 LearnedLeague Logo | |
| Created by | Shayne Bushfield |
|---|---|
| URL | LearnedLeague.com |
| Registration | Required to participate |
| Launched | 1997 |
| Current status | Active |
LearnedLeague is a web-based, invitation-only global quiz league operated by Seattle-based software engineer Shayne Bushfield under the pseudonym "Thorsten A. Integrity". [1] As of August 2023, it has over 28,000 members worldwide. [2]
Players are organized into leagues with nonspecific geographic designations like "Central" and "Frontier". [3] Players in each league are then sorted into "rundles" based on past performance (all first-time players begin in special rookie rundles). A promotion-and-relegation system is used: a player can move up to higher rundles by finishing at or near the top of a lower one, or move down to lower rundles by finishing at or near the bottom of an upper one. [4] The top players in each league compete annually for the title of LearnedLeague Champion.
Each calendar year is divided into four seasons. Each season includes 25 match days—essentially one per U.S. business day. [5] Players are paired against each other each day during the season and compete in a six-question trivia match, with questions from 18 categories ranging from world history, science, and geography to lifestyle, food/drink, and television. Each player attempts to answer as many questions correctly as possible ("offense") and assigns point values to each question ("defense"). [6] Players must assign one question a value of 3 points, two questions values of 2 points, two questions values of 1 point, and one question a value of 0 points (allowing a maximum score per player of 9 points). [6] A player's opponent will get the assigned point value if they answer correctly. [6] Since the past performance of all players based on subject matter is openly available, defense is an important factor in gameplay. Answers must be submitted by 10 PM Pacific Time. Results from the previous day along with the new set of questions are released each Match Day by midnight Pacific time.
Between regular seasons, a number of optional multiday and single-day competitions are held, each with a specific theme. Competitions have been on topics as varied as Boston, The Middle Ages, Steely Dan, [7] [8] and Wikipedia. [9] In single-day competitions (individually known as a "One-Day Special"), all competitors answer 12 questions. [10] All correct answers are worth 15 points, but five player-designated "money questions" award additional points equal to the percentage of all players who got the question wrong. [11] So, for example, if a player correctly answers a money question that 30% of all other players get right, they earn 70 points on top of the base 15, for a total of 85. [11] Some One-Days Special follow a constraint where each question is accompanied by an image or audio, known as Just Images [12] or Just Audio [13] one-days, respectively. Other One-Days Special have a hidden connection that is not announced beforehand, known as a Mystery Theme. [14]
Multiday competitions, called "MiniLeagues", are run in a similar manner to regular LearnedLeague seasons, but in lieu of rundles, players are assigned to ad hoc groups of 12. [15] After 11 rounds of regular play are completed, the top two finishers in each group compete in a championship structured identically to the single-day competitions (non-finalists can play as well, but their scores are not recorded on the final list). [15]
The LearnedLeague Championship is an annual competition between the top competitors of each league. To qualify, a player must be ranked in the top three in an A Rundle in any of the preceding four seasons. The format is similar to the one-day format, with 12-question sets of which five must be moneyed. There are four such sets, and after the first two only those who score in the top half continue to the last two. The winner is the person who scores the most total points, and earns a scarf.
Unlike regular LearnedLeague gameplay, the championship sets are proctored on a web communication platform such as Google Meet, and have a shorter timeframe to answer and money the questions. [16]
LearnedLeague players are prohibited by an honor code from looking up answers. [17] In addition, forfeiting matches is discouraged (if players are aware of a scheduling conflict, they can request access to up to ten days' questions in advance per season). [18] Both cheating and repeated forfeiting are grounds for expulsion from LearnedLeague. [18]
New players can join LearnedLeague only if they are referred by current members in good standing. [19] [17] Prominent players include Jeopardy! champion and host Ken Jennings, [20] [21] Game of Thrones showrunner David Benioff, [21] musician Jackie Fox, [22] actor Guy Branum, [23] Rotisserie League Baseball inventor Daniel Okrent, [24] writer Anna Quindlen, [23] politician and former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, [25] [26] economist Steven Levitt, [27] and journalist Dylan Matthews. [28]
Quiz bowl is a family of quiz-based competitions that test players on a wide variety of academic subjects. Standardized quiz bowl formats are played by lower school, middle school, high school, and university students throughout North America, Asia, Europe, Australia, and Africa.
Trivial Pursuit is a board game in which winning is determined by a player's ability to answer trivia and popular culture questions. Players move their pieces around a board, the squares they land on determining the subject of a question they are asked from a card. Each correct answer allows the player's turn to continue; a correct answer on one of the six "category headquarters" spaces earns a plastic wedge which is slotted into the answerer's playing piece. The object of the game is to collect all six wedges from each "category headquarters" space, and then return to the center "hub" space to answer a question in a category selected by the other players.
A pub quiz is a quiz held in a pub or bar. These events are also called quiz nights, trivia nights, or bar trivia and may be held in other settings. The pub quiz is a modern example of a pub game, and often attempts to lure customers to the establishment on quieter days. Founded in the UK in the 1970s by Burns and Porter, the pub quiz has become part of British culture. It then became a staple in Irish pub culture, and its popularity has continued to spread internationally. Although different pub quizzes can cover a range of formats and topics, they have many features in common. Most quizzes have a limited number of team members, offer prizes for winning teams, and distinguish rounds by category or theme.
Reach for the Top is a Canadian academic quiz competition for high school students. In the past, it has also been a game show nationally broadcast on the CBC. Matches are currently aired online through Reach for the Top's official YouTube channel. Teams qualify for national rounds through several stages of non-televised tournaments held at high schools throughout Canada during the year which are known as Schoolreach.
Remote Control is a TV game show that ran on MTV for four seasons from 1987 until 1990. It was MTV's first original non-musical program and first game show. A concurrent syndicated version of the series ran during the 1989-90 season and was distributed by Viacom. Three contestants answered trivia questions on movies, music, and television, many of which were presented in skit format.
Kenneth Wayne Jennings III is an American game show host, author, and former game show contestant. He is the highest-earning American game show contestant, having won money on five different game shows, including $4,522,700 on the U.S. game show Jeopardy!. Since 2021, Jennings and Mayim Bialik have alternated as hosts of that show, as well as Celebrity Jeopardy!. In 2023, Jennings received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for a Game Show for hosting Jeopardy!.
Stump the Schwab is an American game show that aired on ESPN2 and ESPN Classic from July 8, 2004 to September 29, 2006. The show featured three contestants trying to defeat Howie Schwab, ESPN's first statistician, in a sports trivia contest. Stuart Scott was the show's host. The show also appeared on Canada's The Score Television Network.
Bible Quiz, also known as Bible Bowl or Bible Quizzing, is a quiz-bowl competition based on Bible memorization and study. The competition takes place between teams, and participants are quizzed on the content of a pre-determined section of the Bible. They are a popular activity in some Protestant churches and organizations, particularly in the United States. The exact rules of the game differ depending on the sponsoring organization.
Deal or No Deal was an Australian game show that aired on the Seven Network from 13 July 2003 to 4 October 2013. It was the first international version of the game show, after the original Miljoenenjacht from the Netherlands. It was the first of the versions to use the Deal or No Deal name. It was hosted by Andrew O'Keefe for its entire 10-year run.
Wheel of Fortune is a British television game show based on the American show of the same name created by Merv Griffin. Contestants compete to solve word puzzles, similar to those used in Hangman, to win cash and prizes. The title refers to the show's giant carnival wheel that contestants spin throughout the course of the game to determine their cash and/or prizes.
Dog Eat Dog was an American game show, which originally ran from June 17, 2002, to August 26, 2003. It was based on the UK version of the show by the same name. It was hosted by Brooke Burns, and had contestants compete against each other in physical competitions, trivia, and other assorted games for a prize of $25,000.
Sports Geniuses is an American sports-themed game show that aired for 65 episodes from March 27, 2000, until June 23, 2000, on cable channel Fox Sports Net. It was the network's second game show. The advertising campaign for the show won a Clio Award.
1 vs. 100 was a massively multiplayer online game show video game developed and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360, and an adaptation of the trivia game show of the same name.
Disney Think Fast is a Disney-themed trivia game show-based game developed by Magenta Software and published by Disney Interactive Studios. The game was released for the Wii in North America on October 21, 2008, and for Europe and Japan in December. The game was also released for PlayStation 2 in North America on November 7, November 14 in Europe, and in Australia on December 5.
The Wall is an American television game show airing on NBC, which premiered on December 19, 2016. The show is hosted by Chris Hardwick, who also serves as executive producer on the show along with LeBron James, Maverick Carter, and Andrew Glassman.
HQ was a mobile trivia game developed by Intermedia Labs for iOS, Android, iPadOS, and tvOS. First released in 2017, the HQ app allowed users to participate in daily, live, trivia games in which they could win or split prize money. HQ was developed by Vine creators Rus Yusupov and Colin Kroll and credited as a production of Intermedia Labs.
Common Knowledge is an American television game show hosted by Joey Fatone that aired on Game Show Network from January 14, 2019 to August 13, 2021. On April 17, 2019, media reports stated that GSN had renewed the show for a 130-episode second season. On March 25, 2021, GSN renewed the show for a third season, which premiered on May 17, 2021.
Big Brother Canada 7 is the seventh season of the Canadian reality television series Big Brother Canada. It is based on the Dutch series of the same name, which gained notoriety in 1999 and 2000. The season premiered on March 6, 2019, on Global and ended after 69 days on May 9, 2019, when Dane Rupert was named the winner and Anthony Douglas the runner-up. This was the first time in history that both the winner and runner-up received zero votes to evict in the entire season.
Master Minds is an American game show airing on the Game Show Network. The show debuted on June 10, 2019, under the title Best Ever Trivia Show, hosted by Sherri Shepherd and regularly featuring Ken Jennings, Muffy Marracco, Jonathan Corbblah, Arianna Haut, and Ryan Chaffee. The series was renamed Master Minds on April 6, 2020, with Brooke Burns replacing Shepherd.
Tooned In is an American game show that aired on Nickelodeon from February 8, 2021 to July 1, 2022.