How it works.

Each match consists of two teams of three players who will play the Connection Online Quiz League match. The rules of the game are similar to those of the hit BBC quiz show Only Connect.

All matches will have a dedicated host who will be in charge of the Zoom room. The teams will liaise between themselves to arrange a suitable time each week. Once the date and time has been set you will enter your date on the website and one of the hosts will agree to run the match for you and set up the Zoom call.

Your host will be a neutral person who is paid for their services. They will have had a briefing on every question and answer and all alternative answers and what to do when a team is close. Their decision on the night will be final.

Your team for each match is just three players, we suggest trying to use the same three players each week due to the unique dynamics of Connection Online Quiz League but teams may include reserve players should they feel they'll need them.

How the league works.

Teams will be placed in divisions of 12 and play each other once each over the season. For every game you win you earn 4 league points, for every game you tie you will earn 2 league points, for every game lost by 4 or fewer points you earn 1 league point. If you lose by 5 or more points you receive zero points.

Any team who scores 10/10 on their grid will earn a bonus league point.

Teams who are on the same amount of league points will be separated by most points scored in all their matches, followed by fewest points conceded in all matches followed by result between the two teams. If still level the team with the highest single match score will finish above the opposition, followed by 2nd highest single match score and so on.

The winners of each division will win a team trophy and their team will win individual trophies. The top two in all divisions but division one will earn promotion for the following season.

Entry fee

Entry fee for the league is £150/$200 per team per season. We appreciate that this is quite expensive but there are reasons for this. The website to run these matches has to be built and maintained, the question setting for this style of question is far harder than standard quiz questions and the setters are therefore paid accordingly. Every match will have a dedicated host who is paid for their time.

However, this is a unique opportunity to play in this style of competition each week which isn't offered anywhere else!

We'll be happy to accept instalment options for payments.

Game play

The host will toss a coin, the team whose name is first alphabetically will call the toss and the winner of the toss will decide whether they choose first or second. The team going second in round 1 will play Round 3 first.

The first round is called “What's the Link”

In this round the team captain will select one of six questions at random. The team will be shown four clues in turn, if they need to see a further clue they must shout NEXT and the host will display the next clue.

The team must correctly deduce what links the four clues.

Teams have a total of 1 minute in which to answer the question. They signal that they wish to answer by buzzing in, which will stop the clock and the host will ask them for their answer. If they do not answer before the time is up then they are treated as having given an incorrect answer.

If they are correct they will receive points depending on how many clues they have seen, 1 point if all four clues, 2 points if 3 clues, 3 points if 2 clues and 5 points if they have seen just 1 clue. If they are close the host may ask them to provide further information.

If they are incorrect the host will show all four clues to the opposition who will have a few seconds to give their answer and earn 1 point if they are correct.

If neither team are correct then no points are awarded and the host will explain the answer.

This round continues until all six coloured boxes have been played.

The second round is called “What follows”

In this round the team captain will select one of six questions by randomly selecting a coloured square. The team will be shown three clues in turn, if they need to see a further clue they must shout NEXT and the host will display the next clue.

The teams must correctly deduce what would follow next in the sequence of clues.

Teams have a total of 1 minute in which to answer the question. They signal that they wish to answer by shouting ANSWER at the host who will stop the clock and ask them for their answer. If they do not shout ANSWER before the time is up then they are treated as having given an incorrect answer.

If they are correct they will receive points depending on how many clues they have seen, 2 points if all 3 clues, 3 points if 2 clues and 5 points if they have seen just 1 clue. If they are close the host may ask them to provide further information.

If they are incorrect the host will show all four clues to the opposition who will have a few seconds to give their answer and earn 1 point if they are correct.

If neither team are correct then no points are awarded and the host will explain the answer.

This round continues until all six coloured boxes have been played.

Round 3 is called Grid Unlock

In this round each team will play the same Grid, one after the other, the team not playing will be moved into a waiting room by the host.

The teams will see a grid with 16 clues on it which will be displayed on a website. The teams must try to place these 16 clues into four distinct groups of four connected groups. There may be some red herrings and overlaps between the groups but there will always only be one distinct solution.

Teams will have 2 and a half minutes to solve the Grid and are allowed as many attempts at groups as they like but once they have solved two groups they only have three more chances to correctly separate the final two groups. After three incorrect guesses at the final two groups of once the 2 and a half minutes are up the Grid is frozen.

At this point, or once a team has successfully found all four groups they will then be asked by the host to explain what links each group.

In this round teams will score 1 point for each linked group they find, 1 point for each link they correctly identify and a bonus 2 points for getting the entire Grid correct.

Round 4 is Only Consonants

In this round teams will compete directly against each other on the buzzer to solve puzzles which consist only of consonants.

The questions will come in four groups of four puzzles with each group having some kind of link. The host will state the link before the first question in the group and the question will appear on the screen.

The teams will buzz when they know the answer, they must then correctly identify the answer immediately. For each question solved a team will earn one point but if they are incorrect they will lose a point and the question will be passed over to the opposition who are free to answer for a bonus point.

After four rounds of four clues the round is over and the host will announce the result.