Mersey Summer Quiz League

We are currently preparing for the 2014 season of the Mersey Summer Quiz League, and are asking teams to sign up. Last year’s competition was very successful, with nine weeks of head-to-head games after a Grand Prix event to start the season.  This year we plan to have a Grand Prix event at both ends of the season.

For those who’ve not taken part before, the format is seventy questions, asked to teams of up to six people. The team to whom the question is addressed are given twenty seconds to confer before answering, for one point.  If they answer incorrectly or fail to answer, the opposition are given a further 5 seconds to answer for a bonus point. The questions are directed to a team until they answer one correctly, at which point play switches and the questions are directed to the opposite team; when they answer one correctly, play switches again.

Last year we had nine teams playing; eight from Liverpool, and one from Warrington. This enabled us to play a nine week head-to-head season, with everyone playing everyone else once, and each team having one free week.  Obviously, an even number of teams enrolling would eliminate the free week.

The Summer Quiz League is more relaxed than the regular league, and an ideal way to introduce people to formal quizzing without the pressure of individual questions.  There is time for a friendly quiz afterwards, using whatever resources the home team has to hand, but because of the irregular numbers of players and home and away fixtures, there are no sandwiches or drinks bought for the visitors; the fixtures are no less friendly for their absence!

Results are sent by text or email immediately after the game, and tables are posted on the website: http://www.merseysummerquiz.org.uk  Do have a look at the website for more idea of last year’s competition.

While some teams playing in the league are whole LQL teams, many are made up of personnel from a number of LQL teams.  This allows for cover over holiday periods as well as a broader social mix.  Last season we managed to do a bit of “matchmaking” to enable players who were interested in playing to find a team glad of their presence, so please get in touch if you’re a singleton looking for a team to play for. 

We ask that all Summer League teams who wish to participate respond indicating their involvement by Friday 11^th April 2014, by emailing doyleah@hotmail.com; at the same time providing details of their venue and nominating a Secretary for receipt of questions.  Subscriptions, to cover the cost of buying question sets, photocopying, any postage etc, will be kept to a minimum (last year’s subscriptions were £30 per team) and collected at the initial Grand Prix, date and venue to be confirmed. 

Please pass on this information to any players who might be interested.  We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you over the summer!

Brian Thompson & Angela Doyle

Please note that for the rest of the Summer League season, Des Res and Cressington Swans will be playing home games at Aigburth People's Hall, Aigburth Vale, Liverpool L17 0DG.

We have nine teams playing in the Summer League this year, eight from Liverpool and one from Warrington. 

The season will open with a Grand Prix on June 10^th, at Aigburth People’s Hall, Aigburth Vale, Liverpool L17 0DG, beginning at 8pm.   The rest of the season will be played head to head, with the possibility of another Grand Prix at the end of the season to serve as a social get-together and presentation evening.

Questions for the first few games will be distributed at the Grand Prix on June 10th. We ask that teams please take care to use the correct set for each match – there will not be extra sets of questions available.  

Please submit results, along with the teams’ scores out of ten for the set of questions to on the night of the match.  The website will be updated once all results are in.

After the success of the Summer Quiz League in 2010 and 2011, it was missed last year; as a result we are looking to resurrect it this summer, given enough interest.

We propose to have a season that runs on Monday evenings from June 10^th to August 19^th.  The preference of people who played in the two previous seasons of the Summer League was for the head-to-head format, rather than the “Grand Prix” format, although we intend to begin the season with a “Grand Prix” on June 10^th, which will give everyone a chance to socialise together and enable us to collect subscriptions, distribute questions and the like.

The format we propose is for seventy questions, asked to teams of up to six people. The team to whom the question is addressed are given twenty seconds to confer before answering, for one point.  If they answer incorrectly or fail to answer, the opposition are given a further 5 seconds to answer for a bonus point. The questions are directed to a team until they answer one correctly, at which point play switches and the questions are directed to the opposite team; when they answer one correctly, play switches again.

Several teams within LQL found the Summer League very useful for recruiting new players for the following season, and it is a great opportunity to introduce people to League quizzing without the pressure of individual questions.  We are keen that the Summer League be fun and relaxed; however, from experience, it is felt that teams of more than six were too big for ease of conferring and also had the potential to create an unfair advantage over smaller teams.  This is why we are imposing a maximum of six players to a team for each game.  With that in mind, many Summer League teams were formed from a combination of LQL teams (which can help to ensure sufficient numbers through the holiday period) and often had more than six players.  It is for this reason that we are planning to have seventy questions rather than the eighty of previous seasons, so that there will be time afterwards for a friendly quiz (according to whichever rules suit, or questions people have available) in which any players who’ve come along and not yet had a game can participate.  Owing to uneven team sizes, and also because there probably won’t be even numbers of home and away fixtures, we think the practice of providing sandwiches and buying drinks for the opposition doesn’t work within the Summer League format.  We trust the fixtures will be no less friendly and hospitable for their absence!

Teams will be expected to send results by text or email on the night of the game, and results and tables will be posted online as soon as possible after they’re all in.

While we anticipate that the Summer League will be made up of teams primarily from the LQL area, we are inviting teams from other MQL areas as well, so teams signing up must be aware that there may be some travel involved.

If anybody receiving this email is not interested in the Summer League, but thinks other members of their team might be, please forward the information.  Also, please remember teams do not have to be formed from a single LQL team, feel free to join forces with other teams, and of course to bring new quizzers along!

We ask that all Summer League teams who wish to participate respond indicating their involvement by Friday, May 24th, by emailing doyleah@hotmail.com; at the same time providing details of their venue and nominating a Secretary for receipt of questions.  Subscriptions, to cover the cost of buying question sets, photocopying, postage etc, will be kept to a minimum and collected at the initial Grand Prix on June 10^th, at Aigburth People's Hall 8pm.

Please be aware that, in the event of oversubscription, places in the League will be allotted on a first-come-first-served basis.

It is hope that this year's competition will begin on Monday 10th June and will run for 10 weeks.

Further details will be posted as soon as details have been finalised.

As the second season of the Mersey Summer Quiz League comes to a close, Rainhill Victoria has retained the title, finishing ahead of Bishop Charles Crown and Kluggers.

Full details of all of the results and final table can be found on the Results page.

A meeting will be called at some point to have a discussion of this year's competition and to discuss any changes that might be implemented for future competitions.  Details will be sent to teams as soon as possible to allow suggestions to be made.

The new season started on Wednesday 6th July and will continue until Wednesday 31st August. 

The format of the quiz has changed this season - rather than playing individual matches against the other teams in the league, all teams will meet at a single venue on match nights to take part in a 100 question/picture written quiz, with league points allocated according to your finishing position on match night.

Please check the Fixtures page for match dates and locations, or subscribe to our newsletter on the Contacts page.