Sample Bonus Rounds
Sample Bonuses from Tournament Bonus Sets
Two-Part Bonus (10 pts. each): Transcendentalism
- This philosophical movement was centered in which section of America?
Ans. New England - During what century did the movement flourish?
Ans. 19th
Three-Part Bonus (10 pts. each): Mega
While the prefix “mega” means “million,” this bonus is worth only thirty points. Identify the following “mega” words:
- A pathological state in which a person vastly overstates his own importance.
Ans. Megalomania - It refers to a huge urban region formed by chains of metropolitan areas.
Ans. Megalopolis - A structure of large stones, including many ancient constructions such as Stonehenge.
Ans: Megalith
Four-part Bonus (10 pts. each): Shakespeare
- Five of Shakespeare’s plays are set in whole or in part in the city of Rome. Name any one of the five Roman plays.
Ans. Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra,. Coriolanus, Titus Anndronicus, Cymbeline - When Romeo and Juliet meet at a ball, the first 14 lines they speak are in what poetic form?
Ans. Sonnet (iambic pentameter) - Gloucester’s son Edgar, disguised as a madman, met this king on the stormy heath. Name this character.
Ans. King Lear - England had eight kings named Henry. Which four were the subject of plays by Shakespeare?
Ans. Henry IV, V, VI, VIII
4-Part National Format Bonus, worth 50 Points
Available in National Format Tournament Sets and, for Practice, The Best of the Best
Ezra Pound once defined literature as “news that stays news.” The plots spun out by many classic works of literature are as contemporary as today’s headlines, especially as they are screamed in the tabloids. What literary plots are reflected in the following lurid headlines? We’ll accept author or title.
- (5) KING KILLS HIS FATHER, THEN MARRIES WOMAN OLD ENOUGH TO BE HIS MOTHER AND SHE IS!
Ans. Oedipus Rex by Sophocles - (10) GOV’T. OFFICIAL’S WIFE, BEARING COUNT’S CHILD, FLINGS SELF UNDER TRAIN
Ans. Anna Karenina by Tolstoy - (15) SKELETON OF WINE TASTER DISCOVERED BEHIND BRICK WALL IN MANSION CELLAR
Ans. “The Cask of Amontillado” by Poe - (20) MADWOMAN LONG IMPRISONED IN ATTIC SETS HOUSE ON FIRE, THEN LEAPS TO DEATH
Ans. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte