wvquizbowl.org

[papafrog]

I just want to say hello. I will be leading the QB team at Notre Dame HS beginning this fall and am trying to get hooked into the QB crowd. I was previously involved with the team at Fairmont Catholic, so I'm not entirely a novice, but certainly a beginner.

Being a small school, my goals for this next year are very modest - create interest at the school, establish a small core group of committed students, build a set of practice resources, advance to the afternoon round of a tournament, and purchase a buzzer system.

One item, I'd like a little direction on is my last goal - buzzer system - as I'd like to have one in hand prior to school beginning. Is there a specific type? Where is a good place to buy one new or used? any other tips?

Thanks,
Ken

[FredMorlan]

Hi Ken! Great to hear that you're helping out at Notre Dame.

Zeecraft has a pretty good reputation for making quality systems that are affordable. You can check their page here: http://www.zeecraft.com . I have also heard good things about Anderson's ( http://www.andersonbuzzersystems.com/ ). SVBZ is fairly new, so I'm not sure about their durability, but they seem to be well liked - http://www.svbz.com/catalog.html .

Hope this helps!

[papafrog]

Thanks for the info.
Are there any requirements, must-have's that the buzzer system needs to have? I assume 100% lockout is a feature of all systems, no?

What about - manual reset vs automatic? number of buzzers (8 or 10)? tabletop buttons vs handheld buttons?

What other features are useful?

Short-term I'm just looking for something to use during practice - in which case I could probably get by with a simple, small system (4 player even), but thinking longer term it would make sense to have a system the school could make greater use of for a while.

Thanks again,
Ken

[FredMorlan]

Well, in WV you'll need a 10 player set, since practically all tournaments run 5 vs. 5 matches. I would also advise manual reset, as keeping buzzers blocked can be useful in some situations. The type of button is purely a matter of preference.

Virtually all systems have 100% lockout. Other than that, there's not much else in term of features that would be of note. Some include timers, but since you can typically use a watch or something, those shouldn't be too high on the priority list.

[sweaver]

An Anderson's will run you about $200, and they are very good about repairs if something goes wrong.
_________________
President, WVACA

[papafrog]

[FredMorlan]

I'm just glad it worked out for you. If you ever need any more advice, don't hesitate to email me.