Honda Campus All-Star Challenge (also known as HCASC) is a quizbowl academic competition for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The game was created and co-founded by Richard Reid, president and owner of the College Bowl Company, which produces the program. The sponsor of HCASC is American Honda Motor Company.[1] “HCASC exemplifies the aims of a liberal arts education by encouraging students to develop a mastery in multiple academic fields,” says Dr. Worth K. Hayes of Tuskegee University.[2]
Honda had Muse Cordero Chen, an advertising agency, do multiple focus groups in several major cities across the country to identify issues facing the African American community and their attitude towards Honda. One of the concerns they identified was African Americans wanted companies to be more responsive to the needs of their community, particularly with regards to education. Afterwards, education became a key element in Honda's advertising and public relations campaigns aimed at the African American audience. The agency helped Honda develop the Honda Campus All-Star challenge to help meet this need.[3]
In 1989 Honda proposed a program to the College Bowl Company for HBCUs. College Bowl created a program in which all 4-year degree-granting HBCUs are eligible to enroll teams, and all participating HBCUs receive grants. From 1990 to 1995, the national championship games were broadcast on BET. These televised competitions were hosted by Clint Holmes. The college bowl type of competition became popular in the 60's and 70's, but it was rarely if ever, that African Americans were even allowed to compete in these tournaments. The HCASC was the first opportunity for black students to publicly display their talents, and airing the finals on cable television gave them an even larger audience.[3] [4] [5]
From 1990 to 1995, the competition format consisted of sectional matches that led up to televised National Championship games on BET. The current basic format was adopted in 1996, which abandoned the sectional games and the televising of games in favor of an all-encompassing 64-team National Championship Tournament (NCT) held each spring. From the 2010 to the 2019 season, only 48 teams qualified each year. In 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic the tournament was canceled. Since 2021, the format returned to a 64-team tournament.
From 1989 to 2011, Honda Campus All-Star Challenge used the same gameplay structure as two of its sister shows, College Bowl and University Challenge.
Gameplay took place during two eight-minute halves and included toss-up and bonus questions. Toss-up questions were always 10 points in value and a correct response on a toss-up gave the team the right to answer a bonus question, which could be worth 20, 25, or 30 possible points. The toss-up questions did not permit conferring with other team members, with buzzers (using a lockout system) being used to designate who rang in to answer a question. Players could ring in before the moderator had completed the question (also known as an interrupt) but if an incorrect answer was given, the team would receive a five-point deduction, and the question was completed for the other team.
Teams could confer on bonuses, but responses were only accepted from the captain (or a designated player if the captain chose one). If team members had conflicting answers, then the captain would speak on behalf of the team. The bonus question might be one "all or nothing" question worth the full amount of the bonus, or could be a series of questions giving the team a chance to receive a portion of the maximum points (i.e. a 30-point bonus made up of three 10 point questions). Other bonuses might require a team to name items from a list at 5 points apiece, or award points based on how many clues it took the team to identify a famous person, place, or thing (a 30-20-10 bonus). Only the team who answered the tossup correctly got to answer the bonus question; there were no opportunities to "rebound".
At the end of two halves, the team with the higher score won the game. In case of a tie, toss-up questions were asked until there was a change in score (either one team answered correctly for 10 points, or interrupted with an incorrect answer, losing 5 points and the game.)
Beginning with the 2011–12 season, the format was changed to reflect that of the Zain Africa Challenge, another academic competition created by Richard Reid, owned and produced by College Bowl.
Game play takes place over four rounds. The first three rounds are called Face Off Rounds. In each of the Face Off rounds, there are two types of questions: toss-ups, worth 10 points each and bonuses, worth 20 points. In each of the three Face Off rounds, a different player represents the team answering Face Off questions. That player is the only one who can ring in and answer for their team.
Each round has four categories in play. The team who wins a coin toss decides the first category. After the entire question is read, the first player to signal gets to answer. If that player answers correctly, their team gets a bonus question. If their answer is incorrect, the player representing the other team gets a chance to answer. Bonus questions come from the same category as their respective Face Off questions, are played by the entire team, and are always worth a possible 20 points. The team who answered the last correct tossup gets to choose the next category. In each category there are three face-off questions- once the third and final face-off question in a category is read, the category is out of play. At the beginning of Rounds 2 and 3, the face-off representative changes, and the team who is behind selects the category for the opening Face Off question.
At the end of the three Face Off rounds, teams play the final round, the Ultimate Challenge. The team that's behind plays first, and selects one of four new categories. The team has 60 seconds to answer 10 questions, each worth 50 points (originally 25). An incorrect answer is not penalized, but the moderator moves on to the next question, and as long as there is time remaining, teams can keep coming back to questions that they missed or passed on. After the trailing team plays, their opponents choose one of the three remaining categories to play. After both teams have played the Ultimate Challenge, the team in the lead wins. If the team playing the first Ultimate Challenge does not accumulate enough points to bypass the team in the lead, the leading team still plays their Ultimate Challenge.
If there is a tie, the teams play Face Off questions until there is a change in score.
As part of a qualification process, each college/university must host a campus tournament to determine which players will represent the school's team. Schools must qualify for the NCT by competing in one of the National Qualifying Tournaments (NQT) that take place in February. 32 schools are chosen for the NCT based on their NQT performance and previous years' performance at the NCT. Schools may increase their chances of qualifying via other ways announced by HCASC officials, including service projects and "Rep My School" contests. Defending champions automatically qualify for the tournament.
After the NQTs are completed, qualifying schools compete at the NCT. Teams are placed into eight divisions and play a round robin tournament. The divisions are named after famous African Americans, with two of the eight divisions renamed each year. The preliminary round consists of divisional round robin games. The two teams from each division with the best win/loss record move onto the round of 16 playoffs. Teams are seeded based on overall performance, and the "super sixteen," "great eight," quarterfinal, and semifinal matches are single elimination, with the final two teams playing a best two-of-three series of final matches. Clint Holmes, who hosted the BET broadcasts, moderated the semifinal and final matches through 2008. From 2009 onward, moderators from the Round Robin have been used during the on-stage games on the final game day.
The tournament begins with an opening banquet, and concludes with a closing banquet/awards ceremony. Both banquets include speakers and entertainers. Since 2004, the opening banquet has also introduced new members into the HCASC Hall of Fame.
Tournament format
| Year | Format | |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 16 team televised single-elimination playoff | |
| 1991-1993 | 16 team modified round robin, 8-team televised single-elimination playoff | |
| 1994-1995 | 8 team modified round robin, televised single-elimination playoff | |
| 1996-1998 | 64 team modified round robin tournament, 16-team single-elimination playoff | |
| 1999-2009 | 64 team modified round robin tournament, 16-team single-elimination playoff, best of 3 finals | |
| 2010-2019 | 48 team modified round robin tournament, 16-team single-elimination playoff, best of 3 finals | |
| 2021-2022 | 64 team modified round robin tournament, 16-team single-elimination playoff, best of 3 finals | |
| 2023-Present | 32 team modified round robin tournament, 16-team single-elimination playoff, best of 3 finals |
For their efforts, schools that qualify for the NCT are awarded grants. The grant awards were updated for the 2015–16 season.