Quizbowl in the UK
Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2017 7:39 pm
Can someone provide an overview of the current quizbowl scene in the UK? Is there still a team at the London School of Economics?
Hi Vivek. We get excited about Americans crossing the atlantic to come and play quizbowl so your post provoked a flurry of activity on our informal UK quizbowl FB chat, and I was nominated to give an overview, so here goes:
The UK circuit is comparatively small, but very active and well established. We usually play 10-12 tournaments a year, spanning most levels of difficulty. For reference the sets we played/are playing this year: Penn Bowl, EFT, Terrapin, ACF Fall, NAQT Novice, WAO, OOT, ACF Regs, TTIC, CamO, whatever the alternative to MUT is and a briticised SCT for our national championships.
UK quizbowl is dominated by Oxford and Cambridge who usually put forward 2-3 teams for each tournament, but unis like Warwick and Southampton are usually good for at least one team. In order to bulk out the field, tournaments are often played as open events as there is a fairly active crowd of interested quizzers and former players. A typical regular difficulty tournament would usually have 8-10 teams.
I'm not aware of LSE having a current quizbowl society, but there would be nothing to stop one coming into existence. In the past, various London universities have been grouped together and have played as "University of London". Basically if you want to play, there shouldn't be much to stop it happening. Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions.
