Penn Bowl attracts 31 teams

Quick -- what is a tri-indentured 7.264 kilogram deka-pin dispersal system? The answer, for those who have not figured it out yet, is a bowling ball. Much like a television quiz show, four-player teams of students raced against time to answer the questions on everything from German monarchs to cooking to Corvettes. After a few seconds of conferring, the first team to hit the buzzer would give the judge its answer. Each team competed in two eight-minutes quiz sessions, with a brief interlude in between for players to rest their frazzled brains. Many of the questions stumped all of the participants, going unanswered. The contest, held Friday and Saturday, brought 128 students from 31 colleges around the country to Steinberg-Dietrich Hall and Vance Hall. According to graduate student Joel Goldberg, one of the organizers, the results from the Penn Bowl tournament will not count toward the national College Bowl competition, which is scheduled to begin in March. The tournament consists of two four-player teams that compete in eight-minute halves. Goldberg said that last weekend's event was the first intercollegiate academic tournament of its kind ever held at the University. "It was twice as big as any other tournament I've been to in the three or three-and-a-half years I've been involved with this," said Randy Rethmeyer, a Wharton and College senior and one of the event's organizers. Rethmeyer said that organizers started mailing out invitations to the event last July, as opposed the usual month's notice. He also said that "the location was a good one, there are many active teams up and down the East Coast." Wharton freshman Chris Stevo called the whole competition "a wonderful success" and said that it "went far beyond our wildest expectations." Rethmeyer said that he was especially pleased with the results due to the fact that just two years ago, when he first became the team captain, SAC had denied the team any money because of the poor planning and organization that the previous team leaders had shown.

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