-State Championships, and will have locations shortly. Check back in mid-September for updates.

Teams are required to play in their home regions. Certain outside teams can also play, but do not qualify for the cups or the Northeast Regional Championships unless a wildcard bid is submitted.

The regions are as follows:

Each local championship series will use questions written by NAQT. The exact sets for each event can be found on this page. All the questions will be of easy or moderate difficulty. We exclusively use the 20/20 format at our events: in this format, each game consists of 20 tossups and 20 three-part bonuses.

You can see the categories of questions that we ask here.

All events use AQBL Ruleset C, except for the Northeast Regional Championships, which use Ruleset D.

Teams will be fairly placed into preliminary brackets before being re-seeded for playoffs. Teams will be guaranteed a minimum of 10 games; teams will be expected to play all 10 rounds, even if you are not in contention for the championship.

There are a maximum of 6 players per team, four of whom may play at once. If you wish to bring more players than that, please register additional teams. There are no exceptions to this rule. Teams may play short, with one player as a minimum. Nobody may switch teams during the tournament, such as from “A” to “B” or otherwise.

The field is capped at 36 teams for each tournament. You will be placed onto a waitlist if you miss the cutoff and will enter the field as teams drop or the field expands (if there is enough interest, we guarantee that the field will expand).

We are happy to allow pseudonymous teams and teams not directly sponsored by their district to register. However, we do have certain requirements for these teams, so please contact us via phone or email prior to registration and we will be happy to work with you.

It is not mandatory for a coach, parent, or adult to attend with their team.

Each school is required to bring one reader for every two teams attending a tournament. Schools that cannot bring readers will be charged a $50 fee per team. Keep in mind this does not have to be a coach! It can be a player who would rather read, an extra player, a parent, an alumnus, someone's friend, sibling, or third cousin twice removed, or anyone else that can read and scorekeep.

For each fully working buzzer set a school brings to a tournament, $10 will be removed from the amount owed.

A team can order a set of questions used at each tournament for $20 per set.

Trophies will be awarded to the top 3 teams after each tournament and the very best individual with the highest average Points per Game overall. The eight or so high scorers at each tournament will be awarded book prizes. The champion of each Local Championship Series will be awarded a traveling trophy. We may add additional prizes at our discretion.

At the Northeast Regional Championships, there will be many more prizes and medals awarded to high-placing teams and players.

The fee structure is as follows:

• $150 per team per tournament
• $50 additional per team per tournament if no readers are brought
• $0 additional if 1 reader is brought
• -$25 for each additional reader
• -$10 for each working buzzer set
• $20 per question set, limit 1 per school per tournament

We know this is a lot! However, in contrast to most other tournaments, we pay staff a good wage; since we're an organization rather than a club, our facility rental fees are much higher; and we have a large backend staff to ensure everything runs smoothly. Our tournaments are professionally-run, and we take great pride in providing you with the best Quizbowl experience you'll ever have.

We can process cash, checks, purchase orders, and Credit Cards. We are happy to provide a W-9, a New Jersey Business Registration Certificate, and/or an invoice on request. Please make out checks to “American Quizbowl League”. You can mail checks, POs, and any other paperwork to P.O. Box 664, Ridgewood, NJ, 07451.

Payment is due the morning of each event.

In order to register, fill out this form. Be sure you choose the proper local championship series.

Once you receive a confirmation from us, you are officially registered.

You may sign up for any number of the three tournaments, but if you skip a tournament, it is highly unlikely that you will win your local championship series.

Please ensure that you register prior to the day of the tournament!

We do not serve breakfast or lunch and teams should either bring food or prepare to go out and obtain it. We will provide a map of local restaurants during the morning meeting of every event. Lunch generally lasts an hour. Teams should eat breakfast prior to arrival.

Full and complete team and individual statistics will be posted within 48 hours after the completion of the tournament.

Please let us know if you have any further questions!