Introduction

The Oxford University Quiz Society is a student organization dedicated to promoting quizzing in Oxford. The aim of the Society is "to stimulate an interest in and an understanding of the importance of academically-oriented general knowledge" and to promote quizzing in all forms within the University. In order to further this goal, the Society organises or takes part in many different kinds of events.

Society members compete in many buzzer quiz tournaments at other universities, including the annual British Student Quiz Championships and the ACF Nationals Tournament in the United States. The Society also hosts competitions throughout the year, including intercollegiate tournaments for Oxford students, tournaments for university teams from around the UK, and open tournaments in which anybody is welcome to take part. The Society also hosts social events, including some events co-hosted with other Oxford societies.

History

OUQS was founded in the 1980s, a decade that saw a boom in the fortunes of Oxford teams on University Challenge. The Society was started in order to facilitate the Oxford Inter-Collegiate Challenge Quiz, the forerunner of today's Intercollegiate Quiz. When University Challenge went on hiatus in 1987, however, interest in quizzing at Oxford declined. As a result, the Society had faded away by the early 1990s, although the intercollegiate tournament endured a few years longer.

When University Challenge was revived by the BBC and Granada in 1994, interest in quizzing picked up again in Oxford. After consecutive victories on the programme by Magdalen College in 1997 and 1998, a group of quiz enthusiasts decided to resurrect the Society and the Intercollegiate Quiz. Since then, the Society has grown rapidly in both size and stature.

Oxford has historically been very successful at tournaments within the United Kingdom. Oxford has beaten Cambridge in 17 out of 23 Varsity Matches that have been played, including the 2022 match. Oxford or one of its constituent colleges has also won 14 of the 21 British Student Quiz Championships, most recently the 2021 tournament, though Oxford A placed second in both the 2023 and 2025 tournaments. Oxford has also previously sent teams to the NAQT Intercollegiate Championship Tournament and ACF Nationals in the USA.

The variety of quizbowl we play is the standard tossup-bonus buzzer quiz format most common throughout the English-speaking world. It is derived from the old American show College Bowl, which was also the ancestor of University Challenge. Unlike University Challenge, however, the Quiz Society attends and sponsors only tournaments that use "pyramidal" tossup questions – that is to say, questions that start out specific and difficult, then become easier and more general toward the end. Such questions not only allow for a fairer and less aggravating game but also allow for a much higher level of play.

Those reading this website should note that the Quiz Society plays no formal role in selecting or supporting teams to compete on University Challenge, nor is the purpose of Squad practices to prepare members to compete on that programme. Instead, University Challenge teams are selected solely by the individual colleges they represent. Nevertheless, experience with buzzer quiz is generally transferrable to the show, so many Quiz Squad members have enjoyed success on University Challenge in the past.

The winning Balliol team in the 2016-2017 series featured two regular squad members (Joey Goldman and Freddy Potts), while the second-place Merton team in the 2017-2018 series included two (Alexander Peplow and Leonie Woodland) and the second-place St Edmund's Hall team in the 2018-2019 series included one (Freddy Leo).

Past Quiz Society Presidents Edmund Dickinson, Peter Sloman, Katie McGettigan, Tom Speller, Maris Rowe-Culloch, Jonathan Lane, Ewan MacAulay, Charlie Clegg, Alexander Peplow, Solenne Scholefield, Ella Warde, and Elliot Cosnett, along with our current President, Éveline Ong, have also appeared on the programme, as have countless other members of OUQS.

Prospective contestants hoping to represent their colleges on University Challenge are encouraged to enter their teams in the Quiz Society's Inter-Collegiate Quiz each Hilary term and to drop in on our weekly practices.