Brain Bowl

Brain Bowl is an academic competition in which Florida Community College teams are pitted against one another. Teams consist of up to six players, only four of whom play at any given time. A moderator reads questions from four subject areas that includes humanities, mathematics, natural science and social sciences. Each area is equally represented. A buzzer system is used to identify the player who buzzes in first. Ten points are awarded for correctly answering the tossup question. The team winning the tossup is eligible to win up to 20 points for correctly answering the followup bonus questions. After twenty questions, the team that has accumulated the most points, wins the game. In tournament play, the championship match is more lengthy, with 44 questions.

More recently founded is the annual Brain Bowl between South Lakes High School and Herndon High School in Fairfax County, Virginia. The contest, first occurring in the 2005-06 school year, will expand the athletic rivalry between the two into the field of acadamia.

Brain Bowl varies from Quiz Bowl and other forms in that only academic questions are used.

Florida Brain Bowl Purpose

The purpose of Brain Bowl competition is to recognize outstanding student academic achievement, to help focus community interest on academic excellence in Florida community colleges, and to help foster relations among faculty and students as they work together on this joint project.

History and Scholarships

Florida Brain Bowl was created in the fall of 1981 and until 1991 was a joint project of the Florida State Department of Education and the Florida Community College Activities Association. Since 1991, the FCCAA has been the sole sponsor of the Brain Bowl.

After initially gaining the approval and support of the Florida Community College Council of Presidents, the fall of 1981 was spent developing rules and organizing regional competitions. The cash awards for the initial year came from a combination of funds from the legislative appropriation that established the Program to Recognize Initiative and Distinction in Education (PRIDE) and more than $12,000 that the founders of the Brain Bowl competition were able to raise from private sources.

Since its inception in 1981, the Florida Community Colleges Brain Bowl competition has involved more than 1,000 students in regional and state competitions. During that time, the Florida Department of Education has awarded more than $80,000 to community college students who have competed in these tournaments. Private colleges and universities, as well as state supported universities, have made available almost $1 million worth of scholarship opportunities. Each year the host school records the Championship match for future broadcast to the television viewers in the State of Florida.

Tournament History

Brain Bowl Tournament winners are:1982: Florida Junior College at Jacksonville

1983: Florida Junior College at Jacksonville

1984: St. Petersburg Junior College

1985: Miami Dade Community College -South Campus

1986: Seminole Community College

1987: Miami Dade Community College -South Campus

1988: Florida Community College at Jacksonville

1989: Broward Community College

1990: Broward Community College

1991: Broward Community College

1992: Broward Community College

1993: Broward Community College

1994: Valencia Community College

1995: Valencia Community College

1996: Central Florida Community College

1997: Broward Community College

1998: Broward Community College

1999: Valencia Community College

2000: Tallahassee Community College

2001: Valencia Community College

2002: Pensacola Junior College

2003: Valencia Community College

2004: Okaloosa-Walton College

2005: Okaloosa-Walton College

2006: Broward Community College

Florida Community College Activities Association

[http://www.flccaa.org/BrainBowl.html Brain Bowl website]

[http://www.flccaa.org/pdf_files/Brain%20Bowl%20Directory.pdf Brain Bowl Coaches list]

Teams

Panhandle Region Teams

Chipola College

Gulf Coast Community College

Okaloosa-Walton College

Pensacola Junior College

North Florida Community College

Tallahassee Community College

East Central Region Teams

Brevard Community College

Central Florida Community College

Florida Community College at Jacksonville

Lake-Sumter Community College

Santa Fe Community College

Seminole Community College

West Central Region Teams

Hillsborough Community College

Manatee Community College

Polk Community College

South Florida Community College

Valencia Community College

outhern Region Teams

Broward Community College

Florida Keys Community College

Indian River Community College

Palm Beach Community College

Pre-College Brain Bowl

In addition to its collegic origins Brain Bowl has become popular in secondary education. Master Brain Bowl is at a high school level. Teams usualy consist of juniors and seniors who have practiced on lower level teams. Winners of regional competions go on to compete at a nation level.