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. This includes several schools which also compete in the pyramidal circuit, however, experienced pyramidal players often choose to not participate in MABL, typically citing the perceived anti-competitive nature of non-pyramidal questions.

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. These matches are followed by an "up-down round," in which teams are bracketed by standings, and a finals round usually using a mixed round robin and elimination structure.