Difference between revisions of "Grail"

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A '''grail''' is a feat wherein one team correctly answers all 20 tossups in a packet. The team does not need to answer all of the bonus parts correctly to achieve a grail.
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<onlyinclude>In [[quiz bowl]], a '''grail''' is a term used to refer to the rare feat where one [[team]] [[conversion|correctly answers]] all [[tossups]] heard in a [[game]]. Generally, this implies a team answering 20 correct tossups, though in a [[timed games|timed match]] this can vary. The team does not need to answer all of the bonus parts correctly to achieve a grail - achieving 30 [[points per bonus]] over a non-trivial number of questions is called an [[Andrew Hart Grail]] and is much rarer.</onlyinclude>
  
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==List of Teams That Have Achieved a Grail==
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Grails necessarily occur in situations where the teams playing are heavily mismatched - this may be due to one team being shorthanded, but the most common reason is an established team playing a newer one. Even for strong teams, grails almost always happen on easier questions and are limited by chance.
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*[[Jonathan Magin]] and [[Rom Masrour]] at the 2008 Illinois Open Literature Tournament
 
  
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==See Also==
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==Grails of note==
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*[[Andrew Hart Grail]]
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This page will attempt to focus on the memorable games where a team faced another team of non-negligible skill on non-trivial questions, for which converting every tossup first was truly an achievement.
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<!-- INSTRUCTIONS TO EDITORS:
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To avoid this page from being saturated with established teams being cruel to newer teams, please attempt to only add entries which adhere to the following criteria:
  
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[[Category:Quizbowl lingo]]
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1. Both teams should be of reasonably similar skills - this isn't something that can necessarily be assessed accurately post facto, but at minimum this should exclude top 10 teams beating a local C team.
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[[Category:Original QBWiki Page]]
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2. The tournament should be of a non-trivial difficulty - it is simply not of much note that a strong team could get every tossup of a novice set.
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3. Particularly interesting grails can loosely violate the previous rules
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The goal is to preserve grails which are truly impressive while removing the borderline-insulting fluff.
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-->
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===Open===
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{| class="wikitable"
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! Grailer
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! Score
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! Grailee
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! Tournament
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|-
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| [[Jonathan Magin]] and [[Rom Masrour]]
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| ? – ?
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| ???
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| [[2008 Illinois Open Literature]]
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|-
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| [[Jerry Vinokurov]], [[Eric Mukherjee]], [[Andrew Hart]], and [[Dennis Jang]]
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| ? – ?
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| [[Berkeley]]
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| [[Cardinal Classic]] 2008
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|}
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===College===
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<!-- INSTRUCTIONS TO EDITORS:
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Please read the guidelines under the "Grails of note" header
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-->
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{| class="wikitable"
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! Grailer
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! Score
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! Grailee
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! Tournament
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|-
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| [[Virginia|Virginia A]]
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| 680 – -5<br/>(23 toss-ups heard)
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| [[Virginia Tech]]
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| [[2011 SCT]] East Carolina site
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|-
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| [[Virginia]] A
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| 660 – -5
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| [[Stanford]]
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| [[2014 ACF Nationals]]
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|-
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| [[Stanford]] B
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| 720 – -5
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| [[UC Davis]]
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| [[2015 SCT|2015 DII Berkeley SCT]]
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|-
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| [[Minnesota]] A
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| 845 – -30<br/>(22 toss-ups heard)
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| [[Grinnell]]
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| [[2018 SCT]]<br/>(combined DI/DII field)
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|}
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Virginia A ([[Matt Bollinger]], [[Evan Adams]], [[Tommy Casalaspi]], [[Dennis Loo]]) grailing top bracket team Stanford ([[Benji Nguyen]], [[James Bradbury]], [[Nikhil Desai]], [[Kyle Sutherlin]]) en route to winning [[2014 ACF Nationals]] undefeated is perhaps the most impressive grail that has ever happened.
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[[Minnesota A]]'s grail against [[Grinnell]] at the North site of the [[2018 SCT]] is a glaring reminder of the problems with combining fields between [[Division I and Division II]].
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===High School===
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<!-- INSTRUCTIONS TO EDITORS:
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Please read the guidelines under the "Grails of note" header
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-->
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{| class="wikitable"
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! Grailer
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! Score
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! Grailee
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! Tournament
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|-
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| [[St. Anselm's]]
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| 810 – 0
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| [[Seven Lakes]] B
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| [[2010 NSC]]
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|-
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| [[Torrey Pines]]
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| 630 – -5
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| [[Canyon Crest]]
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| [[UCSD]] mirror of 2009 [[HFT]]
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|-
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| [[Hunter]]
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| 765 – 0
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| [[Bergen County Academies]]
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| finals of 2010 [[Princeton High School Tournament]]
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|-
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| [[Hallsville]]
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| 695 – 0<br/>(22 tossups heard)
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| [[Miami Community Charter]]
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| [[2014 SSNCT]]
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|-
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| [[Souderton]]
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| 690 – -5
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| [[Renaissance Academy]]
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| [[Great Valley]]'s 2015 winter tournament<br/>(Souderton's first pyramidal tournament ever)
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|-
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| [[Glasgow]]
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| 765 – -5<br/>(23 tossups heard)
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| [[Woodland]]
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| [[2015 SSNCT]]
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|-
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| [[Detroit Catholic Central|Detroit Catholic Central A]]
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| 660 – 30
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| [[Del Norte]]
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| [[2015 PACE NSC]]
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|-
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| [[Miami Valley School|Miami Valley A]]
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| 870 – -5<br/>(24 tossups heard)
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| [[Doral Red Rock|Doral Red Rock B]]
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| [[2017 SSNCT]]
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|}
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Among the national championships, grails are much more common at [[SSNCT]]: the range in preparedness between teams in the Open Division is comparable to [[HSNCT]], but the much smaller field size allows more opportunities for teams to take advantage of the lower difficulty questions.
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===Middle School===
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<!-- INSTRUCTIONS TO EDITORS:
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Please read the guidelines under the "Grails of note" header
 +
-->
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{| class="wikitable"
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! Grailer
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! Score
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! Grailee
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! Tournament
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|-
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| [[Miami Valley School (middle school)|Miami Valley School A]]
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| 700 – 0
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| [[St. Mary]] B
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| 2015 Ohio Middle School State Championship
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|-
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| [[JP Stevens|John Adams]]
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| 690 – -5
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| [[Morristown-Beard]]
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| 2021 New Jersey Middle State Championships
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|}
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==Individual Grails of Note==
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<!-- INSTRUCTIONS TO EDITORS:
 +
Please read the guidelines under the "Grails of note" header
 +
-->
 +
An '''individual grail''' (or '''solo grail''') occurs when a single individual, playing solo or with teammates, answers every tossup in a regulation match. The more difficult nature of this feat means that almost all documented instances were examples of the previously-mentioned situation of strong players on easy questions against new teams and have not been recorded here.
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[[R. Hentzel]] legendarily had an attempt at an individual grail foiled when he failed to identify an "Easy-Bake Oven."
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[[John John Groger]] of [[Miami Valley School]] grailed [[Auburn]] by himself at the highschool-only [[UChicago]] mirror of [[ACF Fall|2019 ACF Fall]].
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 +
[[Category: Quizbowl lingo]]
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[[Category: Original QBWiki Page]]

Latest revision as of 07:47, 27 January 2022

In quiz bowl, a grail is a term used to refer to the rare feat where one team correctly answers all tossups heard in a game. Generally, this implies a team answering 20 correct tossups, though in a timed match this can vary. The team does not need to answer all of the bonus parts correctly to achieve a grail - achieving 30 points per bonus over a non-trivial number of questions is called an Andrew Hart Grail and is much rarer.

Grails necessarily occur in situations where the teams playing are heavily mismatched - this may be due to one team being shorthanded, but the most common reason is an established team playing a newer one. Even for strong teams, grails almost always happen on easier questions and are limited by chance.

Grails of note

This page will attempt to focus on the memorable games where a team faced another team of non-negligible skill on non-trivial questions, for which converting every tossup first was truly an achievement.

Open

Grailer Score Grailee Tournament
Jonathan Magin and Rom Masrour ? – ? ??? 2008 Illinois Open Literature
Jerry Vinokurov, Eric Mukherjee, Andrew Hart, and Dennis Jang ? – ? Berkeley Cardinal Classic 2008

College

Grailer Score Grailee Tournament
Virginia A 680 – -5
(23 toss-ups heard) 		Virginia Tech 2011 SCT East Carolina site
Virginia A 660 – -5 Stanford 2014 ACF Nationals
Stanford B 720 – -5 UC Davis 2015 DII Berkeley SCT
Minnesota A 845 – -30
(22 toss-ups heard) 		Grinnell 2018 SCT
(combined DI/DII field)

Virginia A (Matt Bollinger, Evan Adams, Tommy Casalaspi, Dennis Loo) grailing top bracket team Stanford (Benji Nguyen, James Bradbury, Nikhil Desai, Kyle Sutherlin) en route to winning 2014 ACF Nationals undefeated is perhaps the most impressive grail that has ever happened.

Minnesota A's grail against Grinnell at the North site of the 2018 SCT is a glaring reminder of the problems with combining fields between Division I and Division II.

High School

Grailer Score Grailee Tournament
St. Anselm's 810 – 0 Seven Lakes B 2010 NSC
Torrey Pines 630 – -5 Canyon Crest UCSD mirror of 2009 HFT
Hunter 765 – 0 Bergen County Academies finals of 2010 Princeton High School Tournament
Hallsville 695 – 0
(22 tossups heard) 		Miami Community Charter 2014 SSNCT
Souderton 690 – -5 Renaissance Academy Great Valley's 2015 winter tournament
(Souderton's first pyramidal tournament ever)
Glasgow 765 – -5
(23 tossups heard) 		Woodland 2015 SSNCT
Detroit Catholic Central A 660 – 30 Del Norte 2015 PACE NSC
Miami Valley A 870 – -5
(24 tossups heard) 		Doral Red Rock B 2017 SSNCT

Among the national championships, grails are much more common at SSNCT: the range in preparedness between teams in the Open Division is comparable to HSNCT, but the much smaller field size allows more opportunities for teams to take advantage of the lower difficulty questions.

Middle School

Grailer Score Grailee Tournament
Miami Valley School A 700 – 0 St. Mary B 2015 Ohio Middle School State Championship
John Adams 690 – -5 Morristown-Beard 2021 New Jersey Middle State Championships

Individual Grails of Note

An individual grail (or solo grail) occurs when a single individual, playing solo or with teammates, answers every tossup in a regulation match. The more difficult nature of this feat means that almost all documented instances were examples of the previously-mentioned situation of strong players on easy questions against new teams and have not been recorded here.

R. Hentzel legendarily had an attempt at an individual grail foiled when he failed to identify an "Easy-Bake Oven."

John John Groger of Miami Valley School grailed Auburn by himself at the highschool-only UChicago mirror of 2019 ACF Fall.

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