Brain Bowl (Cincinnati)
Brain Bowl is an elementary school quizbowl league for 4th through 6th graders sponsored by Cincinnati Public Schools. It was founded as an independent league in the early 2000s, and began being sponsored as an official CPS sport in 2022.
Format
Brain Bowl matches are played in four quarters of 15 questions each. Four players play at once for each team, with different restrictions on lineups for the regular season and the tournament (in the tournament, for example, coaches must play a minimum of 8 different players across all four quarters). Games are played using a tossup-bonus format, with a successful tossup earning a team one point and the chance to answer a bonus question for another point, which can be stolen on a bounce-back. There is no separation between tossup and bonus questions; the quarter ends after 15 total questions have been read, regardless of what kind they are. A 16th question is read in a round if and only if it is a bonus for a team that converted the prior tossup.
Games are played on Wednesdays and Thursdays during winter, with each team playing 8 regular-season games, followed by the district tournament in March. Questions are taken from the elementary sets from the KAAC, with some modifications to make them more Ohio-centric. They are non-pyramidal with topics ranging from spelling to comp-math to Newbery and Caldecott Medal winners. Moderators for games are often members or alumni of the Walnut Hills and University of Cincinnati quizbowl teams.
Schools
- Clifton Area Neighborhood School (CANS) - 2024-present
- Covedale - 2022-present
- Dater - 2022-present
- Fairview - 2022-present
- Hyde Park - 2023-present
- Kilgour - 2022-present
- Pleasant Ridge Montessori - 2022-present
- Spencer Center - 2022-present
Results
| Season | Teams in league | Regular season champion | Tournament format | Tournament champion | Tournament runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6 | Spencer | Pool play (2 pods of 3), then championship game between pod winners | Kilgour | Spencer |
| 2023 | 7 | Kilgour | Single elimination | Dater | Spencer |
| 2024 | 8 | Hyde Park | Single elimination | Hyde Park | PRM |
| 2025 | 8 | PRM | Single elimination | Hyde Park | Kilgour |