Montgomery Academic Beltway League

The Montgomery Academic Beltway League, often shortened to MABL and casually known as Beltways, is a non-pyramidal league in Montgomery County, Maryland. The majority of public schools in the county, as well as some private schools, participate in the league. There is some overlap between teams competing in MABL and teams competing in the larger DMV quizbowl circuit, but experienced pyramidal players often choose to not participate due to criticisms such as question quality and the fairness of the non-pyramidal structure.

Format

MABL games consist of four quarters: A "four corners round" that consists of teams answering two themed sets of four bonus questions each, "10 point tossup" and "lightning" rounds that consist of non-pyramidal tossups worth 10 and 15 points each, respectively, and a "bonus round," which uses a non-standardized tossup & bonus format.

The season typically consists of semiweekly matches in which the entire field is divided into groups of four schools, each group assigned to a different host school, who each play each other in a round robin.