The problem that I have with CBI questions often lies in the bonuses. They go on and on and on and on and on... when the answer they're looking for seems obvious. And the matches are timed, so it's really tempting to interrupt the moderator and just give the answer. The danger with that, as I found out in a match that we fortunately ended up winning handily, is that such long bonuses will often surprise you and look for two answers at the end. So there was a bonus where blah blah blah blah and it was obvious to me from moment one that it was Bruce Campbell. Time's just ticking away, so I just said "Bruce Campbell." The moderator kind of glared at me a little and said after a couple seconds, "Sorry, that's Bruce Campbell AND The Evil Dead." Needless to say that annoyed me too because I would have gotten the Evil Dead easily. That's the problem that I have with CBI. Bonuses that resemble tossups in length are annoying enough, but when it's on the clock they get all the worse, and it doesn't help that we're not exactly dealing with the moderator speed so many of us on the circuit are used to. In one game time was winding down, but I waited for the moderator to finish. He paused for several seconds, so I gave the answer - but again, it was only one part of a two-part answer, the clue to which he hadn't gotten to. Well, don't pause like the question's over! In terms of tossups, the "problem" I have with CBI questions is more my own than anything to do with the writing... it's like some strange variation of ACF syndrome. You hear a question in ACF and you know the answer really early, so you sit there thinking, "It can't be this easy, it's ACF." In CBI, you just think, "It can't be this easy." But it's CBI, so it very often *is* that easy. But again, that's my problem, not the format's per se.
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