Rio Americano not only competed in the Quiz Bowl for the first time this year, they also hosted the Sacramento Regional Tournament on Nov. 10 and teams A and B came in second and third place respectively.

“The first tournament was a good introduction to what Quiz Bowl is like,” senior Noah Lightman said.

The Quiz Bowl is based on knowledge of various trivia relating to topics learned either through high school or popular culture. The quiz topics include literature, history, geography, science, music, art, psychology, sociology, economics, and religion.

“It’s important to be fast,” Quiz Bowl coach and Government teacher Gary Blenner said. “Speed counts.”

In a Quiz Bowl game, there are eight rounds consisting of 20 questions and one bonus question.

If a team answers a question correctly, they get ten points. If they get a wrong answer before the question is finished, they’re penalized five points. However, if the question was finished, there is no penalty.

A team can also earn three bonus questions if they answer a question correctly, all in the same category that are each worth ten points.

Rio’s Quiz Bowl club has eight members, including President Tyler Reeves.

“My favorite part of Quiz Bowl are the competitions,” he said. “They’re fun and laid back and its fun to test trivia knowledge on random topics.”

“The club is filled with a lot of smart and funny people who are interested in academics. It’s fun to hang out with them and compete.”

Noah Lightman joined the team because he wanted to be involved in another extracurricular activity, but once he joined he found he enjoyed being with people of different interests.

“I wanted to have another extracurricular and I wanted it to be academic,” he said. “It’s interesting because we all have different interest areas. Some are good at science and math. History and current events are my strong suit. But when we come together, we use our different specialties.”

“It’s good to be in an environment with other people who can challenge you and broaden your horizons.”

Quiz Bowl participated at a competition in Berkeley on December 8, the first of four tournaments called the California Cup. The A team took fifth place with a 4-4 record.

The club meets Mondays at lunch in B-10 for ‘Jeopardy’ like questions that help them prepare for coming tournaments. Anyone interested can join.