Ben Russell Jones

Ben Russell Jones
Noted subjects	Literature, AFA, things he has heard before
Current college	University of Edinburgh (2019-)
Stats	HDWhite • NAQT

Ben Russell Jones is a player for the University of Edinburgh. A native of South Wales, Ben is a generalist with specialisms in poetry that makes him cry and classical music to which he listens while writing essays. Ben made up the core of Edinburgh's A team with fellow generalist Nicholas Winter until 2023. He is sometimes known by the humorous nickname The Notorious BRJ.

University Career

Ben started his quizbowl career at Edinburgh with a really aggressive quizbowl style, based more on feel and intuition than actual knowledge, which resulted in many wild negs. Over time, he has adjusted to a far more conservative style.

At only his third ever tournament, the 2020 British Student Quiz Championships, Ben's Edinburgh B team, also including Rishi Sundar, Emily Luk and Daniel Polatajko, were beaten 725 to -25 by a Southampton A team including Evan Lynch, who converted 17 tossups out of 24. This has become an infamous game in the UK Quizbowl community, with many claiming this inspired Ben's continuation of quizbowl.

Ben and Nicholas reached the final of the UK mirror of STASH in 2021, where they lost to a Seoan Webb-led Oxford team. This marked Edinburgh's first appearance in a UK final. Edinburgh's first tournament win came in 2021, when a team led by Ben, Nicholas and also former Oxford player Laura Cooper, defeated a two-man Southampton team in the final of the UK mirror of HARI.

At the 2022 British Student Quiz Championships, Edinburgh reached the final against Cambridge, following a triumph in the play-in game against Oxford, which saw Edinburgh power nearly a third of the tossups. Cambridge won the first game of an advantaged final 340-235.

In 2023, Ben won the open UK mirror of Penn Bowl, alongside Nicholas Winter and Leo Howard, defeating 'Broken Hearts' in the final.

At the 2023 British Student Quiz Championships, Edinburgh lost games to Durham A, Oxford A and Cambridge A in the afternoon after going unbeaten in the morning. However, they still had a mighty effect on the tournament's outcome; in the final game, Edinburgh caused an upset by defeating the unbeaten Imperial A team 255 to 185, with Ben scoring 90 of those points. This forced a one game final between Imperial A and Oxford A, in which Imperial emerged ultimately victorious.