Kickoff + six scored Thursdays  ·  Maclay planned  ·  Free

Play
other
schools.

Come with a school club LCAL has confirmed, get buzzer time in one scheduled match, and score points for your school. Your school must approve its adult-coverage route before you attend.

Try one

Its name comes from the Greek word for the sun, because astronomers found it in the sun's spectrum before anyone found it on Earth. Name this element that makes balloons float.

Answer

Helium. On a buzzer you would have had it by "the sun's spectrum".

Practice

Four questions from each of the five subjects a packet draws on, pulled at random from a bank of 80. Reload the page and you get a different set.

These are written the way real ones are: the first clue is the hardest and it gets easier as it goes, so the more you know the sooner you can buzz. Read to yourself and stop the moment you are sure. Say the answer out loud before you open it, and be honest about whether you had it.

Buzzing is a skill separate from knowing. On a real tossup you get five seconds once the reader stops, ten on computational math, and the point goes to whoever is first. So practice deciding fast, not just being right eventually.

Mathematics

  1. What is the distance between the points negative 2 comma 1 and 4 comma 9? 10 seconds

    Answer

    10

    Also accept: 10 units

  2. What is the magnitude of a two-dimensional vector whose components are 9 and 12? 10 seconds

    Answer

    15

  3. A bag contains 4 red and 3 blue tokens. Two tokens are drawn without replacement. What is the probability that both are red? 10 seconds

    Answer

    2/7

    Also accept: two sevenths

  4. Let f of x equal four x minus nine. What is f inverse of 19? 10 seconds

    Answer

    7

    Also accept: f inverse of 19 equals 7

Science

  1. Snell's law relates the incident and transmitted angles produced during this phenomenon. It occurs because a wave changes speed while crossing into a different medium. A partly submerged straw appears bent because light undergoes this process. Name this bending of a wave at a boundary.

    Answer

    refraction

    Do not accept: reflection; diffraction

  2. Its independent formulation by Alfred Russel Wallace prompted a joint presentation in 1858. This mechanism changes allele frequencies when heritable traits affect reproductive success. Charles Darwin used it to explain how populations become adapted to their environments. Name this mechanism of evolution through differential survival and reproduction.

    Answer

    natural selection

  3. Slow cooling underground produces intrusive examples, while rapid surface cooling produces extrusive ones. Interlocking mineral crystals in these rocks form as molten material cools and solidifies. Granite and basalt belong to this major rock class formed from magma or lava. Name this class of rock.

    Answer

    igneous rock

    Also accept: igneous rocks

  4. Orbital overlap gives this bond directional character in many molecular geometries. It commonly forms between nonmetal atoms whose electronegativity difference is relatively small. In this bond, atoms achieve stability by sharing one or more electron pairs. Name this type of chemical bond formed by shared electrons.

    Answer

    covalent bond

Social Studies

  1. In this system, concurrent powers may be exercised by more than one level of government. Constitutions often distinguish national enumerated powers from powers reserved to regional governments. The United States uses this arrangement, which divides authority between national and state governments. Name this system of divided governmental power.

    Answer

    federalism

    Also accept: federal system

  2. Differential heating of land and ocean helps reverse the prevailing winds associated with this circulation. Its seasonal shift can create a wet summer and a much drier winter. Agriculture in South Asia depends heavily on rains delivered by this wind system. Name this seasonal wind and rainfall pattern.

    Answer

    monsoon

    Also accept: monsoon circulation; monsoon system

  3. Dependent origination and the doctrine of no permanent self are teachings of this tradition. Its Four Noble Truths diagnose suffering and prescribe the Eightfold Path. Siddhartha Gautama founded this religion, whose ultimate goal is nirvana. Name this major Asian religion and philosophy.

    Answer

    Buddhism

  4. Its charter took effect in 1945 after delegates met in San Francisco. Its Security Council gives veto power to five permanent members. Headquartered in New York, this organization was created after World War II to promote peace and cooperation. Name this international organization.

    Answer

    United Nations

    Also accept: UN; U.N.

Language Arts

  1. Its many chapters portray courtship, poetry, and political rank in Japan's Heian court. A court lady conventionally known as Murasaki Shikibu wrote this work around the early eleventh century. Its shining prince pursues many relationships before later chapters shift to Kaoru and Niou. Name this early Japanese novel.

    Answer

    The Tale of Genji

    Also accept: Genji monogatari

  2. The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg overlook a desolate valley in this novel. Its narrator, Nick Carraway, rents a house beside a mysterious millionaire's mansion. A green light across the bay symbolizes Gatsby's longing for Daisy in this F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. Name this novel set during the Jazz Age.

    Answer

    The Great Gatsby

  3. A line in this meter normally contains five repetitions of a two-syllable foot. Each regular foot moves from an unstressed syllable to a stressed one. Many English sonnets and much of Shakespeare's blank verse use this rhythm. Name this five-foot poetic meter.

    Answer

    iambic pentameter

    Prompt on: pentameter

  4. Roger Chillingworth hides his identity while seeking revenge on the minister Arthur Dimmesdale. Pearl is the daughter of a woman forced to wear a decorated red letter. Hester Prynne faces judgment in Puritan Boston in this novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Name this novel about sin and public shame.

    Answer

    The Scarlet Letter

Arts and Humanities

  1. Its score layers ostinatos and shifting accents over an imagined ancient pagan ceremony. Vaslav Nijinsky choreographed its original Ballets Russes production. A famously disruptive 1913 Paris premiere greeted this ballet by Igor Stravinsky. Name this ballet depicting a ritual sacrifice.

    Answer

    The Rite of Spring

    Also accept: Le Sacre du printemps

  2. Blue notes, call-and-response patterns, and syncopation shape many performances in this musical tradition. Improvisers often create new melodic lines over repeating chord changes. This American genre developed from Black musical traditions in and around New Orleans. Name this musical genre.

    Answer

    jazz

  3. Its analytic phase used subdued colors and fragmented forms, while its synthetic phase incorporated collage. Objects in this movement can appear from several viewpoints at once. Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque pioneered this movement built from geometric planes. Name this early twentieth-century art movement.

    Answer

    Cubism

  4. Actors in this theater may freeze in stylized mie poses at dramatic moments. A raised hanamichi walkway carries performers through the audience toward the stage. Elaborate makeup and highly codified movement characterize this traditional Japanese theater form. Name this Japanese theatrical tradition.

    Answer

    kabuki

These are practice questions and they are public, so none of them will be read in a scored match. The questions on a Thursday are held by the Chief Official and nobody sees them before they are read, including the adults.

What a Thursday looks like

One night, start to finish
6:00Doors. Sign yourself in under your confirmed school group or approved parent route.
6:15Check-in closes. Be inside by now.
6:20Teams and rooms go up on the wall.
6:30Match. 100 questions on buzzers.
About 7:35Team scores posted on the wall before anyone leaves.
7:50Building clear.

Two teams of 3 or 4 use buzzers. A reader reads; the first student to buzz gets the answer. A miss costs the team that question but never subtracts points, so take a chance when you know it.

A match is 100 questions, in two halves of 50, and runs about an hour. There is no clock: a half ends when its questions are gone, not when a timer does.

Who can play

Students attend through a recognized school academic-competition club or homeschool group. Brain Bowl, Mu Alpha Theta, Junior Classical League, Science Olympiad, Black History Brain Bowl, and similar clubs all qualify. Recognized homeschool collectives qualify too. This is for club members and their families, not a public walk-in event.

Bring a full team or come with only a few club members. Everyone who checks in through an approved route gets buzzer time in one scheduled match.

LCAL forms as many whole school teams as the night's numbers allow and uses mixed-school teams only where the numbers require them. Six from one school can form two teams. If a mixed team is needed, every student on its winning side in a scored match still earns a point for their own school. A same-school matchup is an exhibition and earns no school points.

If a school brings more than one team's worth, its supervising adult may name the first team at check-in. LCAL honors that choice wherever the night's numbers allow and yields it if needed to avoid stranding a student. Nothing is sent in advance; LCAL forms everyone else into teams after check-in closes.

An approved adult may be the coach or another person the school designates; one adult may supervise several schools only when every affected school approves it. Where school and district policy permit, a parent or legal guardian may stay and cover only their own student. Families arrange transportation, subject to school and district rules.

The dates

The Kickoff on September 24 is set. LCAL plans to hold it at Maclay, subject to final facility approval. The scored nights are provisional until September 3: the Board decides then whether scored play runs October 1 through November 5 or October 8 through November 12, based on whether the participating district schools have enough approved adult coverage. Under the later calendar, October 1 runs as an unscored exhibition.

September 24Kickoff. Attend with your confirmed school group or, where policy permits, your own parent. Nothing counts.
October 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, and November 5Six scored nights. Provisional until September 3.
A Saturday in NovemberPlanned County Championship; date and venue require separate approval.
Saturday, January 23, 2027Planned Saturday tournament, subject to question rights, field, and Board approval.

Download these dates to your calendar.

Cost, scores, and your name

All Club Play Thursdays are free to students and schools. The two Saturday tournaments are planned separately and remain subject to their venue, question-rights, field, and Board approvals. If held, they are priced at cost, with a waiver available without an explanation.

At first check-in you enter a full name, school, and public handle. Signed-in operators use the full name to run the event; public results use the handle and verified statistics. The Kickoff creates no standing, rating, or statistic; individual results begin with the first scored night. Your full name stays in the record so a result is still yours years from now, and you or a parent can ask for it to be removed. Identifiable photographs appear only after documented school/family authorization and can be withdrawn. Read the privacy policy or see the results timeline.

Your school goes first

Club Play is not a public walk-in event. Before you attend, your school club must be confirmed and the adult-coverage route must be one your school or district permits. That can be the school's approved group or, where policy permits, your own parent or legal guardian staying with you. A submitted request alone is not permission to attend.

Students create no League account and submit no advance League form. Tell your club sponsor you want to play; the adult school contact can use the request form below. Your school may still require its own family or trip paperwork.