1st and 3rd periods. In these periods, your team will choose a category and be read ten questions. After each response, the moderator will indicate whether or not it was correct. If you are incorrect, the other team will have a chance to answer.

Bonus Category: Abbreviations and acronyms

In each of these, expand the sought letter. For example, if I ask for the "U" in USA, you would say "united". Your answer must be exact and you need only give the desired word.

1. The "I" in FBI, a government agency that, in television, employed agents Mulder and Scully.

answer: Federal Bureau of Investigation

2. The "H" in M*A*S*H, a film and television show centered on the Korean War as well as a military unit that might employ the triage system.

answer: Mobile Army Surgical Hospital

3. The "S" in MKS, the units used in the Metric System.

answer: Meter / Kilogram / Second

4. The "A" in NATO, a group concerned with the security of the United States, Canada, and Europe as well as the area in between.

answer: North Atlantic Treaty Organization

5. The "L" in HTML, something used to create web pages.

answer: Hypertext Markup Language

6. Either of the "S"'s in USSR, a country that broke up into Russia and its neighbors.

answer: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (accept either)

7. The "F" in NFL, CFL, and USFL, leagues that have all employed Doug Flutie at points in his career.

answer: National Football League (and Canadian and United States)

8. The "A" in DNA, the basis of our genetic makeup.

answer: Deoxyribonucleic Acid

9. The "R" in NRA, a group concerned with rights related to the Second Amendment.

answer: National Rifle Association

10. The "C" in CBS, the television network based in the U.S., not in South America as the name might suggest.

answer: Columbia Broadcasting System

Bonus Category: Seeing Red

1. On political maps, "red states" are those that tend to vote for this party.

answer: Republican

2. Henry Dunant was awarded the first Nobel Peace Prize for founding what organization that provides humanitarian relief?

answer: Red Cross or Red Crescent

3. In this Stephen Crane work depicting the Civil War, Henry Fleming receives a wound when being hit by a gun.

answer: The Red Badge of Courage

4. Also called erythrocytes, what biconcave cells carry oxygen in the body?

answer: red blood cells (prompt on "blood")

5. A red one of these is depicted on Canada's flag. You might also find one playing hockey in Toronto.

answer: Maple Leaf

6. Guiseppe Garibaldi's army, known as the redshirts, helped to unite what country in the 19th century?

answer: Italy

7-8. Yemen and Eritrea are at the southern end of the Red Sea. Name two other countries on its shores.

answer: Egypt, Sudan, or Saudi Arabia

9. In this Wilson Rawls work, Billy's dogs Old Dan and Little Ann die after an attack by a mountain lion.

answer: Where the Red Fern Grows

10. The "Red Scare" of the 1950's was an attack against Communists led by this Senator from Wisconsin.

answer: Joesph McCarthy

Bonus Category: Spelling Bee

Answer these questions about words that have won the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

1. In 1939 the winning word was "canonical", meaning of the rules or belonging to the Bible. Spell canonical.

answer: C-A-N-O-N-I-C-A-L

2. In 1967, the winning word was what small Mexican dog seen in Taco Bell ads?

answer: chihuahua

3. In 1981, the winning word was what kind of coffin used by Egyptian pharaohs?

answer: sarcouphagus

4. In 1982, the winning word was psoriasis [so-RYE-ih-sis], a disease of what organ of the body?

answer; skin

5. In 1983, the winner spelled the name of this Jewish festival, celebrated on the 15th day of Adar, commemorating the deliverance of the Persian Jews from a massacre.

answer: Purim

6. In 1984, this sport was the final word, a racing sled for one or two people that is ridden with the rider or riders lying on their backs.

answer: luge [LOOJ]

7. Antipyretic won in 1991, and refers to a drug that prevents what?

answer; swelling or inflamation

8. Lyceum won in 1992, which refers to a school and especially the one of what ancient Greek thinker and student of Plato?

answer: Aristotle

9. In 2000, the winning word was démarche [day-MARSH], a diplomatic protest. Use your superior French skills and spell démarche.

answer: D-E-M-A-R-C-H-E

10. In 2005, the winning word was appoggiatura, [ah-POJ-ah-TOUR-ah] which is something you would find on what kind of document?

answer: sheet music or notes (accept equivalents)

Bonus Category: "In" and "out"

Correct responses in this category either begin with I-N or O-U-T.

1. These are animals without spinal cords.

answer: invertebrates

2. Next to the mantle, this region contains liquid iron and is about thirteen hundred miles across.

answer: Earth's outer core (prompt on partial answer)

3. In mathematics, this is an expression using the less than or greater than sign, such as 3 + 5 > 2.

answer: inequality

4. In English class, this is a general summary of a project or book, and is usually created using Roman numerals for the main subjects and capital letters for topics within those subjects.

answer: outline

5. In the Divine Comedy by Dante, this is the term used for the first part, the trip through Hell.

answer: Inferno

6. In psychology, this kind of complex occurs when a subject believes he or she is less important or able than everyone else is. An example is the Napoleonic complex for shortness.

answer: inferiority complex

7. Kitty Hawk is part of this stretch of barrier islands in North Carolina.

answer: Outer Banks

8. Also an unbeliever, some Muslims use this term to describe those who do not accept the Islamic faith.

answer: infidel

9. All or nothing--name the three words used in the motto of the television show Survivor.

answer: outwit, outplay, and outlast

10. In medicine, what hormone produced in the pancreas controls blood sugar levels?

answer: insulin

Bonus Category: Mystery Category

All the answers in this category are also first names.

1. This term is used to describe holiday songs such as "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing".

answer: carol

2. This is the first name of the coach that led Indiana to NCAA Basketball championships in 1976, 1981, and 1987. He now coaches Texas Tech.

answer: Bobby Knight (prompt on last name)

3. You get this name when you combine the German word for "yes" with the chemical symbol of Nitrogen.

answer: Jan

4. This patron saint of Germany has a Hebrew name that means "who is like God", and by some accounts leads the archangels including Gabriel and Raphael.

answer: Michael

5. Voiced by Carolyn Lawrence, this is the girl who rivals Jimmy Neutron, usually calls him "nerdtron", and whose last name is Vortex.

answer: Cindy Vortex

6. In a composition by Prokofiev, the strings represent this character, while the wolf is the French horn.

answer: Peter

7. In the newest installment of this series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, the title character is "on her way" to New York. Other books have included "in Lace", "On the Outside", "In-Between", and "Patiently".

answer: Alice

8. Take the last name of Thurgood, the first African-American justice of the Supreme Court and drop the last two letters to get this name.

answer: Marsha [Thurgood Marshall]

9. There have been sixteen Popes by this name. The first brought a chant into the church. The thirteenth devised a calendar.

answer: Gregory (do not accept "Gregorian")

10. This is the last name of James, an aide to President Reagan who was shot in the 1981 assassination attempt. A Handgun Violence Protection Act is named for him.

answer: (James) Brady

[The Brady Bunch had characters Greg, Mike, Bobby, Marcia, Jan, Cindy, Carol, Mike, and Alice]

2nd period: This period contains twenty tossups worth 10 points each. When you think you know the answer, signal with your buzzer and your team will have five seconds to respond.

1. What name is given to the event on January 20th of every fourth year during which the President is sworn into office?

answer: Inauguration (accept word forms)

2. What scientist's theory is the center of controversy by those who advance intelligent design and creationism as alternatives to evolution?

answer: Charles Darwin

3. Between 1949 and 1990, this country was divided into West and East halves, with the Eastern part ruled by Communists. What is this country that was reunited when the Berlin Wall fell?

answer: Federal Republic of Germany

4. It is said that a Dublin theater manager bet that he could introduce a new word into English. After it was written on walls around town, people asked questions since they didn't know the word. Name this word, something familiar to you as a short test.

answer: quiz

5. In a tennis game, what score would indicate that the server has won three points and the other player has won one?

answer: 40-15 [forty, fifteen]

6. What political party does Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, lead?

answer: Labour

7. A string one might include a cello, two violins, and two violas. What term describes chamber music played by five instruments?

answer: quintet

8. "I THINK that I shall never see / A poem lovely as a tree" is an example of what kind of two-line unit in a poem?

answer: couplet (before "two-line" accept Joyce Kilmer)

9. The hardest object on the Moh's scale is what form of carbon that is a gemstone?

answer: diamond

10. If the equation y = 4x + 2 is graphed on the Cartesian plane, what picture will result?

answer: a line (accept: linear)

11. Published after he died, Daisy-Head Maysie was based on a television special he didn’t complete. Who is this author of How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Green Eggs and Ham?

answer: Dr. Seuss or Theodor Seuss Giesel

12. Its name is Hebrew for "dedication" and it celebrates the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem in 165 B.C. What is this holiday involving the lighting of an eight-branched candelabrum?

answer: Hanukkah or Feast of the Maccabees (accept Festival of Lights before "lighting", prompt on "Feast of Dedication")

13. Pencil and paper ready. In a presidential election there are 538 electoral votes, and a majority is needed to win, which is half the votes plus one. What is the least number of votes that creates a majority? (give 10 seconds)

answer: 270

14. In what Jules Verne story do explorers go into an Icelandic volcano to encounter prehistoric animals and cross a subterranean ocean?

answer: Journey to the Center of the Earth

15. Which of the Great Lakes lies entirely within the U.S., and counts Chicago among the cities on its shore?

answer: Lake Michigan

16. Popular in China and Japan, what art form involves producing letters or writing in an ornamental style?

answer: calligraphy

17. The title of a 1987 Joel Schumacher film about vampires, Peter Pan wants Wendy to come to Neverland to be a mother to what group?

answer: the Lost Boys

18. The part of the Thames below this structure is called the Pool. What is this object spanning the Thames River that in an English nursery rhyme is "falling down"?

answer: London Bridge

19. What undifferentiated cells able to produce other cells of the body are the subject of political controversy because of the use of fetuses as a source?

answer: stem cells

20. What French phrase is appropriate to say at the start of a meal, wishing someone an enjoyable dining experience?

answer: bon apetit

4th period: This period contains twenty tossups worth 15 points each. When you think you know the answer, signal with your buzzer and your team will have five seconds to respond.

1. She postpones her execution by telling her husband Schahriah a story each night but saving its climax until the following day. Who is this woman of Arabian Nights who told a thousand and one tales?

answer: Scheherazade [SHUH-er-ah-zad]

2. In this kind of art, paint is dropped randomly on paper, which is then folded in half producing a symmetrical design. What is this work, which subjects interpret in the Rohrschach psychological test?

answer: inkblot or blot

3. Because she was born in its town of Tuscumbia, what state placed Helen Keller on its state quarter?

answer: Alabama

4. Extinct volcanoes are those which are very unlikely to erupt again. What term is given to volcanoes currently inactive but considered likely to erupt in the future?

answer: dormant

5. Who overthrew Fulgencio Batistia in 1959, becoming the first Western-Hemisphere Communist leader, and has ruled Cuba ever since?

answer: Fidel Castro

6. The Balearic Islands lie in the west, while in the east are the Dodecanese Islands and Cyprus. The ancient Romans called it "Our Sea". What is this body of water between Europe and Africa?

answer: Mediterranean Sea

7. What former governor of Vermont became head of the Democratic National Committee in 2005, and is remembered for a failed presidential campaign that effectively ended with a scream?

answer: Howard Dean

8. One theory is that he was a 12th-century Earl of Huntington named Robert Fitz-Ooth who harassed Norman invaders. Perhaps the Normans were rich. Name this outlaw who lived in Sherwood Forest.

answer: Robin Hood

9. What term is given to the region 167 miles long and 34 miles wide in western Oklahoma, suggesting that the state is a cooking item able to be picked up?

answer: panhandle

10. The second chapter of the Gospel according to John begins with Jesus performing a miracle at Cana during a feast. What transformation did Jesus perform involving two beverages?

answer: changing water into wine (accept variants)

11. In June 2005 he boarded to a plane for Las Vegas but customs officials told him he was headed for Ecuador. Catching on to the gag, he told Ashton Kutcher to reveal himself and the punk failed. Who is this leader of the East Side Boys, the self-proclaimed King of Crunk?

answer: Lil Jon or Jonathan Smith

12. What term describes the science of sound as well as the sound-carrying properties of an area such as an auditorium?

answer: acoustics

13. On a piano keyboard you place a finger on middle C and play a chromatic scale. How many notes are played, the number of half steps needed to play an octave including both C's?

answer: 13 [there are 12 half steps]

14. The namesake of an equilibrium in game theory, what Princeton mathematician was the subject of the film A Beautiful Mind?

answer: John Forbes Nash

15. Who wrote A Diary of a Young Girl while hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam?

answer: Anne Frank

16. "That one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed" is one of the thoughts that follows this phrase. Delivered on August 28, 1963 at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial was what speech by Martin Luther King, Jr.?

answer: I Have a Dream (accept Martin Luther King Jr. before "this phrase")

17. What Swahili phrase literally means "there are no problems" and was used in a song of The Lion King?

answer: hakuna matata

18. Pencil and paper ready, express your answer as a mixed number. At lunch there are four and one-eighth pizzas, and three hungry teams evenly split the food. How many pizzas should each receive? (give 10 seconds)

answer: 1 and 3/8 [one and three eighths] (do not accept or prompt on "eleven eighths")

19. Located three miles east of Charlottesville, Virginia is what estate built by Thomas Jefferson?

answer: Monticello

20. Lita is Jupiter, Nina is Venus, Rae is Mars, Amy is Mercury, and Damian is Tuxedo Mask. These are all characters on what animated show where scouts fight Queen Beryl?

answer: Sailor Moon