Phoebe Vo

Anvit Watwani (12) listens to the Quiz Bowl moderator’s question, deliberating his response, at the CCA tournament, Nov. 16. The team qualified for playoffs with a score of 5-2.

Tightly clutching the small black buzzer in his hands, Anvit Watwani (12) stared intensely at the moderator as they read a question from this round’s Quiz Bowl packet, Nov. 16. Asking for the name of a philosopher, the question started off broad before getting more and more detailed. With each and every second that passed, the points that could be garnered by the answer lessened and an intense pressure was building up as Watwani spared a quick glance at his teammates; at any moment, he could lose this opportunity. The moment the words “categorical imperative” were spoken, however, Watwani knew he had gotten it. 

“Kant!” he buzzed in. 

“There’s usually a key clue that is a dead giveaway of the answer for me,” Watwani said. “I got the idea it could be [Kant] when [the moderator] mentioned the ‘Metaphysics of Morals.’ But, [categorical imperative] is essentially Kant’s most famous idea. It’s actually really funny, because this isn’t something I studied for Quiz Bowl. I remember it was mentioned by a character in The Good Place.” 

In the second tournament of the season, hosted at Canyon Crest Academy, Watwani, alongside teammates Pranay Kulkarni (12),  Mihir Konkapaka (9) and Rishit Senapaty (12) won five out of the seven preliminary rounds, making the playoffs. In the end, they lost two in the final, making the overall score over 10 rounds 6-4. 

“During playoffs, there is obviously quite a bit of added stress,” Watwani said. “We played three games, and the teams we faced were much stronger than those we faced in earlier rounds. But, [overall] qualifying for playoffs was actually very refreshing [as compared to] our last tournament, we did not win a lot of games. But, having added Mihir to our team and having studied more, we were able to go 5-2, which really restored my confidence.”

Kulkarni said he shares this sentiment. 

“We definitely showed improvement,” Kulkarni said. “[In general], as long as we don’t come in last, I think it’s a win.”      

When Watwani joined Quiz Bowl in seventh grade, he wasn’t sure what he was getting himself into. But, young, wide-eyed, and endlessly curious, Watwani decided to give it a shot and has been compelled to stay ever since. 

“My first encounter with Quiz Bowl was at Black Mountain Middle School in my science teacher’s classroom,” Watwanti said. “My brother had done a stint in Quizbowl and I was in my Jeopardy phase; I didn’t fully know what [to expect], but I was just really fascinated by trivia. At first, it was intimidating because [the questions] started off really hard. But, after certain topics that I’m familiar with, like sports or geography, came up, I was like, ‘Hey, look, I know this.’ I started answering more and more questions and something just clicked. Ever since then, I’ve just never left.” 

Five years later, as the current president of Quiz Bowl, Watwani said that his passion persists. To him, the club is an opportunity to learn and grow.

“When you initially join, you start off with your own knowledge,” he said. “And, if you have a solid base, then you’re going to do well. But, the beautiful part about Quiz Bowl is that there’s so many different topics. If you have one niche you’re already interested in, you can really delve into that. It also introduces you to a large variety of new [subjects].” 

In their club meetings, Watwani and vice president Joshua Penetrante (10) focus on both expanding their members’ innate passions and teaching them new content by asking them  practice questions. 

“Usually, Joshua or I will read questions to our students and let them have fun,” Watwani said. “We want them to find categories that they like and feel comfortable with, but also inspire them to explore other topics as well and dive down certain rabbit holes. There’s a lot of resources out there that we use to help us practice and study. An example of one we use is QB Reader, which reads our team questions in an online room.” 

In tournaments, Watwanti said having a diversity of knowledge on their team is essential to covering all possible questions.  

“On Saturday’s team, [for example], my job was to cover geography, sports, and literature (mainly poetry and plays),” he said. “Pranay, having taken classes in the humanities and art history, focused on covering visual fine art questions like paintings, sculptures, and more. Mihir is amazing at categories like math, computer science, and physics due to his passion and involvement in Science Olympiad or other STEM programs. Rishit covered the other science bases, like chemistry and biology, which he has very in-depth knowledge about.” 

According to Watwani, each round has 20 toss-ups, or questions. Depending on the time a team buzzes in and answers a question, they can win anywhere between 10 to 15 points. Whoever provides the correct response to the initial toss-up gets the opportunity to try to attain up to 30 points in a bonus question. 

Watwani said that studying and memorizing, first and foremost, is the best way to be prepared for these tournaments and answer quickly. At times, however, natural instinct has also helped him out. 

“It’s quite frequent to feel a sudden intuition during questions,” Watwani said. “It’s just this feeling that it’s this mountain or this chemical, even if you really don’t know where you got that information from. We sort of have this implicit knowledge in the back of our minds from studying so much, and hearing these clues can trigger these ideas. It just clicks sometimes and that’s a big part of Quiz Bowl.” 

Building up the confidence to press the button is a different story. 

“At first, it was nerve-wracking,” Watwani said. “I was really scared to buzz in. I kept thinking: ‘What if I got it wrong? What if I lost our team points?’ But in the end, I think the reason that we keep going to Quiz Bowl is because we’re fascinated by trivia and that passion eventually takes over. There’s just this thrill of buzzing in and getting 15 points for your team that overwhelms you.” 

Kulkarni said he shares this fascination and passion for Quiz Bowl, and that it has motivated him to stay in the club and compete for the past five years. 

“I stay in the club because I like the environment and I always learn something new,” Kulkarni said. “Going to tournaments is just the way you can showcase what you’ve learned.”

 Watwani said that the shared curiosity and thirst for knowledge within the club is what he values most. 

“Just being able to explore a bunch of different categories and subjects you’re interested in is amazing,” he said. “I would never think I’d be captivated by some mountain or river in Argentina. But, here I am. You get to explore so much and it introduces you to things you wouldn’t have ever known. It’s just a real pleasure to be able to be a part of Quiz Bowl; I think that’s the biggest thing it’s given me: this passion for knowing more.” 

Overall, Watwani views this tournament as a great success. 

“We did not expect to do as well as we did, and I really do see our team coming together both as a Quiz Bowl team and as a group of curious, like-minded individuals who want to learn more,” Watwani said. “Our performance has made me more confident than ever that we can qualify for nationals, like we have almost every year. I am very excited for our next tournament.”