The Colorado-Wyoming Optimist Brain Bowl is a quizbowl type competition. It is presented by the Colorado-Wyoming Optimist Clubs, Denver Public Schools, and Boulder Valley Schools. It has two separate competitions, the North Region and Central Region competitions. It quizzes middle school children (6th, 7th, and 8th grades) on a variety of academic topics. As of 2008, the University of Denver no longer is a sponsor.
Competition Structure
There are three regional competitions: the North, Central, and South Region Tournaments. They all have the same competition structure, described below. The top 6 teams from each grade level in each regional competition qualify for the Championship Tournament. The Championship Tournament has the same structure as the regional competitions.
Teams of 6 students (maximum, though only 5 can compete in any given round) compete. The competition has 4 oral rounds of 30 questions each and a written round in the morning of the competition day. The written round has 50 questions. The top 8 scoring teams of each grade level move into the elimination rounds in the afternoon. The quarter-final and semi-final rounds are oral rounds, and they are head-to-head single elimination rounds. Eventually, two teams are escorted onto a stage for the championship round. The winner of this part of the two-team competition wins the contest for that grade level.