This varies widely from campus to campus. On many campuses it is student activities or the student union, while in other cases it is a student organization or committee, a faculty member, a dean's office, a librarian or residence hall personnel. Student organizations sponsoring College Bowl on their campus must have a campus staff member serve as the contact person for mailings along with the student organization.

The major cost is purchasing game packets. You may purchase from 1 - 20 game packets each year. The more you buy, the lower the price. Schools which did not play College Bowl last year can enroll for only $500. Jump to the Info for New Schools page for details. Note that you must purchase at least 10 games to be eligible to attend the Regional championship Tournament. See Game Packet Pricing for specific details on volume and early order discounts.

In addition to game packets, you will need to budget for:

• Publicity
• Lockout System and Countdown Clock
  (you can purchase, rent or borrow them)
• Prizes or Give-Aways
• Regional Championship Tournament costs

Most schools schedule their tournament at least a month before the end of first semester or fall quarter, although it is possible to run your tournament in January if necessary. The sooner you complete the campus tournament, the sooner the Varsity Team can be selected and practices can begin.

This will depend upon the number of teams and your budget. The three primary formats are:

• Single-Elimination: Each team plays until they have lost once. This format is the most economical but the least aggressive. The formula for games played is: x-1 where x is the number of teams. For 16 teams, 15 games will be played.
• Double-Elimination: Each team plays until they have lost twice. This format allows teams to "come back" from a loss. The formula for games played is: 2x-1 where x is the number of teams. For 16 teams, 31 games will be played.
• Round Robin: Every team play every other team. The winner is the team with the best overall record. You can create "leagues" or "divisions" to divide the teams and reduce the number of packets needed. The formula for games played is: x(x-1)/2 where x is the number of teams. For 7 teams, 21 games will be played.

You can combine formats. If you have 24 teams, you can use a single-elimination tournament (in 2 rooms simultaneously) to reduce the number of teams to 3 (18 games played with 9 packets). Then, those 3 play a Round Robin in a single room (3 games played using 3 packets). The total number of games played is 21, but only 12 game packets will be needed. For more information on tournament formats, consult the Online Tournament Calculator.

You can model different scenarios using our Online Tournament Calculator.  Playing games simultaneously and/or sequestering teams reduces the number of game packets needed.

Be sure to order 1-2 extra games. They can serve as back-up games during your tournament. If unused, you can use them throughout the year for practice and special exhibition matches.

Consult Chapter 5: Your Tournament for specifics on using the format of your choice.  Pricing information is available online.

In addition to a master document (pdf format) from which you can print your game packets, your school receives a license to use the College Bowl name, format and materials for their program for that season. Schools purchasing 10 or more game packets are eligible for the Regional Championship Tournament. Registered schools are entitled to use all official publications in conjunction with their program. Others may use them for evaluation purposes only:

• Chapter 1: Program Guide
• Chapter 2: Getting Started
• Chapter 3: Campus Volunteers
• Chapter 4: Game Rules
• Chapter 5: Your Tournament
• Chapter 6: Coaching your Team
• Chapter 7: Attending the Regionals

For each game room, you will need one of the following (plus back-ups):

• Lockout System. You can buy or rent them, or borrow them from a neighboring school
• Countdown Clock or other Timer: A darkroom timer is the optimum device. You can buy or rent them, borrow them from a neighboring school or you can substitute a stopwatch or other digital timer.
• Blackboard or Dry Erase Board: To keep the unofficial running score where the players and game officials can see it.
• Staging: College Bowl can be played in any room where you can gather two teams of 4 players, each at 6-8' tables, plus game officials at a 6-8' table. Bring along extension cords and a surge protector for the lockout system. If you have a large room or auditorium, microphones and a scoreboard for the audience are standard set-up additions.

This depends upon the size of your program. The basic personnel checklist includes:

• Registration Personnel
• Program Officials (positions are often combined into 1-2)
  • Campus Contact
  • Tournament Director
  • Coach/Advisor
• Game Officials (this is the list for each simultaneous game room)
  • Moderator
  • Judge
  • Reset/Timer/Announcer
  • Scorekeeper
  • Scoreboarder/Room Resetter (often an audience volunteer)

Use the searchable school history page.

The Association of College Unions International (ACUI) has been College Bowl's educational partner since 1976. ACUI provides significant volunteer leadership in the overall management of the College Bowl Program. ACUI organizes and administers the Regional Championship Tournaments (RCT's) and coordinates the planning and execution of the National Championship Tournament (NCT) with the College Bowl Company.  If you have questions about ACUI's role in College Bowl, email Gail Ferlazzo .