Cheese-melter

A "real cheese-melter" is an in-progress quizbowl game with a close score.

The term was popularized by Chad Kubicek [1], who has occasionally deemed games to be cheese-melters while moderating at NAQT national championships.

Kubicek credits the term to Chicago player Sendhil Revuluri, who was keeping board score at some national championship. The game was a blowout even at halftime, and Revuluri remarked that it was a cheese-melter. Kubicek credits himself for inverting the meaning.