A staple of the UKQB schedule, MRNA (Medium RaNge Academic) returned last month for a fourth iteration, subtitled ‘Herd Immunity’. The subtitle fits well with the covid/vaccine themes of the previous three tournaments (Vaccine, the Second Dose and Booster Shot). There have been four UK mirrors of MRNA tournaments, the first held in Warwick in 2022 and all subsequent ones held at Imperial College London.
Once again, MRNA returned to Imperial College London, where LSE saw off Warwick A in the final 380-115 to achieve their first win of the 2024-2025 season. The top scoring players for the tournament included Kai Madgwick (Manchester A), Albert Nyang (LSE) and Lewys Jenkins (Chimera).
Imperial A plays Edinburgh B in the Royal School of Mines.
To give more than a stats report on the day, we asked two attendees four questions about their experiences of the day. The following responses have been shortened for clarity.
Allison: What’s your name, what subject do you study, and are you modding or playing?
Izzy: English, modding
Kai: PhD in AI and Astrophysics, playing.
Allison: What’s your favourite thing about quizbowl?
Kai: Plenty of things! I love having a reason to really get out there and learn things beyond my degree, and to demonstrate that I actually do know things about what I study. Beyond that, I really enjoy the social aspects of quiz. I’ve made plenty of friends through this so it’s great to have an opportunity to meet up in person and enjoy our shared hobby.
Izzy: My favourite part is getting to see all my friends and chat to people I haven’t seen in ages!
Allison: What was your favourite part of the day?
Izzy: Favourite part of the day probably the post quiz pub trip
Kai: I enjoyed both of our playoff games, I feel we ran the eventual winners LSE reasonably close, and we were also able to beat the undefeated Warwick (which ended up forcing a final which they lost - sorry!). Other games I enjoyed were the ones against the Chimera team and Sheffield in the morning, the latter where we just scraped a win by 5 points. Overall I liked how even the field was at this tournament, there were plenty of games that could have gone either way.
Allison: What did you think of the final?
Kai: I liveblogged the final in the UK Quiz discord server! A great display by LSE and congrats to them for winning their first tournament, but also commiserations to the Warwick team, who played brilliantly all day and I feel didn’t quite get to show their true quizzing ability in the final. Still an excellent group of quizzers who should be pleased to have gotten so far.
Izzy: The final was really great, watching LSE cook was very entertaining, both teams were really incredible and I enjoyed watching and guessing the answers to the questions along with them and usually being beaten to the answer by a lot. Actually my favourite bit of the final was when there was a silent war between the dabbers* and the non dabbers on description acceptable.
Warwick A plays Manchester A in the Royal School of Mines.
As the 2024-2025 Quizbowl season draws to a close, it’s nice to look back on the way this year’s tournaments have gone. Including the two tournaments left to go, we’ve seen a record 24 tournaments hosted across the UK this year. We saw Cambridge A defend their BSQC title, winning for the 5th time after defeating Oxford A in the final. Several teams have claimed their first tournament wins, such as Sheffield at the Northern Mirror of British Novice and Bristol at Trash in the Attic. 2025 saw Manchester’s first tournament win at WaShBowl II since BSQC 2002, and Warwick’s first non-novice tournament win at PLAYTIME!. We’ve seen new teams on the circuit, with participation from Lancaster and Cardiff Universities, as well as a variety of new faces including Izzy Dobbie (Sheffield) and Lovel Hearn (Edinburgh). All in all, 2024-2025 has been an exciting year!
The 2025-2026 UK Quizbowl Circuit looks to be another excellent year for UK Quizbowl, with a variety of tournaments planned for the Autumn semester. Watch this space for a tournaments announcement later this summer!
*In UK quizbowl tournaments, it’s common for players to dab after the moderator reads description acceptable, a trend started by the University of Warwick in the early 2020s.